Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

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Doctor Sleep is best understood as a continuation of The Shining, carrying forward the history of Danny Torrance and his terrifying time at the Overlook Hotel, where the ghosts were drawn to consume his “shining” power.

As an adult, Dan—like his father—is an alcoholic. Eventually landing in New Hampshire, he gives up drinking, and with sobriety, his psychic abilities return. Working at a hospice, he brings peace to dying patients and earns the nickname Dr. Sleep.

Dan’s path crosses with Abra Stone, a young girl whose shining is far more powerful than his own. Abra psychically witnesses the ritual torture and murder of a boy by the True Knot—a nomadic group of psychic vampires who feed on “steam,” the psychic essence released when people with the shining die in pain. Led by the chilling Rose the Hat, the True Knot sets its sights on capturing Abra and keeping her alive to provide a limitless supply of steam.

Dan and Abra join forces to confront this threat, leading to a tense and gripping battle that holds the reader’s attention as strongly as The Shining itself.

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Memorable Quotes from Doctor Sleep

• “Now, you need to listen to me. The world is a hungry place, a dangerous place, and a dark place. I’ve only met two or three people like us. They died. When I was a kid, I bumped into these things. I don’t know about magic. I always called it the shining.”

• “Life was a wheel, its only job was to turn, and it always returned to where it started.”

• “The good thing about being old is you don’t have to worry about dying young.”

• “Death was no less a miracle than birth.”

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