** OK **
Nicely paced, easy to read, pageturner ... tick
Horror of the nightmare variety ... cross
This is a sequel to The Shining but it worked well enough as a standalone (well, it had to for me because I haven't seen or read The Shining). There was some referencing to the previous book but not enough to be intrusive.
The premise was well developed and incorporated into the plot. The characterisation was strong (though I found the names of the members of the Knot a bit on the corny side). There was cute referencing to other literature. In fact there is a fair bit of corny and cute throughout the book! But the narrative seemed to just follow a writing formula : not boring, but predictable.
This was a suspenseful supernatural adventure. It had scary moments. It had evil monsters. But, unlike some other Stephen King works, you didn't need to read it with the lights on and the doors locked. Maybe he contracted someone else to write it for him?
