Introduction

The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It tells the story of Jack, Wendy, and Danny Torrance during an isolated winter in which Jack becomes the caretaker of Colorado’s Overlook Hotel. It deals with themes of parenthood, isolation, addiction, and the bonds of family.

The Shining was Stephen King’s third novel and his first hardback bestseller. It was adapted into a 1980 film directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Jack Nicholson, released to critical acclaim. In 2013, Stephen King published Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining, which features an adult version of Danny who continues to struggle with his past.

Content warning: this guide contains references to alcohol addiction and domestic abuse.

Plot Summary

Jack Torrance is a writer who hopes to finish a play over the winter. He receives a job as a caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado as an act of charity from his friend Al Shockley. Shockley is a near-majority stakeholder in the Overlook. Jack and Al were drinking friends, but both are now sober. His temper—and alcoholism—have plagued Jack’s life. Once, when his son Danny spilled beer on his papers, Jack accidentally broke Danny’s arm while pulling him away. This brought Wendy to the brink of divorcing Jack and leaving with Danny.

Danny is a serious, troubled boy with psychic powers that Dick Hallorann—the cook at the Overlook who also has physic abilities—calls “The Shining.” The boy has the strongest “shine” Hallorann has ever seen. He sees visions and can read people’s thoughts if he tries. Sometimes the visions are horrible images that only scare him, but sometimes they are premonitions of things yet to occur. A figure named Tony—whom Danny describes as a little boy that lives in his mouth—shows Danny the visions. Later, Danny—whose middle name is Anthony—learns that Tony is a version of himself from the future, who is always trying to warn him of impending violence.

Once the Torrances are at the Overlook, trouble begins. The hotel has a terrible past filled with murders, suicide, Mafia activity, and all forms of debauchery. The hotel is able to use Danny’s power to grow stronger; if it can kill Danny, he will be imprisoned there forever with the other ghosts. What were once mere visions slowly become more real, leading to terrifying, hallucinatory events. While playing on the playground, for instance, the topiary animals chase Danny back to the hotel.

Eventually, the hotel takes control of Jack. It begins to work on him the way it did on Delbert Grady, a former caretaker who killed his family during the winter there. Suddenly, Jack finds that the bar is fully stocked, and he begins drinking. Soon, he has the urge to kill Danny and Wendy, who spend the remainder of the novel fleeing and hiding from him.

Danny manages to psychically contact Hallorann, who flies from Florida to Denver, before going to the Overlook in a Snow Cat during a terrible storm. He is able to help save Wendy and Danny from Jack, who is trying to kill them with a roque mallet. Jack badly injures Wendy and Hallorann, but they escape from him for good as the hotel explodes with Jack inside—a result of the boiler exceeding its maximum pressure.

In the Epilogue, Danny, Wendy, and Hallorann are in Maine at a new resort where Hallorann is working. Hallorann tells Danny that it is now his job to keep going and love his mother, and that things will be all right.