Following the events of The Shining, after receiving a settlement from the owners of the Overlook Hotel, Danny Torrance remains psychologically traumatized as his mother Wendy slowly recovers from her injuries.

The two are living in Florida, but angry ghosts from the Overlook, including Mrs. Massey, the woman from Room 217, still want to find Danny and eventually consume his phenomenal "shining" power.

In the meantime, Abra Stone, a baby girl born in 2001, begins to manifest psychic powers of her own when she seemingly predicts the 9/11 attacks.

The True Knot members wander across the United States and periodically feed on "steam", a psychic essence produced when people who possess the shining die in pain.

With the help of Billy Freeman, a friend of Dan who also possesses a small shining, they foil and kill a raiding party led by Crow Daddy, Rose's second-in-command.

Following another kidnapping attempt that Abra foils with Dan's telepathic help, she baits Rose into confronting her at the location where the Overlook Hotel once stood in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, now home to a campsite owned by the True Knot.

He also frees the ghost of Horace Derwent to kill the last member, Silent Sarey, waiting to ambush him and Abra, and the two fight Rose in a long psychic struggle.

With help from Billy and the ghost of Dan's father, Jack Torrance, they push Rose off an observation platform so she falls to the ground, breaking her neck and dying.

During a reading moderated by filmmaker David Cronenberg at the Canon Theatre, King revealed the sequel would follow a character from the original, Danny Torrance, now in his 40s, living in New Hampshire where he works as an orderly at a hospice and helps terminally ill patients die with the aid of extraordinary powers.

[2] Later, on December 1, 2009, King posted a poll on his official website, asking visitors to vote for which book he should write next, Doctor Sleep or the next Dark Tower novel: I mentioned two potential projects while I was on the road, one a new Mid-World book (not directly about Roland Deschain, but yes, he and his friend Cuthbert are in it, hunting a skin-man, which are what werewolves are called in that lost kingdom) and a sequel to The Shining called Doctor Sleep.

[15] A collector's edition was announced in August 2013 by Hodder & Stoughton for publication in the United Kingdom, limited to 200 numbered copies, signed by Stephen King.

[18] On March/April 2014 issue of Bookmarks, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a summary saying, "Readers may, in the end, find The Shining the more compelling work, but they should forget the comparisons and read Doctor Sleep as a stand-alone".

[19] Steven Poole of The Guardian stated "...Doctor Sleep does not actually deliver the 'good scare' of yore... What the novel lacks in brute fright, though, it makes up for with more subtle pleasures".

[20] Alan Cheuse of NPR wrote "A rather neatly designed plot has kicked in even before the book opens.... Stephen King is still scaring the hell out of me.

"[23] James Kidd of The Independent stated "The novel's well-intentioned tale of redemption through sobriety, work and family seems to have profound personal significance for King, himself a recovering alcoholic.

"[24] A reviewer of Publishers Weekly added "Less terrifying than its famous predecessor, perhaps because of the author's obvious affection for even the most repellant characters, King's latest is still a gripping, taut read that provides a satisfying conclusion to Danny Torrance's story.

"[25] The Washington Post's Keith Donohue wrote, "King is a master of the paranormal thriller, cross-cutting among these three plotlines in short cinematic scenes that give Doctor Sleep its relentless narrative drive.

"[26] Roger Luckhurst of Los Angeles Review of Books stated, "Above all, Doctor Sleep is a novel about addiction and the fight to overcome it ... King's vision of the supernatural is something that hovers numinously on the edges of the awareness, something that needs a cautious and respectful watching at all times.

"[27] Colette Bancroft of Tampa Bay Times noted "At just over 500 pages, Doctor Sleep is a bit slimmer than most of King's recent novels, and it barrels along at an accelerating pace.

"[29] Joshua Rothman of The New Yorker stated, "The Shining is introspective, austere, and unsettlingly plausible, which is why it comes to mind whenever you visit a creepy hotel, play croquet, or see an angry dad with his kid.