Stephen King's "The Shining" - Adapted by the Master of Horror Himself

Deborah L. Norwood: This book is perfect. I reread it often…and have been doing so ever since it first came out. If you never read any other of his works, you must read this one.

United States on Sep 18, 2023

Catherine H.: This one's a classic! I couldn't put it down. The movie's really good too. Stephen King is a national treasure.

United States on Sep 11, 2023

M. fitzpatrick: Maybe my favorite of the classic King novels. I loved every minute of it. So much better than the film, though it still holds special place in my heart.

United States on Sep 05, 2023

Traffic: An awesome book from the Master of horror and suspense. What more is there to say? Looking forward to reading the sequel, Dr Sleep.

United Kingdom on Sep 01, 2023

Vladimir de Souza: Esse é em inglês, ótimo conteúdo

Brazil on Aug 07, 2023

Laura McToal: This was a re-read for me and I don't think I have ever cried for Jack Torrance before. I always felt like he was weak for being consumed by the hotel. However, in this reading, all I could see was how fiercely he holds onto his love for his son, and that is something that the hotel can never completely strip away. In one of the final chapters, when Jack comes back through for a moment and tells Danny to run and to remember that he loves him, my heart broke.

United Kingdom on Jul 30, 2023

Dr. Death: I haven't read this novel in years, but it was firmly seared into my mind; I must have read it at least six times over the years and now I have just re-visited it again on the Kindle. Forget The Haunting of Hill House; this is the ultimate haunted house novel. Stephen King established himself as the master of the horror genre with this book and the good news is that it holds up remarkably well after all this time. All the familiar scenes still resound with a firm impact: the empty ballroom with its memory of parties past, the dead woman in the bathtub, the hedge animals, the hornet nest. Do yourself a favor and re-read this book again. It is absolutely chilling at times. King's narrative is absolutely spot on. Horror done correctly!

United States on Jul 20, 2023

Carole Wooten: I finally tackled this book! And it was really good. I have never seen the movie but I still thought that I knew what to expect when I started this one but it was a bit different. There is a ton of hype surrounding this book and I fully expected this book to become an all-time favorite. It didn’t quite make that list for me but it was still a great read.

After losing his teaching job, Jack accepts a position as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Jack, his wife, Wendy, and their son, Danny will spend the winter alone at the hotel. Jack thinks that this will be the perfect opportunity for his family and hopes to finally finish the manuscript he has been working on. Jack’s 5-year-old son, Danny, seems to know things because of his special gift. He can sense that some bad things have happened in this historic hotel.

This story felt ominous from the start. The more I learned about the hotel the more certain that I was that I would not want to visit. Whatever you do – stay out of room 217! Jack had his share of problems before taking on the job at the hotel and after a short period of time, he spirals into periods of madness and violence. Danny was really...

United States on Feb 28, 2023

G. Robinson: Jack Torrance needs to get away, anywhere will do as long as he can have some peace and quiet. He needs to forget about getting fired from his job as a teacher for a violent assault, forget about his excess drinking, forget about having broken his young sons arm in a fit of uncontrolled anger and at least try and bury deep down his seething and uncontrollable resentment that his wife knows exactly what he really is, a drunken violent bully with a temper! Five months as a caretaker in a supposedly haunted and extremely empty Colorado hotel cut off from the outside world by deep snow sounds just about right. Perhaps he can write the great American novel, perhaps he can finish his long gesturing play, or maybe just maybe he will try to murder his family!

Stephen Kings utterly fantastical supernatural novel introduces us, from page one, to one of his finest ever creations, the truly frightening Jack Torrence. On a par with the deranged nurse Annie Wilkes from Misery, Jack is a supremely complicated man who seems uncomfortable with the world around him, his high opinion of himself and his intelligent is at odds with his inability to recognise or even accept his own deep and...

United Kingdom on Sep 29, 2018

Simon Edwards: Critically acclaimed British horror writer, Peter Straub, once described this novel as "obviously a masterpiece, probably the best supernatural novel in a hundred years!" I don't think a better statement could have been conjured to enforce the true genius of this novel, Stephen King's third published novel, a novel that is a far cry from his first published attempt, "Carrie".

I think everyone who has been alive for at least the last twenty, if not ten years, knows of Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of the novel, an adaptation in which Mr Kubrick took a lot of liberties, and ignored a lot of what Stephen King had written in his fantastic novel. I was one of the lucky people to have read the novel before I watched the film because the film is so different, there could be a lot of disappointment for reading the novel after watching the movie.

There have been many great haunted house/hotel novels in the past: Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" is one of the greats that comes to mind, but there is something different and more reality-based about "The Shining", and I think this comes from the brilliance King enthuses his three main characters with when he writes...

United Kingdom on Jul 07, 2013