The shining

This sucked me in from the first page to the last. The Shining touches on so many levels, but the central storyline is the horror of the abusive cycle. It is a story of a tyrannical father that terrorizes his family and in doing so lays the seeds for them to become tyrants themselves. This could be stopped if people addressed the issue on their own, but resisting your hard-wired tendencies is one of the most difficult things for anyone to do. Without examining their past, abused people can unwillingly transform into despots themselves. "Sometimes human places, create inhuman monsters." Another perfectly written arc in this is the consequences of alcoholism and the rigid grip it can have on a person. There are few things worse than a “dry drunk,” and Jack Torrance takes the cake when it comes to weakness in the face of temptation.

Most people have heard this already, but it's worth adding that the book and the movie cannot be compared because they are two completely different stories. They’re both fantastic, but having seen the movie won’t ruin your enjoyment of the book and vice versa.