Stephen King's third novel is undoubtedly one of his better ones and a dramatic improvement from the mediocre 'Salem's Lot. Dealing with the real world issues of alcoholism and psychic ability, or 'shining' as it is called here, a more adult tone is thereby adopted than King's previous outings. As a big fan of Stanley Kubrick's famous film adaptation, I had been meaning to read this for a long time but was a little late to the game, as they say. Published in 1977, the book invests heavily in psychoanalysis to modernise the haunted house novel and bring the archetype of the 'bad place' into the realm of Freudian analysis. Of course, writers had been doing this for many years before King, but nobody succeeded in popularising it quite to the same extent. Jack Torrance, a disgraced teacher suffering from alcohol withdrawal, his wife Wendy, and his disturbed young son Danny, form the fractured, nuclear American family in need of dismantlement.
In a last ditch attempt to salvage his career and repair the damage wrought by alcoholism to his family, Jack accepts the job of off-season caretaker at the beautiful yet remote Overlook Hotel over the winter. Isolated in the mountains, the hotel harbours a sinister history of murder, a stain which has become woven into the very fabric of the building itself. Little by little, and escalating in terror, Danny begins to experience visions of the hotel's dark secrets. A premonition of a threat even closer to home also begins to manifest, and what do the mysterious words, REDRUM mean? The many changes from Kubrick's film kept the story fresh enough to sustain my suspense and despite the daft topiary animals that come alive, there are some brilliantly spooky passages that are still effective in these desensitised times. I particularly enjoyed the parallels to fairy-tales such as Bluebeard and Hansel and Gretel, even if they were a tad overdone. Perfect reading for the Halloween season.
Rating: 3/5
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