Reviewed: “Doctor Sleep” by Stephen King

If not for the first twenty pages of this book and the last twenty pages, I would give this story five stars. I almost quit when I struggled to get through the first twenty and I don’t really like what happened in the last twenty. Everything in between? Awesome story.

Maybe the first twenty, and even the last twenty, wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d read The Shining but I haven’t. Once I got settled into knowing about the random appearances from the first book, the story went just fine.

I now have a deep, running suspicion of RVs and women with big hair and funny hats (especially top hats, but those are rare)… but this is Stephen King so that’s probably what’s supposed to happen.

The book is very heavy on Alcoholics Anonymous because the kid from the first book is, as one might expect even from just watching the Jack Nicholson movie, an alcoholic. It’s a little too heavy for my taste, and the references to AA pop up at the strangest times as the story goes on but I suppose I can see where it’s important.

The book isn’t overly long as Stephen King books go and it is very hard to put down once you get going. I like it.

(This is the review I posted on Goodreads. The cover photo is also taken from the Goodreads page for the book.)