The Shining by Stephen King - Book Review

Jack Torrance, a budding playwright, accepts a job as the winter caretaker for an isolated hotel in the Colorado Rockies. Moving his wife and young son, Danny, halfway across the country, the family sees the opportunity as a chance to reconnect. But the Overlook has a history, one that it would like to share with its latest residents.

As the family begin to settle into their new surroundings, Jack starts to see the ghosts of the Overlook, conversing with them as he is slowly consumed by the hotel’s spirit itself. But this hotel’s past isn’t friendly, the permanent guests desperate to keep the family within its walls forever. 

But Danny, aware of a strange force called the shining living within him, has also seen what the Overlook is planning. Using his power in a desperate fight for survival, this winter will be one that neither side will ever forget. 

The ghost story that forms the central storyline of The Shining is told with a kind of sadness that I found to pull me into a false sense of security. While I often wondered about the many tragedies that befell the previous guests of the hotel, it was the terrifying way the story kept plotting along that truly gripped me. Creepy, scary, shocking are all words I use to describe the story, and that’s just for the ghosts. 

The tragedy of the family that is made to live in this frightening reality is the other side of the coin, endlessly tugging at your heart strings as you scream for the Torrances to overcome their tormentors. Although a ghost story, it’s the personal struggles of Jack and his family that lies at the heart of this story. 10 out of 10 all the way for me.