Whatever happened to Danny Torrance from The Shining? The young boy who survived his father's descent into madness at the Overlook Hotel, which was abandoned, save for the Torrance family and many ghosts and ghouls, is all grown up and, unfortunately, much like his father. No matter how much we rail against turning into one or both of our parents, the battle is seldom successfully won. In Danny's (now Dan's case), he becomes an angry young man with a drinking problem. Of course, considering his childhood, I imagine Dan is pretty screwed up and needs an outlet. Therapy might be an option, or even Alcoholics Anonymous, but Dan must hit bottom before he begins to find his way again, courtesy of some tough love from the folks in small town New Hampshire where Dan finds himself settling down for a bit on his life journey.
Stephen King's first ever sequel, Doctor Sleep (Scribner), is, in large part, a character study of Dan Torrance with a bit of horror and action/adventure thrown in too. King explores many decades of Dan's journey from a young boy to a middle-aged man that begins not long after the events in The Shining. As a boy, he takes care of his mother and, with the help of Dick Hallorann, utilizes another one of his gifts to battle the ghosts who will not leave him alone. As he ages, Dan's "Shining" becomes less intense, but when it becomes too much for him to deal with, he drinks to block out the pain. That drinking leads to many dark years for Dan until he sobers up with the help of his new found support group. He eventually finds steady work at a hospice, where he is able to use his abilities to help ease the dying into the next world, with an assist from a therapy cat who can sense death approaching.
While Dan is able to communicate with others in extraordinary ways, he is not prepared for the power of a young girl, Abra, who seeks out his help after she sees the murder of a young "Baseball Boy" who was kidnapped and tortured by a group of seemingly invulnerable people known as the True Knot. Slowly, Dan becomes involved with Abra through their psychic connection that allows her to communicate with him by writing on the chalkboard that is in his room many miles away. But considering their thirty year age difference, a friendship is out of the question. However, when the psychic abilities of the True Knot leader, Rose the Hat, are able to connect with Abra's power, the young girl becomes a target for the traveling group, who are currently staying at the Overlook Campground in Colorado, former site of the Overlook Hotel, a place Dan knows all too well. Dan realizes that he must reach out to and meet Abra and her family in order to protect her from the same fate as the "Baseball Boy.".
There is a decent amount of horror in the first part of Doctor Sleep, but nothing like the The Shining. That is not a criticism, just an observation and the story does not suffer because of a lack of fright. However, there are many suspenseful moments throughout. Readers will grow to care once more for Dan, as well as his friends, Abra and her family. The characters are well defined and imperfect, so it is difficult not to like them all. They are juxtaposed by the True Knot, who travel around the country feasting on special children who have "The Shining" or similar gifts that turn into "steam" as they are being tortured until they die. The "steam" gives the nefarious group strength and allows them to live very long lives. While the True Knot may not be the most outwardly grotesque of King's creations, they are truly despicable for preying on children. However, like most villains, they do not see themselves as such.
I enjoyed being continually surprised throughout Doctor Sleep as I telegraphed what might happen next, only to be proven wrong every single time. King changes things up in a good way and I think readers who become invested in the "good" characters will appreciate what he does with them from beginning to end. In addition, while I am not an alcoholic (and rarely drink), I have known many in my lifetime. As a result, Dan's story rang true and I enjoyed seeing the character experience so much growth from beginning to end. His journey is sometimes difficult and he has a great shame that he carries around for the duration of the book until he is ready to unburden himself and hope for forgiveness. Of course, Stephen King understands the subject matter well from personal experience and relates it well through Dan's journey.
The familiar New England setting and several returning characters from The Shining ease readers into Doctor Sleep slowly and then King never lets you go. I was able to limit myself to about 90 minutes of reading at a time, but it was not easy. I wanted to spend more time with these characters and inhabit their world and was particularly pleased with Dan's work with the dying and the role of the cat (named Oscar) in their end of life journey. If Stephen King plans to revisit Dan Torrance for a third time, I hope he uses those spirits to open up new kinds of horror into the protagonist's life and our minds.
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