Doctor Sleep (novel)

Doctor Sleep is an American full-length novel of the supernatural thriller genre. It was written by Stephen King and first published in hardcover format by Scribner on September 24th, 2013. The book is a sequel to the 1977 King novel The Shining and continues the story of Danny "Dan" Torrance, who was a child protagonist in The Shining. A feature film adaptation of Doctor Sleep was released in 2020 and directed by Mike Flanagan. It starred Ewan McGregor in the role of Dan Torrance.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

Appearances

 * Dan Torrance
 * Abra Stone


 * Concetta Reynolds
 * Dick Hallorann
 * Jack Torrance
 * John Dalton
 * Lucy Stone
 * Sandy Reynolds
 * Wendy Torrance


 * Crow Daddy
 * Rose the Hat
 * Silent Sarey
 * Snakebite Andi


 * Charles Talent Manx
 * David Stone
 * Horace Derwent
 * Lorraine Massey
 * Tony


 * Alcoholics Anonymous


 * Cats
 * Ghosts


 * Colorado
 * Overlook Hotel
 * Rocky Mountains
 * Sidewinder


 * New Hampshire
 * Frazier


 * Maine
 * Jerusalem's Lot


 * Nevada
 * Desperation


 * Doctor
 * Psychic


 * Alcoholism
 * Cult
 * Cult leader
 * Cultist
 * Immortality
 * Power absorption
 * Precognition
 * Psychokinesis
 * Telepathy
 * Torture

Notes & Trivia

 * Doctor Sleep has also been released in paperback format, as well as eBook and Audiobook.


 * Doctor Sleep (2013) redirects to this page.


 * This book is not to be confused with Doktor Sleepless, which is a comic book series published by Avatar Press.


 * A limited edition version of the hardcover was published by Cemetery Dance Publications in three different versions. The regular limited edition produced 700 copies. The Gift edition was limited to 1,750 copies, and the Lettered edition was limited 52 copies.


 * Doctor Sleep is Stephen King's sixty-third book as a writer. It his fifty-second novel, and his forty-fifth novel under his own name.


 * On December 1st, 2009, author Stephen King posted a poll on his website, asking readers whether his next book should be a sequel to The Shining or the next installment in The Dark Tower Series. The poll closed on December 31st, 2009 with Doctor Sleep winning with 5,861 votes, and his next Dark Tower novel coming in with 5,812 votes. This book was ultimately titled The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole.


 * In terms of narrative, Doctor Sleep is a sequel to the novel of The Shining, which was adapted into a television movie, Stephen King's The Shining, in 1997. It is not considered to be part of a continuation of the more popularly known The Shining feature film by director Stanley Kubrick.


 * Dan Torrance is in his mid-forties at the time this story takes place. He has been sober for fifteen years by the end of the story.


 * Abra Stone is twelve-years-old at the beginning of this story. She is fifteen-years-old at the end of this story.


 * When people who possess the shining ability die, they emit a psychic essence called "steam". This is the power that is coveted by Rose the Hat and members of the True Knot.