Sometimes growing up means facing your demons.
The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep a secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.
Horror Book Reviews: Later
Like Joyland and The Colorado Kid, Stephen King’s Later falls under the Hard Case Crime publication umbrella. Being a massive fan of Joyland, there was no question that I would pick up this, his latest novel, Later. I didn’t bother reading the book’s synopsis and went on blind faith. It is, after all, Stephen King we’re talking about. Jamie Conklin has an extraordinary gift, although some might say a curse. Jamie can see and speak to the dead. Cue the famous line, “I see dead people.” The catch? These dead folk, ghosts, know that Jamie can see them and can make for an uncomfortable situation for the poor kid. The good news is that they are only present for a short amount of me before disappearing to their next and final destination. As with any King novel, things aren’t always that simple and don’t always play out as intended.
When Jamie’s mother is in dire need of obtaining information from a recently deceased, she turns to him for help in abstracting the information before moving on. Here, his secret is exposed, and his abilities are exploited for gain. Specifically, Liz, Jamie’s mother’s girlfriend, an NYPD detective and is looking to score points with the department by capturing a crazed killer, Thumper. No harm, no foul… right? No good deed goes unpunished.
Again, this is a Stephen King novel. The killer passes away, and Liz rushes with Jamie to obtain information from his corpse to put the final nail in the coffin and wrap up the investigation, making her a hero. Thumper, however, has other plans. Again, the plan was simple; get the information needed, ghost move on, and Jamie and company go on their merry way. Thumper had other plans, and he stuck around with Jamie and haunted him. Now, Jamie has to figure out why and how to get rid of this pesky spirit.
“Belief is a high hurdle to get over and I think it’s even higher for smart people. Smart people know a lot, and maybe that makes them think they know everything.”
― Stephen King, Later
I’ll admit, there were a few similarities to a certain 90s blockbuster (The Sixth Sense) that made me smirk and mouth “Really?” to myself with a slight air of cockiness and smugness, proud of having called it out to no one in particular. But there were enough differences in the narrative to make me look past the film’s likeness. Later featured more than a few moments sure to instill terror and fright to any horror newcomer, what with King’s vivid descriptions of the deceased and the mannerisms in which the deceased met their demises. There was also a splendid cohesiveness in his form of writing that blended a supernatural story with a noir detective fiction that features its fair share of twists and turns, albeit some that really have no place in moving the story along and only inserted to provide shock value. I’ll take it.
The Verdict
Later is an excellent read by the master of horror, and I was entertained throughout, never once losing interest. With his massive body of work, King has yet to disappoint. While it is true that I have a ways to go before I can say that I have read even a quarter of his work, what I have read did thus far has not ceased to impress, and, at this point, I can honestly say that it is not often that King fails to deliver. While Later just falls short of a home run, I’d say that it is a triple at best that knocks in the winning run. Also, be on the lookout for fun references to his other novels as King is inclined to do within the “King universe”.
Take a look at more of my horror book reviews, here.