Ever wonder what happened to the kid in The Shining? Doctor Sleep answers that question. After surviving RedRum and his gone-crazy dad, Dan Torrance went on to live a life plagued by ghosts. Literal ghosts – apparitions of rotting corpses in his bathtub, and figurative ghosts – his father’s alcoholism, his own alcoholism, bad choices he has made.

Drifting from town to town and job to job, Dan reaches rock bottom before fate plants him where he is needed. He still has his special ability, or shining, and can sense others who have it, as well. An extraordinary girl, Abra, reaches out to him telepathically, and it becomes clear their lives are meant to collide. A group of  baddies who thrive on the life force of shiners are coming after Abra and she needs Dan’s help to stop them.

As far as 1-10 on the gory scale, this is about a 3. It’s disturbing in places but not horrifying. It’s full of action and suspense as you would expect from any King novel. It’s packed with little bits of humor and wry commentary, again, as only King can do. It’s a perfect sequel to The Shining and one I’m glad I read. Although I had forgotten the child who survived the horror at the Overlook hotel, I was glad to pick back up with him as an adult and see how things turned out for him.