A Review of the Book "The Shining" by Stephen King

Title: The Shining

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Anchor Books

Year: 1977

659 pages

From the Back: Jack Torrance's new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he'll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote...and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.

Personal Thoughts: Continuing on in my travels through Stephen King's writing, my next book was The Shining. Even if you're not a watcher of scary movies, you could probably name some of the images from the movie, as well as a couple of the famous lines like "redrum" and "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". I've seen the movie enough times that it's ingrained into my memory and figured this would be an easy read. Wow was I wrong!

    First of all, and of this I really shouldn't be surprised, the book was absolutely nothing like the movie. Scenes I was waiting to read never happened and scenes I read were never in the movie but really should have been! Makes you wonder if the film would look different done with 21st century technology.

    Of the two, the book was definitely better, which again comes as no surprise. For anyone who knows me, my imagination isn't at the highest level which makes reading horror stories relatively easy because my brain isn't giving me the jump scares you would get in the movies (and none of the build up music, of course.) But I can honestly say that this book scared the bejesus out of me. I can't pinpoint what it was about this particular book that gave me the creeps, but I'm certain it has to do with King's skillful wordsmithing. It makes me wonder what I'm in for as I read on down the list of his publications. In case you're wondering which King book I'm reading next, it will be Cujo.