Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

I'm trying desperately to remember if I've read The Shining or if I've seen the movies. I know this sounds bad, but it's such a well-known story, I feel like I've read it even though I really don't think I have. I've seen enough of the movie, enough of King's miniseries of the movie and The Simpson's episode.

Doctor Sleep is the sequel to The Shining and it's a damn good one. Little Danny Torrance and his mom Wendy survived the Overlook hotel and moved on to make a (somewhat sad) life for themselves. We start with Danny as a kid, still seeing the ghosts from the Overlook and learning tricks from Dick to keep his sanity.

Danny grows up and is basically a shadow of his father, giving in to his alcoholism and drifting around the US. The book mostly races through this time of Dan's life, focusing on one pivotal moment of a drunken haze, and blazing forward into a town called Frazier. And there we stay, while the events of Dan's life play out.

I don't think there are major plot points to give away but we are introduced to the True Knot, led by Rose the Hat. They are vampires of a sort, traveling the country in RVs, finding kids with shining to feed upon, suck dry and bury in shallow graves.

Dan still has his shining and he teams up with a young girl, Abra, with more power than he can even imagine to stop the True Knot.

Classic King. I was determined to finish the last third of the book in one day and my poor dog was neglected (she says). I love it when books suck me in like this.