Every Stephen King Book That References The Shining and The Overlook Hotel (There’s More Than You Think)

For Constant Readers, the library of books written by Stephen King is not only a treasure trove of unique horror tales, monsters, and dilemmas, but an interconnected web. Though his magnum opus, The Dark Tower series, has become the central linchpin for all of Stephen King’s books, with connectivity that brings almost everything together, there are still plenty of other references sprinkled across the titles. King’s most famous creation for example, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, has popped up in plenty of titles throughout the years.

One of Stephen King’s most famous novels, The Shining, has a similar place in his larger canon. The tale of Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, their son Danny, and the haunted Overlook Hotel has terrified readers for decades and became the basis for one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Just like IT, The Shining’s characters, locations, and lore have multiple appearances across King’s work, and some of them may be a shock if you’re not picking up the books.

7) The Stand

Stephen King’s longest book ever, The Stand, is not only his most dense title but one that has connectivity across his other books as well. Though it is primarily linked to The Dark Tower (the events of the book are detailed in one of the sequels, while recurring antagonist Flagg is also present), there is still a connection to The Shining as well.

One of the main characters of The Stand is Mother Abagail, a beacon of goodness who appears to people in dreams to find her and also has visions from God about the future. In the book, she details how her prophetic abilities manifested just before the outbreak of the Captain Tripps virus, saying: “I’ve always dreamed, and sometimes my dreams have come true. Prophecy is the gift of God and everyone has a smidge of it. My own grandmother used to call it the shining lamp of God, sometimes just the shine.”

Fans of The Shining will recognize this explanation as being pretty similar to what Dick Hallorann reveals about the power, having used his ability along with his grandmother as a boy. That said, there doesn’t seem to be any connection between Hallorann and Mother Abagail beyond the coincidence that they both learned about the power from their grandmothers.

6) IT

Though now well known to fans thanks to the hit HBO Series, IT: Welcome to Derry, the connectivity between Stephen King’s IT and The Shining is one of the best Easter eggs of the horror master’s career. Buried in the over a thousand pages of IT was the confirmation that Dick Hallorann, the head chef at the Overlook Hotel and fellow Shiner, had previously been stationed in Derry, Maine, and was a member of “The Black Spot,” the all-black club in the town that was burned to the ground by racists (with the added influence of Pennywise). Hallorann’s use in the IT book is scant, making his time in the Welcome to Derry series a major expansion on his appearance.

5) Misery

A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to The Overlook Hotel can be found in the pages of Stephen King’s Misery, as Annie Wilkes details her brief time spent with a minor character, Andrew Pomeroy. As she tells it, the pair met on her way to Sidewinder, Colorado, with Pomeroy revealing he was headed that direction, having been assigned by a magazine in New York to sketch the ruins of the Overlook hotel. As fans know, the hotel burns to the ground in the pages of the book, and apparently, its bones are still up there.

4) The Dark Tower

A key element of The Dark Tower‘s storyline is that Randall Flagg has assembled a group of “breakers,” which are powerful psychics whose powers he intends to harness together to destroy the beams that hold the Tower up and connect all realities. It’s long been theorized that the powers that some Breakers have could very well be considered “shining” on a different world. This extends further as Mid-world, the primary setting for The Dark Tower, denotes characters as having “The Touch,” which is their word for “The Shine.”

The Dark Tower series also gets quite meta. In the second book of the series, The Drawing of the Three, one of the lead characters of the series, Eddie Dean, thinks about watching The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Later still, when Stephen King himself appears in the series as a character, he thinks about some of his previous books and characters, including Danny Torrance from The Shining.

3) Doctor Sleep

Perhaps the most obvious entry on this list, yes, the sequel to The Shining, 2013’s Doctor Sleep, does reference not only the Overlook Hotel and the shining abilities, but returns to the iconic location. For those unaware, the book takes place decades later, following an adult Danny Torrance who has used his shining abilities to help people pass away peacefully. The book also features Wendy Torrance and Dick Hallorann once again, with references to characters like Stuart Ullman and ghosts like Horace Derwent.

2) Billy Summers

Though Billy Summers is a crime novel and not one of King’s horror tales, it features some very overt references to the Overlook Hotel. In the events of the book, the title character spends some time in, where else, Sidewinder, Colorado. On top of that, where he’s staying has a view that includes being able to see where the Overlook once stood before burning down (a fact revealed by his host). Later, after returning from a walk, one character even claims to have seen the hotel itself, though it disappeared just as quickly.

Another connection perhaps indicates how deep the evil of the Overlook Hotel really goes. On the wall in his Sidewinder abode is a painting of the hedge made at the Overlook hotel, including the animal-shapred topairies. Much like the topiaries in The Shining book, they also appear to be able to move in the painting, as Billy notices them in different spots later on. Billy even removes the painting from the wall in the book, only to find it has returned on its own.

1) The Characters Who Can Probably Shine

Like The Breakers in The Dark Tower, there are several other super-powered characters in the pages of Stephen King’s books who technically are not said to have “The Shine” but whose abilities seem quite similar (and may very well expand the scope of what fans know as “shining”). These include: Carrie White, the telekinetic from King’s first novel, who uses her mind to exact revenge on her fellow students; Charlie McGee, the titular “Firestarter” from King’s book; and John Coffey, the miracle healer from The Green Mile. None of these books explicitly references The Shining, the Overlook, or any of the characters, but the connection exists because of the overlap in powers and their mystery in the realm of Stephen King’s books.

Every Actor That Has Played Stephen King’s IT and Pennywise (There’s Way More Than You Think)