I have loved Stephen King’s work from the time that I read Carrie when I was 12. That was when it first came out and I was totally hooked.
So naturally when The Shining came out, I snatched it quickly. I couldn’t put it down. It had my attention from the moment that I started reading it.
For some reason, Stephen King just knows how to tell a good scary story and gets the reader caught up in the story’s plot. He gives plenty of details to let the reader see exactly what is going on. The Shining is a good example of this. I had no trouble picturing each character, how each one acted, and what they did. Sometimes it does get terrifyingly graphic. But I guess that is the whole point of reading Stephen King.
The Shining opens with Jack Torrance in an interview for a job as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. He sees it as an opportunity to work on his writing while earning a living for his wife, Wendy, and 5-year-old son, Danny. The Overlook is a grand hotel with a violent past of murder and suicide. It is haunted. But it is closed in the winter months so it needs a caretaker. There is some concern over past events since a previous caretaker killed his family and himself. Both Jack and little Danny are both psychic (also known as shining)-Danny more so than Jack is. Both see all the tragedy-past, present and future. To say the least, it is a very bumpy ride for all.
I got wrapped up in the story so much that I couldn’t put it down. It was spellbinding and chilling from cover to cover. This is what nightmares are made of.