Part Two: Closing Day

The Torrances make their way up the mountain to the hotel, and there are some good descriptions of what it's like driving on the side of mountains, something I'm familiar with having grown up surrounded by the loomy buggers. The Overlook Hotel is large and loomy itself, and also a little eccentric, with its roque court and its topiary hedges. The family meets Dick Halloran, the cook, who shows them that there's enough food stashed away in this place to let them survive at least two or three zombie apocalypses.

But the interesting thing is that Hallorann, on top of being the first black character I can remember seeing in these books, is also a psychic just like Danny. He gets Danny into a car so they can talk privately (with Wendy's blessing — another sign of how different things were in the 70s). Hallorann calls it shining, informing the book's name, and warns Danny that he might see some disturbing things in the hotel this winter, even more disturbing than the ever-present danger of walking in on your parents getting boinky. The hotel has a history, and for some reason that history sticks around in the Overlook, clinging to the walls as some sort of psychic residue that certain people can see. He tells Danny that he doesn't think any of it can hurt him. They're like pictures in a book, he says, and Danny is reassured.

The family gets a quick tour of the hotel before the manager leaves them to it, and Danny sees his first disturbing picture, blood and brains splattered on a wall in the Presidential suite. He refuses to let it get to him, because he's a tough kid and he believes Hallorann's words.

Everyone leaves the hotel for the winter, and the Torrances are left on their lonesome in a big, silent, empty, haunted hotel where they will soon be snowbound for months, trapped with their own problems and the Overlook's psychic bloodstains. It's an effective setup for a lot of things to go wrong. I mean, even without the supernatural element there's a lot that could go wrong. I'm thinking they're in for a tough winter.