64. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Halloween 2013#7

My final read this Halloween, and may I say, the best of them all. Saving the best for the last, well, not really. This one also happened to be the most voluminous of my reads this Halloween. Not that the higher word count was unwelcome, there was no endless drudging past long details and explanations, no meaningless characters and characterisations – everything fits nicely into a neat puzzle. For all its length, the book was quite fast paced, or at least it gave the impression to be, and that’s what is important, right?

Finally we know what happened to the kid, Danny, left with his unique gift (?) at the end of The Shining, less a, even if brutal, father. The growing up, the fall, the further fall to rock bottom, repentance, and the eventual redemption. We also gain a little more insight into the mysterious gift, the shining, the advantages and the risks.

Add a vampirish race, with the long tooth, but without the blood-sucking mess. They do suck something, but it is a little less tangible, even if more horrific – these of the True Knot, as they like to be called, have little use for virgin girls, however they relish in torturing and killing small kids.

Then there is an entirely adorable kid, turned teenage girl, Alba – Dan’s protégé – his support, his one last shot at redemption – a girl who is as much his protector, as she needs protection – the focus of the entire book.

Stephen King, not one to waste characters, adds a bunch of them – from kind old men, loving grandmas, loving parents, some characters reaching out from beyond the grave, most of them benign – a bit too much goodness for a King novel. Perhaps, he craves a happy ending too…sometimes…