** spoiler alert ** 
 I am a new reader to Stephen King [this is my eighth King book] having mostly began my love affair with his books just this year when I read several of his stories for my Goodreads yearly book challenge. I have read only a few of his books in past but for my challenge this year I ended up reading Under the Dome, Carrie and The Shining. I actually didn't know about this sequel when I chose to read the Shining so it turned out to be a rewarding coincidence that allowed the story to be fairly fresh in my mind as I approached this book. I was thrilled to discover Will O Patton was the narrator of the audio book, which certainly adds to my 5 star enjoyment as he is one of my most favorite actors and my #1 favorite audio book narrator!! 
 This book will always be memorable for me in two personal ways. First, as I say I haven't been reading King for that long so unlike many of his other loyal fans, this was the first time I had the experience of pre-ordering a King book, getting it the day it comes out and immediately starting to read it. Actually it is the first time I've done that with any book, beginning to read it on the day it was released! I was excited for this for a few weeks leading up to it so I can say my expectations were high going into it. And never at any point can I say did the story let me down. In fact, to my utter joy, it grabbed me from the opening chapter. So many of the elements of The Shining that I loved came back in such delightfully clever and fulfilling ways. Especially the character of Halloran, who is such a likeable character then and now more than ever. 
 The pop culture references made me smile as one in particular was to the television show Sons of Anarchy, which happens to be my favorite TV show right now. And come to think of it, I remembered that King himself had an exceptionally awesome cameo on an episode of that show a while back! I have a huge crush on "Jax Teller" the main character of the show, so it was neat that [spoiler] Abra mentions she believed adult Dan looked similar to Jax!! I hope when they go to make the movie version of this they end up casting him! 
 Now a word about the villain, Rose the Hat. Throughout the story I wouldn't say there were too many times I was "scared" but more "worried" for Abra's safety as I came to really like her and I could feel what a tremendous threat Rose was to her. I got a real sense that if Rose could get to Abra she could really do some very serious harm to her physically and mentally. Some of my favorite moments were when Abra flexed her own true power and I found myself breathlessly impressed with the strength of her "shining." One of my most favorite parts of the whole story was Abra doing her "Khaleesi Game of Thrones" style mental smack down of Rose. [ending spoiler!] I found myself actually quite relieved that Abra and Dan didn't get really hurt at the end. Also there were other close calls like with the Crow, so many times Abra could have seriously gotten tortured and that threat was always looming so close. That was where the suspense lay for me throughout the entire story up to the awesome finale. And to see the Overlook location return and play out was such a treat. "Life is like a wheel." 
 The theme of alcoholism was a strong underlying part of this story for Dan, and I have to say it was another part of this story I REALLY enjoyed. There was such a ring of truth and authenticity to the AA storyline. [spoiler, spoiler] By the end, the "Anniversary" chapter and the last time we see "Doc" using his comforting bedside assist, both chapters I could feel very emotional as if I could cry. 
 Which leads me to one last thing I'd like to share about this book and it is actually quite personal and the second reason why this book will be important to me forever. As I neared the end of the audio book with about 2 hours left, it was getting so good and then - in my personal life I was struck with some devastatingly painful news involving my family. It was pretty heavy stuff and I found the weight of it truly hard to bear. In that one moment of my life, hearing the news, I'll never forget that day. I had to take my mind off of it. Most people in this type of scenario, perhaps like our hero Dan would maybe grab a bottle or self medicate in some way. But as I happened to be at such a gripping part of this book, when I was able to take a breath, calm down and relax, I simply returned to the story. For those last two hours, this book helped me to safely escape real life sadness and perhaps that is why I responded so heavily to the story by the end. Having a story be there for me to lift my spirits, just like a friend would, makes this book have special significance that I know in my lifetime of reading I'll never ever forget. 
 This is the first time I've read 40 books in one year. This is book 39 out of 40. I have one more book to go to complete my challenge. But unless my next book is spectacular enough, I can already say this book when I rank what I read from #40 down to #1 of favorites I read this year, THIS BOOK is as of now, my number 1.