Doctor Sleep

A Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 18 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Winner, Fiction, 2014

Audie Award Nominee, Solo Narration - Male, 2014

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special 12-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

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 spunky 12-year-old 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 fans of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

©2013 Stephen King (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Will Patton's delivery enhances King's prose in ways that make King's work so much more enjoyable in audio than just reading it…Patton's narrative voice captures the rhythm of King's words. His character voices, filled with a variety of regional American accents, remain consistent. Most importantly, the sinister aspects that embody characters and moments of this novel are superbly executed and will certainly leave listeners on edge." ( AudioFile)

"King, not one given to sequels, throws fans a big, bloody bone with this long-drooled-for follow-up to The Shining." ( Booklist)

"…a gripping, taut read that provides a satisfying conclusion to Danny Torrance's story." ( Publisher’s Weekly)

Brilliant , Mysterious and edge of your seat suspense

This book was not only brilliantly and eloquently written by Stephen King but it was also narrated spectacularly by Will Patton. The voice inflections and emotion with which it was narrated made the book riveting and compelling. I simply couldn’t stop listening. As with any Stephen King novel, I felt like I was living each characters life in the book. And for this reason, I will always be a fan!

A really amazing read

Everything from the mesmerizing voice of Will Patton, the feverish pace of the story, the implacable rythm of King's prose and it's almost liquid flow of terrible evil or heartbreaking kindness, this is definetely one you absolutely don't want to miss

Suspend your disbelief and you will enjoy it more

One of the few King books where I watched the movie first then had to go read the book. I enjoyed both a lot, but there is one major flaw that frustrated me so much through out the book. Warning for slight spoilers ahead.

Sometimes I think King makes villains that are too powerful but then has to backpedal to make the protagonist's victory seem possible. It is mentioned throughout the book that the True Knot members have been around for centuries and at least one member for millenia. They have amassed an absurd amount of wealth (billions of dollars) and have connections in state and federal government. The main characters even state they cannot call the police because it is likely the Knot has connections or can pay to keep them quiet. With this information, why is this wealth never really put into play? Am I supposed to believe a group of collective billionaires that depend on killing children to survive don't have underground connections? No ties to child trafficking? They couldn't just hire someone with no questions asked to get rid of Abra, Dan, and anybody else? It's mentioned the Knot wants to remain under the radar which is fine, makes sense, but I can't for a second believe that in a life or death situation, these "people" would rather stick to a wild telepathy measles-filled goose chase than be like "hey you know all that money we have? We better use it to get rid of this problem and lay low for a bit!". It just bothered me how King wrote in the Knot were incredibly wealthy and powerful and they just...don't do anything with it.

a great follow-up

this is the follow-up I didn't know that I needed. I have friends who thought this story lacking, but I disagree completely. I enjoyed this story from first to last.

Prefect

I have only “read” a few of Stephen King’s works, although one was the complete Dark Tower series. I have yet to read ‘The Shining’ but I will now!!! I really thought there was nothing profound to be found in the so called horror genre. I recently heard that Stephen King himself compares his own writing to McDonald’s! I beg to differ. My book club chooses McDonald’s grade books! Cheesy superficial dribble. There is actual depth here, at least a steak! I picked it up because my husband stumbled upon the movie on a whim and thought we might enjoy it. We watched it and I thought it was incredible. If “they” are being better at making King movies I want then to tackle The Dark Tower! I have not enjoyed a movie this much in a long time, although I loathed one scene more than any I’ve ever watched, the baseball boy... I had to know if the movie was true to the book. And yes, I think they did a great job. I told a friend maybe it is better to watch the movie first, enjoy it, and then fill in the missing details. I think it would have bothered me the other way around. But the story was beautifully represented. For me that made the book all the more enjoyable, waiting to see if this or that was accurate and enjoying the story more when an extra detail emerged. There were some details I don’t enjoy for entertainment but they did get me thinking about the possible facts of malignancy... I like to think that there is no true evil, the whole “what is good for the spider is chaos to the fly” but there are monsters in humans that inflict harm and torture. I wonder if I’d kill myself if I became one of the true knot or do what I do with my own shadows and call them good. All that said I’ll get heat for this one, I could not stop finding parallels of this between Doctor Sleep and Twilight! Sorry... The moral dilemma of being a monster (except King’s Vampires don’t ask it of themselves) the mind reading and other powers, the odd assortment a d arrangement of family members. Dan even mentions teens of Abrah’s age being obsessed with the vampire genre and I felt he was kind of tipping his hat or snubbing at it, but the ideas were similar. I swear King took the Twilight books and said “How would I do this... no love triangle, and my monsters are real.” But I’m a newb to this material, I don’t know much beyond Dracula. I loved Kings characters so much. I wanted them to die which I think means he succeeded, they are truly bad. Snake bite Andy, The Irish Rose, Crow daddy.. I am ever admiring and loathing them. And good Dan and powerful Abra have my complete esteem. There characters are well known to me and still filling my mind after the book is done. That’s a good book!

Great Sequel

I loved where the story of the shining has gone in Dr Sleep. The bad guys were a great add to an already amazing story

Cudos to whoever wrote this novel

Truly enjoyed listening to this audiobook. Musc better than a typical smut novel on the shelves of the internet.

Amazingly written.

Narrator was phenomenal. I was truly unaware that King was an alcoholic like myself.

Amazing

I’ve read a lot of King books. By far and away - Doctor Sleep is one of the best. Not that I am surprised by this at all, as I said I’ve read a lot of S.K., but I found Dan’s character inspiring and moving. His ability to bring himself back from the edge is empowering. I highly recommend this book.

Super

This is a worthy sequel to THE SHINING. I read the book when it first came out but Then I listened to it just as the movie is coming out. This is a good recording. The narrator is much better than some King has had. (Nobody is better than the actors who read DOLORES CLAIBORNE AND INSOMNIA, and the recordings King himself did of the first few books of DARK TOWER were awesome, but you can’t get those any more. Still, this narrator was quite good and did female voices with respect, unlike some other readers.