Doctor Sleep is a sequel to The Shining in much the same way that Black House is a sequel to The Talisman. That is, it’s in many ways a totally different story set many years later, in which the main character has gone from childhood into adulthood.
Doctor Sleep is for instance not a haunted house story but a haunted person story. And even though there are supernatural antagonists, the main enemy might be described as addiction.
It does begin scarily enough, with a prologue set not long after the finale of The Shining. The bulk of the story, however, deals with Danny Torrance as an adult, struggling with addiction and a gift both inherited from his father. In a memorable sequence, first sordidly amusing and then just tragic, we meet him at the very nadir and then follow his slow journey back from the brink.
He is also the titular ”doctor” due to his ability to guide people into the next life in a comforting manner. It’s part of the Shining of course, which is still strong in him. Not as strong as in Abra though, a young girl who he befriends first through telepathy and then in real life. Together they take on a travelling band of vampire-like people in what amounts to a supernatural adventure rather than a clear-cut horror story.
It sounds silly but in following the foe almost as closely as the good guys, King makes them feel depressingly real and void of the coolness common in the genre. It’s is a great novel (winner of the 2013 Bram Stoker Award), although not exactly what one might have expected.