The Shining
SynopsisPlot
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.
Story
About this book
Jack Torrance, a struggling writer and recovering alcoholic, takes a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, a historic property set high in the Colorado Rockies. He brings his wife and young son Danny, hoping the months of isolation will give him space to repair his family life and focus on his work. As heavy snow cuts the hotel off from the outside world, the building begins to exert a disturbing influence. The Overlook has a long, violent history, and its past does not stay quiet.
Danny, who is five years old, has a set of psychic abilities known as the shining. These let him sense things others cannot, including traces of what has happened inside the hotel over the decades. As winter deepens and the family's isolation becomes total, the supernatural presence in the Overlook grows stronger, and Jack's grip on himself begins to slip. The danger facing his wife and son increases steadily.
Published in 1977, The Shining was Stephen King's third novel and his first hardback bestseller. King has said the story drew on his own visit to The Stanley Hotel in Colorado in 1974, as well as his personal struggles with alcoholism. A sequel, Doctor Sleep, followed in 2013.
