Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Five books to watch for in autumn 2013 – including a sequel to The Shining

Stephen King's Doctor Sleep tops a list that also includes new work from Thomas Pynchon, Malcolm Gladwell and Helen Fielding

Donna Tartt
Not prolific, but regular … Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch is out 22 October. Photograph: Steve Bisgrove/Writer Pictures

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Since Stephen King published The Shining in 1977, his literary reputation has risen from peddler of schlock-horror to master of smalltown America's fears and dreams, both real and supernatural. Anticipation is high, therefore, for this sequel to the horror classic, in which Danny, the young boy whose telepathic gift stirred up the ghosts of the Overlook hotel, has grown up to be a troubled drifter using what is left of his "shining" power to bring comfort to the dying in a New Hampshire nursing home. When he meets a young girl with powers even stronger than his own, he is drawn into one of those epic battles between good and evil. "The Shining is one of those novels people always mention when they talk about which of my books really scared the bejeezus out of them," says King. The monsters in Doctor Sleep are promisingly creepy: polyester-clad senior citizens who turn out to be child-torturing paranormals with fangs beneath their dentures. Hodder & Stoughton, 24 September.

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