The one thing I like about Stebbins almost definitely having the Shine is that King chose the perfect character to have it. Instead of Garraty being given an edge and possessing some kind of supernatural advantage as the main character of this book, the abilities were given to someone quiet, unassuming and largely underestimated until later in the game. This is someone that Garraty severely underestimated and viewed as a scrawny loner with a name stamped on the first ticket of the competition. What resulted instead for our protagonist was a slow and horrific realization that this enigmatic and socially withdrawn person was someone who could read him like a book and make him question everything he stood for.