My article is the second stop on the Rolling Mystery Blog Tour. If you haven’t already visited Nancy Lauzon’s site http://chickdickmysteries.com, please stop by and have a look.
Since I prefer reading cozy and noir mysteries, I haven’t read many books of the subgenre “horror.” But of the few I’ve read, The Shining outshines them all. I love a good old-fashion ghost story, one that has me checking under the bed, leaving a light on, and feeing extra thankful that my husband is beside me when I go to sleep at night.
You have probably read the book or seen the movie, but if not, here’s a brief summary. An unemployed, troubled writer who’s fighting writer’s block, money problems, and alcoholism, takes his wife and child to the haunted and isolated Overlook Hotel where he hopes to escape his demons and get back on tract. We know from this beginning this will not happen.
I love the foreshadowing in the story. When the main character, Jack Torrance, is interviewed for the position of hotel’s caretaker, he is told about the previous caretaker, a man who also had a drinking problem and went mad and murdered his wife and two daughters. Jack smiles and jokes that that will not happen to him. When asked how his wife, Wendy, feels about staying at the hotel for the entire winter with hardly any contact from the outside world, Jack responds that, “Wendy is an incredible woman.” While touring the hotel, Jack is told to keep a close watch on the boiler in the basement, the pressure can easily build up. If that happens, it will explode, destroying the entire hotel. By this time, we know that Jack has a violent, explosive temper.
Jack’s five-year-old son, Danny can read minds and see things other can’t. He has a frightening premonition about their stay at the hotel. Then during the tour, he meets the hotel’s chef who senses Danny’s abilities and warns that bad things happen here.
Finally, the Torrance family is left alone. It’s snowing. The roads are closed. There are no neighbors around. No place to run or hide. So, we get a big clue as to what the family is up against. I’ll not give any more details. Read the book!
Now that I’m finished writing this, I’m heading over to my bookshelf to find Mr. King’s scary novel. What a better way to spend Halloween.
Now see what Ryder Islington has to say about her scariest book at http://ryderislington.wordpress.com
My scariest book was the Mosquito Coast. I had just finished reading the book on the beach and fell asleep thinking of the son watching the vultures pick apart his father's face. I woke up screaming from a deep sleep when apparently a man's little poodle walking the beach without a leash ran up and started licking the inside of my mouth. One might argue it was the dog that was scary and not the book, but because of the incident, the book is forever filed in my mental fright folder. The dog's owner by the way, grabbed the dog up in his arms and ran off in fear…as he should!
Well, at least it was a little poodle and not a doberman with a studded collar.
A Doberman might have made my reaction a bit more masculine, ha ha. All I remember was almost karate chopping a cotton ball!