The Return of Danny Torrance

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Poysyn

I am going to pick up Joyland and 11/23/63, but dropped Dark Tower after Wizard…just couldn’t get into it…

A pity. Wind Through the Keyhole is a return to the feel of his first 3 Dark Tower books.

Last night I dreamt I was in an AA meeting with Stephen K. Very interesting…

[obfusciatrist]

Finished it last night. It was fine, but I thought it was too procedural. The characters tell us they’re going to do A and then they go do A and it pretty much works out the way they planned it.

[aruvqan]

@kayaker

Movie viewing is fine. In fact the book has enough about what generally went on in the hotel that I think the book could stand alone…

I agree. Though you can definitely tell it is in the ‘world’ of Stephen King - stuff is just slightly off normal but not greatly so.

@chiroptera

I have a crazy work schedule plus I’m a slow reader. I had this pre-ordered on amazon, paper hardback edition, and it came yesterday.

I only got to page 23 last night and am hooked…so far this reads like vintage sober Stephen King without the gratuitous gore. Scary stuff and I am glad my dogs are in the bedroom with me at night to protect me from the gibbous Mrs Massey and her ilk.

I think it is fine to rely on the movie for background as long as the reader understands the difference between the movie and the book. Actually there’s enough backstory provided in the first 23 pages of the book; I am not sure it’s even mandatory to read or watch the original
although it would certainly be entertaining.

I have read The Shining and seen the movie, and while the backstory is good to have, there does seem to be enough included in the new book so that a new reader can pretty much muddle through if they have neither read nor seen The Shining.

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

I finished it two days ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was not as scary as The Shining, but it was a more nuanced read.

I especially enjoyed the AA parts, having been a member of that group for well over two decades myself. SK takes his recovery seriously, for certain. I love how Dan’s AA group responded to his big reveal.

Nuanced, yes. It shows how horrifying normal can be, without spilling gore everywhere. The descriptions of the horror occurring were just enough to show how evil the antagonists were without getting gross and yucky.

And everybody has something in their past they really do not want anybody else knowing, and while it may be absolutely horrible, compared to someone elses horrible moment, it may be nothing. You just don’t know til you whip them out, shake out the dust and wrinkles and compare them.

[Poysyn]

I found, the book made me anxious because of the “scorched-Earth-leave-no-survivors” SK has been taking lately - I figured FOR SURE Danny was doomed. I was relieved when it was actually a pretty “happy ending”. Also, the death of the “Baseball Boy” was really tough to read.

[Anonymous_Coward]

@Chefguy

I’m in the final few pages and enjoyed the book. That’s two in a row, the first being 11/22/63, which I thought was a cracking read. Next up is NOS4A2, by his son.

NOS4A2 and Dr. Sleep both have nods to each other but I don’t think they’re canon based on Joe Hill’s comments. They’re more of a fun easter egg for the readers.

[Patch]

About halfway through it. Not really impressed by it. It started off nice, but died off after Danny got his box.

My problems with the book thusfar:

I swear, there’s advertising in this book.

“Can you print these pictures and make sure the others have copies? Particularly Barry. He’s a Locator in Chief on this one.”

“I’ll do it right now. I"m packing a Fujitsu ScanSnap. Great little on-the-go machine. I used to have the S1100, but I swapped it when I read in Computerworld…”

Seriously?

And Stephen, ol’ buddy. It’s 2013. It’s ok to lift the phone off the hook and make a few phone calls to do some research, m’kay?

[spoiler]

Billy raised his shirttails and revealed an automatic pistol in a battered black holster. “One-nine-one-one Colt,” he said. “Full auto. World War II vintage. This is old, too, but it’ll do the job.”

The Colt 1911 was never full auto. And seeing as it has a 7-round magazine, why make it so?

Billy leaned over and thumbed the button on his glove compartment. His own Glock .22 was inside.

Umm… it’s a Glock 22. No period. .22 is a caliber.

He turned the basket so one end faced the newly arrived RV and flicked off the Glock’s safety with his thumb.

Glocks don’t have external safeties![/spoiler]

For fuck’s sake, this is basic goddamn information! Do you have any idea what it’s like to be reading a book and getting into it, only to be jarred out of it by simple mistakes like these? You know what I’m doing now? I’m actively looking for errors now, because my curiosity over where else you were lazy is more interesting than your story.

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@Patch

For fuck’s sake, this is basic goddamn information! Do you have any idea what it’s like to be reading a book and getting into it, only to be jarred out of it by simple mistakes like these? You know what I’m doing now? I’m actively looking for errors now, because my curiosity over where else you were lazy is more interesting than your story.

It’s an alternate world, Patch. You enter secondary belief when you open the book. It’s not gonna be the same as our world. I’m sure he does those things deliberately to show us how different it is!

[kayaker]

Anyone else not know before reading this the meaning of

Four walling?

Apparently it is a term from the entertainment industry. I figured it out from context, but still looked it up.

[turner]

I guess I’m in the minority. After “After the Dome” I swore I’d never read another King book again, but nook had a pre-release deal for $8 and I wanted to know what happened to Danny, so I bought it.
<SPOILER BELOW>

Overall it was entertaining, but not “classic” King. I was disappointed in the ending. Everything seemed too easy. It made the villains seem less than scary–no sacrifice for the heros like in the old days. I think old King would have at least had SS kill Billy or made the rest of the knot more difficult to kill. It cheapened the investment he took in convincing us how bad ass the Knot was and what a formidable foe they were. I think it would have been cool if SS came out and killed Billy and Jack would have taken care of her. The kiss at the end of the battle would have had much greater meaning.

[GargoyleWB]

@Patch

A…
For fuck’s sake, this is basic goddamn information! Do you have any idea what it’s like to be reading a book and getting into it, only to be jarred out of it by simple mistakes like these? You know what I’m doing now? I’m actively looking for errors now, because my curiosity over where else you were lazy is more interesting than your story.

That narrative style and product model dropping is getting dangerously close to Dan Brown. Say the rest of the book ain’t so…please…

[obfusciatrist]

Hasn’t Stephen King pretty much always included real world brand references in his books?

[Patch]

@GargoyleWB

That narrative style and product model dropping is getting dangerously close to Dan Brown. Say the rest of the book ain’t so…please…

I’m only halfway through the book, so I couldn’t say. That one stood out so much it jarred me right out of the book, but I’m on my toes now I’ll be keeping an eye out as I read.

I don’t mind some brand references – that’s only natural. But there are limits to how people interact before it becomes a blatant plug.

[Zsofia]

I just finished it. Meh. I mean, it was okay, but it didn’t have a “real Stephen King” feel. It felt… sloppy, like the characterization was uncharacteristically slipshod. Kind of lazy. Like Joyland.

[Patch]

I finally finished it today. Best I can say about it is it wasn’t completely horrible. It started off ok, got some chills at the start, but then it just… faded away. Rather a lot like a Dean Koontz book, really, even down to the ending.

[Mahaloth]

I finished it today as well and I liked it quite a bit.

I read it over the last month while my kids took their baths, so I took it about a chapter at a time.

I have some questions about the ending and forgive me if this is massively obvious stuff:

1. Did Jack Torrance return and help Dan and Abra with the final confrontation with Rose? I know Dan looked back and saw his Dad signalling “good night, doc” to him, but did his Dad appear and help take out the villain?

2. So, did Abra only spiritually appear at the end to fight Rose? Was that the big plan? She disappeared into mist after the final battle. She wasn’t really there?

3. Who exactly did Dan release to fight at the end? He opened his lock-boxes and released the lady from room 127 and…who else? Actually, the lady was nothing but ashes, so who did he release?

[Just_Ed]

I finished a couple of weeks ago and have almost finished another novel since, so the facts aren’t as fresh as they were, but I think I can answer these.

@Mahaloth

1. Did Jack Torrance return and help Dan and Abra with the final confrontation with Rose? I know Dan looked back and saw his Dad signalling “good night, doc” to him, but did his Dad appear and help take out the villain?

Yes. There was a whoosh of air or pressure as Dan was fighting Rose that I presume was the spirit of Jack helping Dan.

2. So, did Abra only spiritually appear at the end to fight Rose? Was that the big plan? She disappeared into mist after the final battle. She wasn’t really there?

Yes, she wasn’t physically present. The mannequin in the car was meant to dupe Rose into thinking Abra was sitting there waiting, but she wasn’t there at all. Her shine was strong enough to be present in spirit with Dan.

3. Who exactly did Dan release to fight at the end? He opened his lock-boxes and released the lady from room 127 and…who else? Actually, the lady was nothing but ashes, so who did he release?

Horace Derwent, the one-time owner of the Overlook Hotel; one of the party guests Jack sees in The Shining and whose ghost followed Danny to Florida.

[Maastricht]

@Qadgop_the_Mercotan

I especially enjoyed the AA parts, having been a member of that group for well over two decades myself. SK takes his recovery seriously, for certain. I love how Dan’s AA group responded to his big reveal.

::lightbulb:: I suddenly see where SK might get inspiration for a lot of his characters’ backstories. AA meetings !

[Fenris]

I didn’t find the book scary at all, and I think the villains needed more backstory, but that said, it’s (to me) the best book he’s written since…um…maybe Dark Tower III? Dark Tower V?

I loved this book.

[Mahaloth]

@Just_Ed

Yes. There was a whoosh of air or pressure as Dan was fighting Rose that I presume was the spirit of Jack helping Dan.

I thought so, too, but only when he saw his Dad for sure at the end. Did anything at the moment indicate that the pressure was his Dad?

[Just_Ed]

@Mahaloth

I thought so, too, but only when he saw his Dad for sure at the end. Did anything at the moment indicate that the pressure was his Dad?

There’s a couple of indications. The moment happens right before Abra returns and the final confrontation takes place between Rose and Dan and Abra. Rose had thought she’d be able to finish Dan off before Abra returns, but, in her words:

If not for that gust of air . . . that wasn’t him and she wasn’t here . . .

That gust was the pause Dan and Abra needed to regroup for the final push.

After Rose is killed, Billy asks Dan about the site (where the Overlook had been): “Full of ghosts, ain’t it? That’s why they picked it.”

That was why, no doubt about it. But you didn’t need to be Ebenezer Scrooge to know there were good ghostie people as well as bad ones.

When Dan looks back, he sees his father blowing him a kiss like he used to do at bedtime.