Doctor Sleep Review: The Doctor is In (Though Not as In as The Shining)

There will be spoilers for Doctor Sleep in this post. Obviously.

Stephen King’s The Shining first came out in 1977. And it remains one of the most scary stories ever told, with visceral images that somehow get branded into our brains—dead lady in the bathtub, I’m looking at you (thanks for making it impossible for me, a grown woman, to be able to go to the bathroom without quickly checking the tub to make sure no one is in there). Stanley Kubrick’s movie version (which changed the story up a little bit—no more moving-when-you’re-not-looking topiary animals) helped bring The Shining to iconic status. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, indeed. (And, of course, how could we forget the most awesome Simpsons Tree House of Horror episode ever?)

And now, 36 years later, we get Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining—Doctor Sleep. Why? (For money, I’m guessing.) When are sequels even good? Not counting The Godfather Part II, of course. And The Dark Knight. And obviously all the Shopaholic books. (Side note—I’m thinking the fact that I read almost solely chicklit and horror books is indicative of some sort of mental disorder. But I digress). But…Doctor Sleep is a case where the sequel worked, and was probably wanted by all fans of the original. We all remember the story and care about the characters. And we wanted to know what happened to Danny after the whole Overlook business.

And Doctor Sleep does not disappoint. The new villains—Rose the Hat and the True Knot—are terrifying. Though they have supernatural elements, they are based in reality, which makes them extremely unsettling. This is something King does very well. For example, take It. Clowns can’t manifest themselves into our deepest fears that only we can see. But they are freaking creepy. We don’t know who is there underneath the makeup. And now we’ll always be a little afraid of them. In this book, King does the same thing with RV people. Seriously, what are they up to in those huge things? Probably just camping. Or did they abduct a child and stash him back there with the plan to ritualistically murder him?

Probably not.

But still…

Doctor Sleep picks up a little while after the Overlook blew up, while Danny is still a child. It makes him—and us—visit some old demons, before going forward in time and showing a now grown-up Dan hitting rock bottom, before becoming a hospice worker who helps patients go on their final journeys. Then there’s a little girl, Abra, who shines even harder than he did. They make mental contact, and then join forces to stop a group of century’s old “steam suckers” who murder children who also shine.

It’s more entertaining—and creepier—than that sounds.

That said, 36 years is a long time to be away from a story. While King does tell a gripping tale, and could certainly be a solid stand-alone book without The Shining‘s stellar bloodline (see what I did there?), when you compare the two stories, Doctor Sleep doesn’t live up to the original.

(Here’s where this gets really spoiler-y, by the way.)

For starters, when Dan and Abra are doing their shining mumbo jumbo, it gets extremely difficult to follow, especially at the end when Rose the Hat joins in. We don’t know who is what or what the hell is going on. And it’s probably the point to leave us a little disoriented, but…you know. (Plus, when they mention the wheel they have to turn in people’s minds, did anyone else think of the donkey wheel from Lost?)

Also, let’s talk about the True Knot for a minute. Again, very unnerving in their normalcy. But each member has his or her own special, unique power, that we only learn about when it’s convenient to the plot. (Like, in that crappy show Once Upon a Time, whenever the characters are in trouble a new character happens to have magic beans or a potion or something that does exactly what is needed to help.) It’s fine to have magical characters, but what about some foreshadowing, so we know they exist? If not, it kind of feels like a deux ex machina thing, which, to paraphrase Annie Wilkes from Misery (one of the few Stephen King books—and movies—that holds a candle to The Shining), that’s not fair! Rose the Hat needs a new seeker even though Barry the Chink just died? Don’t worry, this True Knot guy also happens to do that.

Sometimes, we have the opposite problem, though. For example, we get Snakebite Andi’s entire backstory, and it’s an interesting one at that. But, that’s it. She can put people to sleep, and she does it maybe once after she’s a member of the True Knot. But then that’s it. Sure, she’s always in the background. But why learn all about her if she’s not going to be a major player?

And, for a completely evil, almost immortal bunch, the True Knot gets taken down pretty easily. None of the good guys even get that hurt, let alone die.

Speaking of the good guys, Dan and Abra are related? Sure, King does a good job explaining this, even digging a bit back into The Shining‘s mythology for authenticity. But, as readers, we’ve seen this plot contrivance so many times that at this point it borders on cliche. Then again, at least this time it’s done well, although the plot certainly could have moved without it.

And the tone seems a little different from the original. Of course, it’s been 36 years. Times change. People change their writing styles. And Doctor Sleep was still a good book. But didn’t The Shining seem, I don’t know, a little more pervy than this one? (Maybe it’s just me who’s the perv?) There was a scene in The Shining where Danny watches a coo-coo clock, and the little figures in the clock start performing oral sex on each other. It’s actually kind of horrifying. There’s nothing like that in this book. Sure, Rose the Hat and Snakebite Andi have intercourse when Andi turns, but this is told more to titillate the reader than to horrify. Yup, it’s just me who’s the perv, I guess.

Overall, is Doctor Sleep a good read? Yes. Will it haunt you like The Shining did? Probably not.

Oh, and P.S.! I noticed that a few of King’s previous works influenced Doctor Sleep. I’m not talking about how King frequently uses characters and settings in his books from his other books, like how in 11/22/63, the main character meets Bev from It. This is more subtle, and possibly just my own imagination. (And King probably does reference different characters, but I’m really bad with names and didn’t catch any.) For example, when Abra looks out her second-story window and sees Rose the Hat floating there, I definitely felt a little ‘Salem’s Lot (plus the members were also described as vampires). Then, because Abra had her psychic powers, it reminded me a bit of Carrie, maybe even Firestarter. The fact that the True Knot targeted kids but the adults knew nothing about it was like It. And, of course, there were the many influences of The Shining. Duh.

What did you think of Doctor Sleep? Did it freak you out at all? How did it compare to The Shining? Did you pick up any other King influences?

-Jessica Fiur