Doctor Sleep (novel)

Plot

After the events of The Shining, Danny Torrance and his mother Wendy live in Florida, but ghosts from the Overlook Hotel, including Mrs. Massey from Room 217, pursue Danny to consume his shining power. Dick Hallorann teaches Danny to create mental lockboxes to contain the ghosts, such as that of former Overlook owner Horace Derwent. He works for the Frazier municipal department and later at a local hospice, attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

His psychic abilities re-emerge, allowing him to comfort dying patients, and with the help of a cat named Azzie that senses impending death, he earns the nickname Doctor Sleep. Meanwhile, Abra Stone, born in 2001, manifests psychic powers and establishes a telepathic bond with Dan through his childhood imaginary friend Tony. Abra witnesses the ritual murder of a boy by the True Knot, a group of quasi-immortal nomads who feed on psychic essence from dying people who possess the shining. The True Knot's leader, Rose the Hat, plans to kidnap Abra to produce a limitless supply of this essence.

Background

King first described the idea for a sequel to The Shining on November 19, 2009, during a promotional tour for Under the Dome, revealing it would follow Danny Torrance in his 40s working as an orderly at a hospice. On December 1, 2009, King posted a poll on his website asking visitors to vote between Doctor Sleep and the next Dark Tower novel; Doctor Sleep won with 5,861 votes to 5,812. On September 23, 2011, King read an excerpt at the Fall for the Book event at George Mason University, and he finished the first draft in early November 2011.

He read the beginning section at the Savannah Book Festival on February 19, 2012. The audiobook of The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole, released April 24, 2012, includes the novel's prologue read by King. King hired researcher Rocky Wood to work on continuity between the two novels. The story was partly inspired by Oscar, a therapy cat that allegedly predicts deaths of terminally ill patients. King stated that the cat was the transmission and Danny was the motor for the book.

Publication

Stephen King's website first listed a tentative release date of January 15, 2013, for Doctor Sleep on May 8, 2012, with a 544-page count, but pulled that date the next day because King felt the manuscript required heavy editing. A new publication date of September 24, 2013, was set on September 18, 2012. Cemetery Dance produced three limited editions: a Gift edition of 1,750 copies, a Limited edition of 700, and a Lettered edition of 52, with the latter two signed by King and the illustrators. The cover was revealed on March 1, 2013. In August 2013, Hodder & Stoughton announced a UK collector's edition of 200 signed copies. An excerpt ran in the September 13, 2013, Entertainment Weekly.

Critical reception

Steven Poole of The Guardian noted that Doctor Sleep does not deliver the 'good scare' of earlier works but compensates with more subtle pleasures. Alan Cheuse of NPR wrote that King is still scaring the hell out of him. Margaret Atwood in The New York Times called it a very good specimen of the quintessential King blend, with no signs of slacking inventiveness. Kathryn Schulz of Vulture stated that the novel is fundamentally about alcoholism, and King, a recovering addict, excels on addiction and deliberate sobriety, with Alcoholics Anonymous providing the ethical core. James Kidd of The Independent found the redemption tale personally significant for King but felt the story did not escape its own contrivances. Publishers Weekly called it less terrifying than its predecessor but still a gripping, taut read that provides a satisfying conclusion to Danny Torrance's story.