The Shining – Stephen King (1977)

The Shining by Stephen King (1977) is a psychological horror novel about Jack Torrance, a struggling writer and recovering alcoholic who becomes the winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel. Hoping for a fresh start with his wife Wendy and psychic son Danny, Jack instead falls under the hotel’s sinister influence. As supernatural forces prey on his weaknesses, Jack descends into madness, turning on his family. A chilling tale of isolation, addiction, and the supernatural, The Shining remains one of King’s most iconic and terrifying works.

Plot Summary

Jack Torrance needed a fresh start. The Overlook Hotel, nestled high in the Colorado Rockies, promised just that – a quiet place where he could write, rebuild his life, and prove to his wife Wendy and their five-year-old son Danny that he had changed. The past clung to him like a stain – a history of violent outbursts, a struggle with alcohol, a teaching job lost in disgrace. This job, caring for the grand old hotel through the long, snowbound winter, was supposed to be his redemption. But the Overlook had its own past, one soaked in blood, whispered through time, and waiting for the right mind to shape into something terrible.

Danny Torrance was no ordinary boy. He saw things – things that had happened, things that would happen, things no one else could see. A gift, Dick Hallorann, the Overlook’s cook, had called it. The shining. It let Danny hear thoughts, peek into hidden corners of the world, and sense the darkness pooling beneath the hotel’s polished floors. Before leaving for the season, Hallorann warned him – the Overlook had a shine of its own, and it was hungry.

The snow came early that year, sealing them in, erasing the winding roads beneath drifts too deep for any car to pass. The great halls and endless corridors of the Overlook became a frozen maze, a world apart, where time stretched thin and reality twisted. Jack, tasked with maintaining the boiler and keeping the hotel from falling into disrepair, found himself drawn into its history. He poured over old newspapers and scrapbooks, fascinated by the lives lost within its walls. A murder here, a suicide there, the whispers of gamblers, gangsters, and ghosts that had never truly left. The hotel spoke to him, called to him, and as the days passed, he began to listen.

Danny wandered the hallways, trying to ignore the things that lurked in the corners of his vision. The woman in Room 217, waiting in her bathtub, her skin pale, her eyes dead and open. The elevator that groaned to life without reason, carrying unseen passengers from some past age. The topiary animals in the frozen garden, frozen in place when looked at, shifting closer when backs were turned. The Overlook wanted him, the shine in him, and it was patient.

Wendy watched her husband with growing unease. He was changing, retreating deeper into himself, speaking in half-sentences, eyes shadowed with thoughts he wouldn’t share. He spent long hours in the Colorado Lounge, staring into the empty bar as if listening to voices no one else could hear. The warmth of his sobriety, his promises, seemed to fade, replaced by something colder, something sharper.

Then came the night Danny entered Room 217. He had been warned, but the Overlook’s pull was strong. The door opened beneath his trembling fingers, the darkness inside thick and waiting. The woman in the tub was there, just as he had seen in his mind, only now she was real. The fingers that had been still in death reached for him, touched him, left bruises that Wendy found moments later when she heard his screams. Danny wouldn’t speak of what he had seen, but the marks on his throat, the terror in his eyes, told her enough.

Jack dismissed it. The boy had done it to himself, working himself up with nightmares. The hotel was old, nothing more. His irritation flared, hot and sudden, and for the first time in months, he felt that old familiar burn – the one that whispered of drink, of losing himself in something deep and dark. But the hotel had another idea. Lloyd, the bartender, was waiting, his smile sharp, his hands steady as he poured the first drink Jack had had in years. The bottle was full. The ice clinked. The warmth of it spread through Jack’s veins, and he welcomed it like an old friend.

Jack belonged to the Overlook now. It slipped into his mind, fed his anger, twisted his love into something cruel. The whispers became voices, urging him to correct his family, to teach Wendy and Danny their places. Wendy saw it happening, felt the hotel pressing in, trying to turn Jack against them. She made plans to leave, but the roads were gone, and there was nowhere to go.

Danny called for help the only way he could, reaching out with his mind to Hallorann, who had long since left for Florida. The call hit him like a bolt of electricity, pulling him back toward the Overlook, even as a terrible certainty settled in his gut – he would not return unscathed.

Jack found Wendy and Danny before they could escape. He was not their Jack anymore. He was something else, something the hotel had filled with rage and purpose. He came for them with a mallet in his hands, eyes burning with fury, the word redrum spilling from Danny’s lips in a terrified chant. Wendy fought, slashing at Jack with a butcher’s knife, locking Danny away from the madness unfolding before him.

Hallorann arrived as the Overlook screamed with fury, but the hotel was not finished yet. It tore into him, nearly ended him before he could reach Wendy and Danny, before he could pull them from the nightmare. But the hotel had overlooked one thing – the boiler, left to its own devices, building pressure, ticking toward destruction. Jack, barely a ghost of himself now, heard the whispers too late.

The Overlook died in fire and thunder, the flames devouring its walls, consuming its spirits, and taking Jack with them. Wendy, Danny, and Hallorann fled into the snow, into the night, away from the wreckage of a place that had tried to claim them.

Far away, where the air was warm and the ocean stretched endlessly before them, Danny sat beside Hallorann, staring out at the waves. He still saw things. The shine had not faded. The world was still full of whispers and shadows, things waiting just beyond sight. But for now, the Overlook was silent. And for now, that was enough

Main Characters

• Jack Torrance – A struggling writer and recovering alcoholic who takes a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Haunted by his past and the hotel’s sinister influence, Jack’s sanity unravels as he becomes a threat to his own family.
• Wendy Torrance – Jack’s wife, a devoted yet wary woman who tries to hold her family together as Jack descends into madness. She is protective of their son and increasingly fearful of her husband’s changes.
• Danny Torrance – The couple’s young son, who possesses a psychic ability called “the shining,” allowing him to see the hotel’s dark past and its malevolent spirits. He becomes the key to understanding and surviving the Overlook’s horrors.
• Dick Hallorann – The hotel’s cook, who also has “the shining.” He serves as a mentor to Danny and plays a crucial role in helping him and Wendy escape the escalating terror.
• The Overlook Hotel – More than just a setting, the Overlook is almost a character itself, feeding off Jack’s weaknesses and manifesting supernatural horrors that prey on the family.

Theme

• Isolation and Madness – The remote Overlook Hotel serves as both a physical and psychological trap, intensifying Jack’s descent into violence and insanity.
• Addiction and Abuse – Jack’s struggle with alcoholism and his abusive past are central to the novel, mirroring the influence the hotel has over him.
• Supernatural vs. Psychological Horror – The story balances ghostly apparitions with the possibility that Jack’s decline is purely a mental breakdown, making the horror all the more unsettling.
• Family and Cycles of Violence – Jack’s own abusive upbringing repeats in his treatment of Danny and Wendy, questioning whether fate can be escaped.
• The Power of “The Shining” – Danny’s psychic abilities reveal hidden horrors and serve as a beacon of hope, showing both the dangers and advantages of such a gift.

Writing Style and Tone

Stephen King’s writing in The Shining blends deeply psychological horror with moments of visceral terror. His narrative technique often shifts perspectives, giving readers an intimate look into each character’s thoughts, fears, and slow unraveling. The novel employs a mix of long, flowing descriptions and short, punchy sentences that mimic the rising tension.

The tone is oppressive and claustrophobic, mirroring the hotel’s overwhelming presence. King uses repetition, internal monologues, and eerie foreshadowing to create an inescapable sense of dread. The Overlook itself feels alive, its history and malevolence creeping into every corner of the prose. This novel is not just about ghosts – it’s about the monsters that lie within us.