A family friendly sequel. [Doctor Sleep by Stephen King]

It's funny because a lot of my motivation for reading this book came from a desire to watch the movie. Now that I've read the book I can't imagine a film doing it justice. It probably would have been better off as a TV miniseries. But that's the risk when a book's adapted to the screen, that chunks of prose won't translate to limited screen time is a given. Still, watching the movie trailer again I get the feeling lots of free license is taken in adapting.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King is the sequel to horror classic The Shining, and follows a now adult Daniel Torrance, survivor of the events in the first book, as he deals with alcoholism and his abilities in adulthood. What unravels is less horror story and more family drama. Where in The Shining there was a slow ramp up to a violent climax and horrific events we have a thorough building of interpersonal relationships and character backgrounds. We don't have a story of few characters against the backdrop of wintry isolation and haunting. Instead we have a story of teaching, redemption, acceptance, and self-sacrifice. So with respect to the 1977 book, Doctor Sleep feels like a warm hug, at times wrapped in pushpins, given 36 years later.

It's not fair to the character who had such a traumatic, life-shaping experience as a child to come into this book expecting more of the same. Who wants a character to go through hell another time? Dealing with his shining, Daniel/Dan/Danny Torrance has followed his father's footsteps in alcoholism and violent tendencies. A good chunk of the book lays the foundation for his eventual comeback and redemption from this dark path. He does this in learning to accept his faults and open himself up honestly to those around him.

Above all Doctor Sleep is not horror. The villains in the story are in themselves terrifying and horrible, but at points their presence, their actions, felt almost comical. There was never a real sense that our heroes wouldn't walk away victorious. The threat of otherwise was there and I'd accepted the possibility, but had it come to pass it wouldn't have been the biggest loss of the century. I would call Doctor Sleep a supernatural thriller. Because what shines through isn't the threat of the supernatural but rather how groups of people band together to overcome it.

The last Stephen King book I read, Mr. Mercedes, was not terrifying (and it was not supernatural either, it was a crime drama) but the antagonist's evil effectively eerie. I gave that book 4 stars and that felt a bit generous but I still stand by it. There's no real comparison to be done between the two books because they're almost in different genres. I will say that this time around my reading was not hampered by random racial slurs or bad character voicing.

The overall experience was sweet. I appreciated the hero's journey Daniel went on. Somehow, in a 500 plus page book, the pacing towards the end was conveniently fast. Would I recommend this book? Sure, but probably mostly to readers who'd read The Shining. The story is sweet but it's not necessarily exciting. As a sequel the tone of the story is very logical. As a stand-alone book it feels quite tame. Is it a 3-star book? No, it's better than that. Is it a 4-star book? No, not really. But I'm going to give it 4 stars anyway.