Doctor Sleep (book) Review

It's the most dangerous thing one can do as a writer. Make a sequel to one of your most fan-loved, most critically acclaimed, and best selling books of all time. Not only that, but do it over thirty years later, when the vast majority of hype for your original masterpiece has died out save in the hearts of your most beloved fans. These waters are rarely crossed, but Stephen King tried it out with Doctor Sleep, a sequel to one of his best works of all time, The Shining. And to be honest, he delivered a very readable, decently paced, and heartfelt book with a great set of new characters, and plotlines which have that sweet and sour grit of all of Stephen King's best works. It doesn't measure up to the original (but when does it ever), and there are flaws, but Doctor Sleep is a good read, and for anyone who's already read The Shining, it's a great read.

Danny Torrance is the only truly preserved character from The Shining, as the others are mentioned only by name. Unfortunately, I can't speak too much about the characters without spoiling the book, so I'll just speak of the protagonists and antagonists as wholes. The former are a set of dynamic characters, and the two main characters (Danny and the shining-filled Abra), have great chemistry. There are about five main characters strictly on the protagonists' side, which is a significant step up from the three maybe four total characters in The Shining. The antagonists are comprised of a whole tribe of people, but they're led by just one imperial woman, who I can't speak too much about without spoiling parts of the book. Suffice to say, she's an intriguing villain, with an understandable perspective and great, but not limitless, powers. Now, onto the plot!

We begin the book with a short bit which seems more like an epilogue of The Shining than a new story. Dick Hallorann, Danny Torrance's mentor, teaches Danny to banish the demons which followed him from The Overlook, and Danny settles into a new life with his mom. We end this little prologue with Danny swearing off alcohol; vowing to never be like his father.

But of course, that doesn't go according to plan, and we begin the true story with Danny Torrance fresh off an alcohol and cocaine laced night which ended with him in another woman's house. This encounter has a marked effect on him, which I won't spoil. Needless to say, Danny's life has become hopping around from town to town, finding small jobs and drinking himself to death almost every night. Soon, he moves into a new town, and finds that he is "'sick and tired of being sick and tired'". After finally admitting he needs help, he starts seeing AA, turning his life around one day at a time and finding a couple stable jobs (one in which he truly "shines", in my view). However, soon Abra Stone, the girl with the aforementioned aptitude for the shining comes into his life, and in a bid to save her life from a dangerous and supernatural tribe, Danny is forced to use his abilities once again, and resurrect demons he thought buried long ago.

This plot is a doozy. If you've been keeping score, this review is already almost as long as my entire review for the last book, and we haven't even gotten to my complaints yet! But while we're talking positives, the plot has no clear holes that I caught, and for the most part flows very smoothly, if a little slowly.

Yeah, you heard me. Slowly. This is a deliberately slow book which spans a large period of time and long distances as well. Almost halfway into the story, the two main characters hadn't even met yet! Now, this doesn't detract too much from the readability, because Danny and Abra's lives are intriguing enough as they are, what with the sobriety and growing up with the shining. But just be warned, this is not nearly as fast-paced or tight as The Shining, where three (maybe four) characters stay in one location while the plot unfolds around them. Doctor Sleep is a much larger, more "epic" tale where King takes his time to establish and develop larger villains and plotlines.

Now that leads me to my issues with the book, which were few, but sometimes really did detract from my reading experience. I suppose my first issue has to do with the sheer scale of this piece. I mean the villains are crossing the country, Dan Torrance and Abra Stone are just two of a larger cast of characters, and instead of a creepy yet cozy Colorado hotel, the setting is an entire town-ish (some of the book takes place elsewhere). This isn't exactly an issue, but King shines the most with a small group of characters in a relatively enclosed space, where the villains coexist with the protagonists in some way. This grander approach is cool, but it just loses me sometimes.

I also had a problem with the climax, which surprised me, since King always builds a theatrical climax. However, the climax of Doctor Sleep left me... confused. Without going into too much depth, I can say that the climax involves several characters, a lot of mind games, and some supernatural stuff which I'm not sure I totally understood. I didn't really know who was where, and I also didn't understand the logistics of the whole setting. Overall, very underwhelming for such an otherwise sound book.

Briefly, I also want to talk about the twist near the end of the book, or at least near the start of the third act. Without saying it outright, I can say that it's a substantial statement that's made in some pretty blatant dialogue. And not only is it blatant, I also feel as though it's a stretch, though it's inclusion detracts nothing from the book, so I have very little gripe with it.

Doctor Sleep isn't King's best work. That much should be made clear. But it avoids many of the pitfalls of long-awaited sequels, like cheeky references (of which there are a few, but not too many), plot redundancy, and setting exhaustion. In just avoiding these mistakes, King's Doctor Sleep already puts itself a step ahead of most books in its category. And on top of that, King adds in the aforementioned relatable characters, smooth plot, and decent setting. All of these combine for a must read for a fan of King or The Shining, and one to add to the list for all other people (just read The Shining first).