Doctor Sleep (novel)
First edition cover
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| Author | Stephen King |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror |
| Publisher | Scribner |
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Publication date
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September 24, 2013 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 531 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Shining |
Doctor Sleep is a horror novel by American writer Stephen King, a sequel to his novel The Shining (1977), released in September 2013. King stated that it is "a return to balls-to-the-wall, keep-the-lights-on horror". The book reached the first position on The New York Times Best Seller list for print and ebook fiction (combined), hardcover fiction, and ebook fiction. Doctor Sleep won the 2013 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.
Following the events of The Shining, after receiving a settlement from the owners of the Overlook Hotel, Danny Torrance remains psychologically traumatized as his mother Wendy slowly recovers from her injuries. Angry ghosts from the Overlook still want to consume Danny to inherit his phenomenal "shining" power and eventually find him, including the woman from Room 217. Dick Hallorann, the Overlook's chef, teaches Danny to create lockboxes in his mind to contain the ghosts, including that of former Overlook owner Horace Derwent.
As an adult, Danny (now going by Dan) takes up his father's legacy of anger and alcoholism. Dan spends years drifting across the country, but eventually makes his way to New Hampshire and decides to give up drinking. He settles in the small town of Frazier, working first at a tourist attraction and then at a hospice, and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. His psychic abilities, long suppressed by his drinking, re-emerge and allow him to provide comfort to dying patients. Aided by a cat who can sense when someone is about to die, Dan acquires the nickname Doctor Sleep.
In the meantime, Abra Stone, a baby girl born in 2001, begins to manifest psychic powers of her own when she seemingly predicts the September 11 terrorist attacks. She slowly and unintentionally establishes a telepathic bond with Dan; as she grows, the contact becomes more conscious and voluntary and her shining grows stronger than his. One night, Abra psychically witnesses the ritual torture and murder of a boy by the True Knot, a group of quasi-immortals who wander across America and periodically feed on steam, a psychic essence produced when the people who possess the shining die in pain. The True Knot's leader, Rose the Hat, becomes aware of Abra's existence and formulates a plan to kidnap Abra and keep her alive so she can produce a limitless supply of steam.
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