Alex Weller’s Reviews > The Shining > Status Update

Just read "Chapter Twenty-Two - In the Truck". While driving to Sidewinder, Danny tells Wendy they should stay at the Overlook because Jack's worried about what will happen if he quits. His decision is made final when Wendy says they would have to stay with her unbearable mother if they left. Unfortunately, Tony didn't come when Danny tried to ask him if they're safe at the hotel. Regardless, they're staying.

Finished Chapter 21. Danny, also cognizant of Jack's recurring symptoms, wanted to tell Wendy about the firehose but didn't, afraid of getting committed to a sanitarium. He really wants to leave the Overlook, but knows this is Jack's last chance and that he doesn't know what to do if he loses his job. Danny plans to contact Tony soon to find out what "REDRUM" is and how to combat it.

It turns out Danny knew all about Jack's phone call with Al Shockley through reading Jack's thoughts. Wendy, who's noticed all of Jack's drinking symptoms have come back except for losing his temper, is still confused about how Danny knows all the things he does. She doesn't like what the Overlook is doing to Jack and Danny, and decides to talk to Danny about the hotel tomorrow.

Just started reading "Chapter Twenty-One - Night Thoughts". Al Shockley calls Jack and reprimands him for arguing with Ullman and for wanting to write such an exposing book on the Overlook that could damage its reputation. He promises not to fire Jack if he doesn't call Ullman anymore and abandons the book idea. Jack ragefully agrees, but decides to write a more exposing book than he had planned out of revenge.

Just read "Chapter Twenty - Talking to Mr. Ullman". After finding out more about the Overlook at the library (and yelling at Wendy after getting a headache), Jack calls Ullman and berates him for not being fully honest about the Overlook's history, even foolishly telling him about the book he wants to write. Ullman goes ballistic at Jack and says he's going to call Al Shockley to convince him to fire Jack. Damn.

Just read "Chapter 19 - Outside 217". After lunch, Danny steals the Overlook's passkey and is tempted to enter Room 217, the room where the woman had killed herself, but remembers his promise to Dick not to go in there and avoids it, remembering the story of Bluebeard. On the way back, he passes by a firehose that falls off its frame and imagines it as a poisonous snake that chases him. Or ... DID he imagine it?

Just read "Chapter Eighteen - The Scrapbook". In the basement, Jack finds the scrapbook Danny saw in his vision and looks through it. He reads about the different owners of the Overlook Hotel, then learns the hotel was accused of being a safe-haven for mafia kingpins, and that a mafia murder took place in the Presidential Suite (which Danny had a vision of in Chapter 12). Yikes! What a history!

Finished Chapter 17! Dr. Edmonds talks to Jack and Wendy about Danny. He believes the visions Tony is showing Danny are just Danny being incredibly perceptive; the bad visions are nightmares caused by Danny now rejecting Tony as an invisible friend due to his improved life situation, since Tony was born during a period of tensions between Jack and Wendy. He says to call if anything goes wrong.

Just started reading "Chapter Seventeen - The Doctor's Office". After an EEG test, Dr. Bill Edmonds questions Danny about Tony, then asks if he can make Tony appear. Tony appears and shows Danny a vision of Jack in the Overlook's basement, looking at a scrapbook that Danny has a bad feeling about. Then Danny finds himself being chased by the menacing figure again. When the vision ends, he can't remember a thing.

Finished Chapter 16! Danny has another nightmare where he is chased through the Overlook by the sinister figure. However, things don't get much better when he wakes up; the wasps from the nest are somehow still alive and start stinging him. Jack and Wendy take care of the wasps and treat Danny, then Jack traps the wasps and nest in a Pyrex bowl that he takes outside. He's got a bad feeling about the Overlook now.