The Shining by Stephen King

This is a book which, had I not had it bought for me as an early Christmas present, I probably wouldn't have read at this point in my life. However, as a certain friend wanted me to read it and therefore bought it for me, I did. And oh how glad I am that this happened.

The Shining is the story of a hotel caretaker who, while spending the winter in a hotel, doing his job, with his wife and son, slowly has an extreme change of character. His son also happens to be a 'Shiner'. In other words, he can read minds. That's all I can say without truly ruining the book.

Having seen the film version of The Shining only once many years ago, I'd forgotten pretty much everything that happens. This didn't matter though, as the original book version is A LOT different to the film which means if you have seen the film, you haven't read the book.

I can safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed yet another of Stephen King's masterful works and found myself sitting until the early hours reading away. However, I did find that it was a bit slow to start with, but after around 100-150 pages, things started heating up and the book became a very worthy read.

Normally I don't find myself being moved or unnerved by books or films, but some certain scenes in The Shining left me feeling a little "on edge". The reason for this, I think, is likely to be the psychological aspects of it when Jack becomes somewhat possessed and mindfucked (not an actual description in the book, but I find it to be suitably descriptive).

There were also some parts which I found to be incredibly similar to the film Ghost Ship, most notably the ballroom/disco scenes in which the protagonist discovers a large party going on when it should be empty.

I've recently had a number of discussions about this book and its contents and we've always come to the conclusion that Jack Torrance is very likely modelled after Stephen King - he writes, is a recovered alcoholic and talks of places like Maine and New England.

Unfortunately, the version I had was badly edited in parts causing some confusion to what was happening. I'd therefore not recommend you buy the Hodder version of this book and if possible, get an older one which is likely to be a bit better edited. Other than that, I have no complaints about this piece of literary genius.

I'm going to give this a rating of 4/5.

Slugs by Shaun Hutson

Book two of the R.I.P. reading challenge is Shaun Hutson's debut novel "Slugs" - a gripping tale of what happens when eight-inch-long slugs begin attacking the London town of Merton.

It starts with the mysterious death of an unemployed man about to be kicked out of his home and continues with London citizens being killed in some very gruesome and unimaginable ways.

That's until 2 council workers and naturist figure out what's causing the deaths and how to get rid of it.

But there's an epilogue...

As a debut novel this book is extremely disturbing and a good cause of toe-curling and the realisation that there's always someone off worse than you. By using slugs, the fear or disgust is increased as they're nothing compared to snails or frogs. Long, fat, black lumps which slither along the ground, leaving a thick slime trail behind them in search for human flesh and blood.

I would have read this book a lot quicker than the 10 or 11 days it took but I've been so busy with moving and uni that I haven't had the chance to sit down properly. Like most of Shaun Hutson's novels this would usually be a very fast read at only 200 pages but, for the aforementioned reasons, it wasn't to be.

Now that I'm back at uni I won't have much time to do some casual reading so I may have to risk saying that this is the last book of the R.I.P. challenge unless I count I Am Legend, Children of Men, Frankenstein and Paradise Lost book 4 as horror and treat them as casual reading also. Reviews of all four will follow in the next few weeks.

Overall rating: 4/5

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