4.5 stars.

I get the hype. Sure, I've enjoyed King's writing before, but I've always shied away from The Shining. I blame it on Joey from Friends. And yes, it definitely brings the scare. But I will say that my shock and horror at this book was hurt by the fact that I've read it so far down the road from its heyday. I KNEW TOO MUCH. Dang it. Sucked the air out of it just a tad. Granted, the things I know about the movie (I haven't seen it) do tell me that there are differences between the book and the novel, but I already knew the crux. If I hadn't, this would've very likely been a 5-star read.

The atmosphere is great and the creep factor was majorly high. I was a particular fan of the topiaries. I don't know why. I just find them more intriguing than the rest of the story. A bit of horror-tinged whimsy perhaps? The character writing was really well done and the plot moved really well. I don't have a lot of sticking points.

The one thing I will say for this is the same thing I find in almost all of the older King books I've read. The use of the "n" word is excessive and offensive. It could have easily been left out. The use of sexual language when addressing Danny, a young child, is highly disturbing and...again...unnecessary to the plot. Besides these cringy moments, the rest of the profanity and body horror fit fine with the story.

If you're on the fence about reading this one, I say it's a good addition to your repertoire. The less you know about the plot, the better.