Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Shining
    The Shining
    The Shining
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Shining

    Written by Stephen King

    Narrated by Campbell Scott

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • In this masterpiece of modern American horror that inspired Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, Jack Torrance takes a job as the caretaker of the remote Overlook Hotel. As the brutal winter sets in, the hotel’s dark secrets begin to unravel.

    “An undisputed master of suspense and terror.” —The Washington Post

    Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
    Release dateAug 7, 2012
    ISBN9780385360128
    Author

    Stephen King

    Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are 11/22/63, Under the Dome, and the Dark Tower novels Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

    More audiobooks from Stephen King

    Related to The Shining

    Related audiobooks

    Horror Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Shining

    4/5

    7,666 ratings221 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5

      Apr 17, 2025

      This book is very well written obviously it’s a classic. Bestseller. If you’ve already seen the movie, it doesn’t matter. This book is so vastly different in a far better way than that movie you wouldn’t even recognize the story. Sure the iconic characters, including the hotel are the same. But the lays it out for you. There is so much more to the story than Kubricks film of the same name. I’m just saying, don’t go into this story with any preconceptions. The narrator is very good as well. One of my new favorite narrators. The amazing actor Cambell Scott does a very good job in this telling. You will not get complacent. He does the characters very good. He reads with enthusiasm and adequate volume that doesn’t constantly fluctuate. You can listen at a good volume and not have to strain or blast your eardrums because of drastic changes. Even during tense scenes. I just cannot say enough good about this book.
    • 5/5

      Dec 31, 2024

      I’ve always liked this story,the movie wasn’t bad either.great book!
    • 5/5

      Nov 25, 2024

      This book is one of the best books ever written. Forget the dumb movie because it leaves a lot of good stuff out. Without leaving spoilers a family goes to a secluded hotel for the winter they’d be snowed in so trapped. I’ll leave it there but it gets creepy and scary. I read this book when I was like 12 and loved it but at 44 I understand everything that’s going on and completely understand it. At 12 I remember words I hadn’t learned yet so a lot of context was lost. But not now I was blown away and read Dr. Sleep right after as it’s a long awaited sequel and is better in my opinion. Again the movie doesn’t do it justice so read first so you can laugh at the movie. The Stand was the worst movie off his books. 8 books into 1.5 hours!
    • 5/5

      Jul 22, 2024

      THE SHINING had a different ending. The deleted sequence showed the model of the Overlook maze mysteriously covered in snow and a slow zoom-in on a frozen little Jack Torrance. Kubrick destroyed the unused material, so nothing remains.
    • 5/5

      Nov 29, 2024

      This was really good and the first novel I finished by Stephen King. I absolutely prefer this to the movie. Pretty cool with them remaking it like they are doing IT. I liked that the kid DOESNT TALK TO HIS FINGER in a weird made up voice. The mom isnt absolutely annoying. And... well Jack Nicholson is a decent Jack. I just wish they showed some of his better sides more. Theres this distant echo in his head saying "wait but I love my family?" that you just cant get out of a movie. I also like that it incorporated how... when youre scared and tense you see things..and I felt there were times when I wasnt sure if it was the hotel or the terror felt by the hotel that made characters see things. Like the hose. Nothing actually happened to it.. so was that imagined? Also wtf hollywood, hedge animals. You skipped them. You made a lame maze instead. K theres my rant.
    • 4/5

      Jun 28, 2024

      I first read this book in the eighties when I was in school and have recently revisited it. There was a time when I'd read everything of his and that stopped maybe around 1992. More recently, I've been trying to reacquaint with old faves and explore some of his newer stuff.

      This read was darker than I remember. I don’t think the intricacies of the failing marriage really hit me in high school. I’m sure I was horrified by the ghostly stuff and personally familiar with a raging father but that darkness that Jack Torrance brings into the situation was lost on me. This is a true, adult drama of fine literary mettle that just happens to have some supernatural elements.

      I also took the opportunity to check out the sequel, published a few years back now. Dr. Sleep is a must read if you've already read and enjoyed the Shining. If you haven't read either, put them on your TBR.
    • 3/5

      Jun 15, 2024

      Jack, his wife Wendy, and their young son Danny settle in at the Overlook Hotel so Jack can work as caretaker during the off season. They will be the only inhabitants until spring, snowed in, high up in the Rockies. Danny is five years old with a gift called the shining, which allows him vaguely described mental powers, such as telepathy and precognition. This is a Stephen King novel so of course the hotel is haunted and eventually possesses Jack, turning him into a killer. I knew the book was very little like the famous Stanley Kubrick film, but I was nonetheless surprised by the fact that basically none of the iconic scenes from the movie are in the book. No twins, no all work and no play make Jack a dull boy, no here's Johnny. But that's fine. I liked the book better. The story was much easier to follow, for one thing, and the characters had a bit more depth (but still not tons, alas). Not something I probably would have read if it weren't for the famous movie, but that's all right. It passed the time.
    • 5/5

      Jan 14, 2024

      Awesome! One of my favorite King books. I had to wait a long time for the memory of the movie to fade enough that my imagination could take over.
      I really liked the narration from the 4 different points of view.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5

      Apr 10, 2024

      Next on my #stephenking #readathon with @ame9022 and @wendysallison is THE SHINING, another of his earlier novels that I had not gotten around to reading yet. The story of the Torrance family as they move into the Overlook Hotel as seasonal caretakers, and their decent into hell as the hotel tries to claim young Danny Torrance, and his Shine, for its itself, through any means possible.

      I'm not going to get into the specifics of the story, as I think that's been covered ad nauseam at this point. If you're familiar at all with THE SHINING, you know that SK strongly dislikes the Stanley Kubrick adaptation released in 1980, and after finally reading the book, I can understand why. There are a lot of nuances in the book that are lost in the movie, and it's made clear the book is far more about Danny Torrance, while the movie seems to focus more on Jack Torrance. There are some decidedly creeptastic and cool scenes in the book that I feel were probably left out of the movie due to visual effects constraints more than anything else, but those added so much more to the story (one thing I missed in the movie are the hedge animals - those would have been a great addition to the film had they had the ability to create them believably).

      I recently discovered that there was a miniseries made in 1997 that apparently sticks far more closely to the book, and I found it on blu-ray, so will be watching that soon, so see how it compares to both the book and the original film.

      Overall, I think THE SHINING is a fantastic book, and definitely one of those cases where the book is far better than the movie. The movie can exist on its own as a piece of cinematic history, because there's no denying that on its own, it's an ambitious film, but if your only experience with this story is from that film, do yourself a favor and read the book sometime.

      #stephenking #horror #theshining #dannytorrance #jacktorrance #horrorbooks #horrorbookstagram #bookstagram #book #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #bookreview #frommybookshelf #frommybookshelfblog
    • 5/5

      Oct 17, 2023

      This book is so much better as a adult than it was at 14. Don't get me wrong, it was good then. It was scary and exciting. However, at 44 I'm better able to appreciate the reality of every character in this book. One of my favorite things about King is how fully nuanced his characters are. The Shining exemplifies this.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5

      Nov 25, 2023

      Difficult to read this without constantly referring back to the film. Overall, I prefer the film's take - I think a lot of what Kubrick changed was probably for the better (even the things - like the topiary animals - which were necessary, whatever his actual preference). I found Danny's preternatural precociousness particularly jarring - it really smacked of bad writing to me.

      I did like the more nuanced Jack Torrance in the book, though, and am intrigued what the film might have been with a less manic actor than Nicholson.

      Overall the book was enjoyable and atmospheric - diverting enough.
    • 5/5

      Nov 14, 2023

      Holy shit. That spooked me I'm ngl
    • 5/5

      Aug 23, 2023

      Glad I finally got round to it. Just fantastic.
    • 3/5

      Jun 14, 2023

      Not a bad book at all. It just did not grab me the way that other books I have read from Stephen King have done. Of course I saw the movie first but that was literally back in 1980 which it first hit theater's. I think I saw it a couple of other times since then, again in the 80's back with HBO was all fresh and new. So while certain scenes from the movie still bouncing around in my mind I would not say that the movie influenced my enjoyment or opinion of the book. I think character depth was not as I expected and it just seemed to be missing something.
      So, I give it three stars which is certainly not bad but to me it was just average but enjoyable.
    • 4/5

      Jun 29, 2023

      Danny is only 6-years old. His dad, Jack, is out of work, but gets a job at the Outlook Hotel in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado over the winter. It’s a time when the hotel is closed to guests and he will be the caretaker. He, his wife Wendy, and Danny will be the only people there. Unfortunately, Jack is an alcoholic and has – in the past – been abusive toward his wife and son. Little Danny “knows” and hears things – he knows things that will happen, he can hear others like him as they talk to each other in their heads. Dick Halloran, the cook at the Outlook (whom the family meets at the end of the season before the hotel is closed up), is like Danny this way, and calls it “the shining”. Unfortunately, there are ghosts in the Outlook, and the hotel itself has an agenda.

      This was a reread. I read it as a teenager in the ‘80s. I have, of course, seen the Jack Nicholson movie, as well as the more recent rendition of the movie. This time, though, I listened to the audio. I really liked it, but I do suspect it would have been creepier (and I would have been less likely to lose focus – though that didn’t happen often, it did happen occasionally) if I’d read the print. But, having already read the print (though it’s been decades!), I wanted to try the audio. And there were still creepy parts, but it’s pretty much impossible to get Jack Nicholson out of my head… or Shelley Duval or the actor who played Danny in the original movie.
    • 3/5

      May 9, 2023

      Wow. That ended bloody
    • 4/5

      Feb 28, 2023

      I finally tackled this book! And it was really good. I have never seen the movie but I still thought that I knew what to expect when I started this one but it was a bit different. There is a ton of hype surrounding this book and I fully expected this book to become an all-time favorite. It didn’t quite make that list for me but it was still a great read.

      After losing his teaching job, Jack accepts a position as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. Jack, his wife, Wendy, and their son, Danny will spend the winter alone at the hotel. Jack thinks that this will be the perfect opportunity for his family and hopes to finally finish the manuscript he has been working on. Jack’s 5-year-old son, Danny, seems to know things because of his special gift. He can sense that some bad things have happened in this historic hotel.

      This story felt ominous from the start. The more I learned about the hotel the more certain that I was that I would not want to visit. Whatever you do – stay out of room 217! Jack had his share of problems before taking on the job at the hotel and after a short period of time, he spirals into periods of madness and violence. Danny was really the star of this novel though. Being at the hotel was hard on this gifted boy who could see things others couldn’t but he proved to be incredibly brave. I really appreciated his connection with the former cook at the hotel, Mr. Halloran, quite a bit.

      I thought that Campbell Scott did a great job with the narration. I believe that this was the first time that I have listened to his work and I was rather impressed. I thought that he did a great job with the cast of characters in this story which included not only an adult male and female but also a child. I thought that he brought a lot of excitement to his reading and found myself wanting to listen for hours at a time.

      I would recommend this book to others. I thought that it was a very enjoyable story and I am thrilled that I am finally able to say that I have read it. My only complaint is that the story did feel overly long at times and bogged down a bit in some sections but overall it was a great reading experience.
    • 3/5

      Jan 5, 2023

      I thought I read this book in my teens but the farther I got into it, the more certain I became that I hadn't. I would have remembered how well done Jack's descent into madness was. For me, that was the best part of the book. I did enjoy Danny's parts of the book, and Wendy's to a lesser extent, but the star of the show was Jack's changes and his growing connection to the hotel.

      I think my biggest shock was just how different Kubrick's film is to the novel. I need to watch the movie again since I don't remember a lot of the details. That and the insane number of times the N-word was used. I wasn't expecting it and it really put me off.

      I listened to the audio book and initially Campbell Scott's calm tone made me wonder if I wouldn't fall asleep while reading. Luckily, he got down to business when the dialogue and more intense narration called for it. He did a really good job.

      I don't know if it was just the audio book and there were clearer demarcations in the physical book, but I was throw off regularly which POV switches. There were a few times when I had to rewind to see if I either missed something or to figure out who was sharing info.

      I'm glad I read this one. It won't end up on my all-time favorite Stephen King list but I enjoyed the story. 3.5 stars for me.
    • 5/5

      Aug 26, 2022

      After seeing movie in a theater, I was so confused, I decided to read the book. A very good decision. Though, with the visuals from the movie in my mind, reading the book was almost as frightening as the film.
    • 4/5

      Jun 22, 2022

      Jack Torrance has allowed his alcoholism to control many aspects of his life. This time it has led to a physical altercation with a student that has cost him his job. In order to take care of his family, Torrance has taken a position as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in Colorado during the winter season when the hotel is closed. Jack's son, Danny, has always been a special child. He has always had an insight into situations and feelings that others do not which is referred to as the "shining". Thanks to his friend, "Tony", Danny knows that their winter at the Overlook is going to be anything but a good time.

      The Overlook Hotel has a murderous past and the fact that it's mostly empty is not going to stop it from taking new people into its fold. Danny sees horrific unusual things in the hotel even before the season has officially started and wonders if they will make it out alive. As the spirits become more active, Jack becomes overtaken and sets out to murder his family in order to gain favor with those "in charge."

      I have not read many Stephen King books but have discovered that I can get through them if I do them in audio. Campbell Scott is a wonderful narrator who truly brought the characters of Jack, Wendy, and Danny to life. I would gladly read something he narrates again.

      I have seen this movie multiple times and have always wanted to read the book but find King difficult to read in book form. I thoroughly enjoyed finally being able to enjoy this story and look forward to enjoying more King novels in the future.
    • 3/5

      Apr 4, 2022

      *Partial spoilers ahead*

      Apart from the obvious fact that millions of people consider this novel a classic, I'm not sure what I can say in its favor. It's not a bad book, but The Shining suffers from an identity crisis. King was aiming for two things here--a good, solid horror narrative and a "serious" literary piece about the disintegration of a family--and those aims were never reconciled. In the end he kinda skimped on the horror, which was a disappointment since I go to King for scares rather than for literary melodrama. It's an odd imbalance, and even when the reader is granted a respite from the Torrance family soap opera, King devotes a lot of effort to imagery that struggles to come alive (the topiary lions) while merely touching on plot points that I found much more interesting (the background of Horace Derwent and his Mafia associates).

      King eventually worked the bugs out of the horror/family formula in Pet Sematary, which arguably is his masterpiece. I read that book first, so The Shining was bound to seem a little ham-fisted by comparison. There are a few memorably creepy moments, but overall I prefer the film (Stanley Kubrick's version, of course) to the novel.
    • 4/5

      Jan 11, 2022

      Awesome characterization. Creepy hotel. And bonus points for making a playground and hedge trimmings menacing. Seriously, how many people could have made hedge trimmings scary?
    • 3/5

      Dec 2, 2021

      Never read this before. Won't be sleeping soundly for the next few nights.
    • 5/5

      Oct 15, 2021

      This is a phenomenal horror book. I'm going to say right now that I have never seen the Kubrick movie but like most people I am familiar with most of its iconic imagery and it does seem to be different from the book. This book took me longer to read than 'Salem's Lot and I probably liked 'Salem's lot a bit more but I did find this book to be more frightening. I loved seeing the progression the characters went through and how they change from when they first arrived at the Overlook. The character of Danny didn't really seem like a six year old but that seemed to be part of his character and abilities so I didn't really have a problem with it. I really enjoyed reading this and there was definitely some imagery that freaked me out and I am really excited to continue with king (as soon as I get past Rage because I hear it's not very good)
    • 5/5

      Oct 7, 2021

      Having only read a handful of Stephen King novels I've embarked on a journey to read my fellow Mainer's books in more-or-less chronological order (Still need to go back and read Carrie). Wavering between 4 and 5 stars here. The Shining is deserving of its reputation as a scary, well written novel. Having read Salem's Lot, the novel that preceded this one, last fall, it was clear the prose is a step up. I'd actually like to step up the prose on that last sentence, but you get what I'm saying.
      It's a great horror/ thriller novel, and Jack's descent into madness is superbly portrayed. The book is very well paced, balancing character building and back story with action in a tension and release effect. There are a couple of truly cringe-inducing, skin-crawling scenes, with an explosive finale. On the negative side, in places I wasn't quite as riveted as I wanted to be, but still this is a great book.
    • 5/5

      Sep 3, 2021

      Wow. I originally read The Shining back when it was originally released. It scared the hell out of me then, back when I was all of 15. Now, rereading it in preparation for Dr. Sleep, it was a completely different, yet equally as satisfying an experience.

      This was a seminal novel for me. This was the one that really made me decide to try my own hand at writing. So, between inspiring me and terrifying me, it had a lot to live up to.

      Now, having finished it as an adult, as a father and as a writer, I found myself impressed over and over and over again at the strength and surety of King's writing. Jack Torrance was less malevolent and more tortured this time around. Wendy was much more present this time around. And Danny...well, you can't consider Danny without considering the Outlook, easily one of the more brilliant antagonists in modern fiction.

      King's style now is a little looser, a little less literary than it was in The Shining. And this book is so brilliantly plotted, the characters are so rich...Honestly, I've always felt this was King's finest hour. And rereading it 36 years later, nothing stands out that contradicts that. It still holds up.

      I'm going to state here, for the record, there is virtually 66no chance Dr. Sleep will be able to hold a candle to this classic. No way.

      And this is coming from the guy who loves damn near everything the man wrote.

      Feb 13/2016 update: This is my third pass through this novel, and my second in about two years. And my estimation only goes up every time I read it.

      There's not a sour note in this novel, not a letter out of place. It is, in my estimation, the perfect horror novel. There's a lot of contenders for that particular honour, and several of them written by Stephen King, but for me, this is it. This is the one.

      As I worked my way through the story this time, I lost count of how many times I thought, This should be taught as a university course in how to construct the perfect horror novel. Why? Because it starts off with a hint of the issues that will come, both from the vantage point of the hotel, and from Jack Torrance.

      Ah, Jack. Is there a more tragic character in horror? Seriously, he's a very good man, capable of great things, but laid so low by his weaknesses. And King takes his time peeling back Jack's layers. It's like watching a striptease, each piece lifted and discarded, revealing more underneath. This, to me, is the heart of this novel. King eloquently paints Jack as a man desperate to do right, but too weak to succeed, because the hotel is stronger. And as much as King can build the dread and suspense that we all know is coming, he also has a delicate yet sure touch when detailing Jack's alcoholism, which, of course we know now that King was fighting himself.

      I mentioned in a status update that, as much as I anticipated room 217, as I always do, this time, other scenes, like the discovery of the wasp's nest at the same time King discusses Jack's booze-soaked follies and the issue that got him fired from his teaching job, King neatly ties them together with a subtle, yet disturbingly accurate hint of what's to come, when Jack thinks of all those that "stung" him...instead of shouldering some of the blame.

      Shortly after that, when Danny visits the doctor for both his fugue states and his wasp stings, this is a master class in getting important information across--what's commonly known as an info-dump--without the reader even know they're getting educated. This is writing at its best.

      I've always loved King, and this novel in particular, but reading it for the third (and very likely final) time, I see the author at the absolute pinnacle of his talents. He would go on to write a hell of a lot more books, many of them classics, but to my mind, he was never quite as brilliant as he was for the pages of this book. This is genius, and any who read it should look upon it with wonder.
    • 4/5

      Jul 12, 2021

      Finally I managed to finish this one. I have had it on my TBR list so many times but now it is read. A great story, classic horror. Jack has a bad temper. His wife Wendy is thinking of divorce. Their son Danny has the gift. Jack has lost jobs because of his drinking and his temper and he has this job to caretake a resort over the winter when it will be cut off from civilization. Wendy and Danny agree to go, each hoping that this will restore their family.The hotel is a character as well and it is the hotel that is haunted/possessed. I found the story to be engaging and it was easy to listen to the narration by [[Campbell Scott]]. Rated 3.8
      1977.
    • 2/5

      Feb 1, 2021

      I'd seen the movie a few times and always loved it, one of the best horror movies ever made. Basically I wanted to explore the plot a little more and initially that's what I was doing. There was some more background to the story and a bit more about the 'shining', which promised to be intriguing but as I progressed this book started to drag more and more. Some parts were really long winded and at times the writing style irked me, so I really had to force myself to finish it.

      Of course, even though the book is not exactly the same as the film, I reckon that knowing what is going to happen is fairly damaging for the enjoyment of a horror book. Still, for me, The Shining was underwhelming. Must admit I'm disappointed, considering how much I love the movie. I'll round up to 3 stars because without this the movie wouldn't have existed. Nor the hilarious Simpsons parody. Go crazy? Don't mind if I do!

      2.5/5
    • 3/5

      Jan 1, 2021

      This was my second Stephen King read and it has its pros and cons. Cons are that it's a slow read, and definitely not PC anymore with a lot of vulgar language that I think takes away the focus on plot and character development. Good storytelling, strong female character with Wendy the wife, and great writing style with multiple POV, and the worldbuilding for the "shine" is really interesting to hear about. Will probably read Dr. Sleep down the toad, but whenever I read Stephen King, I need a palette clenser to help with the gruesomeness that I cant seem to stop thinking about.
      This one is definitely spooky, but Pet Semetary is still my favorite so far for SK.
    • 4/5

      Sep 29, 2020

      So this is my first King novel, and probably not my last.
      Yes there are some tense moments of psychological terror, but I was not expecting a portrait of alcoholism, handled well and realistically.
      My initial impression is that the sympathetic characterization of Halloran balances the book.