Later by Stephen King
Publisher – Titan/Hard Case crime
Published – Out Now
Price – £8.99 paperback £4.68 Kindle eBook
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 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.
One of the reasons I love stories is their endless permutations. You can have one central idea but give it to different writers you’ll often get very different stories. A ghost story can be funny, romantic, terrifying or sometimes not even the main part of the story. Its always fun to see what authors can come up with and in Stephen King’s very entertaining novel Later we get an interesting mix of the supernatural and crime with a focus on a young boy who can see dead people and manages a very different story to the on you just thought of when your read that line!
Jamie Conkin is young kid; child of Tia a literary agent (of a struggling agency) and he has come to realise he can see the ghosts of the recently departed. They also can see him and talk to him – in fact they must answer his questions. Jamie tells us about various episodes that happened as he grew up and how they helped his family and put him in considerable danger because this is a skill everyone will want him to use even when he is not able to.
I’m a little behind on my King reading but this story really impressed because in a fairly short novel we get a wave of interesting adventures all playing with the theme of what is someone could speak to ghosts and while it is more episodic in structure, the way the various events influence what happens next create a really compelling tale. King here plays with the concept of noir (a key feature of the Hard Case Crime series) so its less a young hero battling ghosts and more the nuanced way people may seek to profit or exploit Jamie that is a key factor of the book.
What impresses me is the variety of these little tales. We get the poignancy of someone not being able to talk to their spouse for the last time; the dark humour and desperation of a dead author being asked about what should have gone into their final book and then just when not expecting it the horror because we realise not all ghosts and people mean well. There is a particularly evil character that Jamie must learn to manage and cope with that everything from his personality to his appearance is unsettling and adds to the depth of this supernatural world with its own rules we slowly learn via Jim. Indeed, there is one element of the lore of the world and the creatures within it that will make long-term King readers go ‘oooh’ as it links back to one of the most popular novels. It’s a minor connection but a reminder how many of these stories always often have links to others. As the story progresses we get battles with ghosts; tense searches for something dangerous and a finale that puts Jamie in considerable danger.
Despite that supernatural element the humanity of the tale is what comes across. Jamie is a very normal and good kid. Confused, scared and yet loves his family. We get to care for them a great deal; their fortunes and their friends. An interesting dimension is when his mother gets a new girlfriend in the form of Liz a hard as nails and often ruthless detective. The highs and lows of the relationship are played out and how Liz starts to see Jamie as useful gives the story a darker edge than I was expecting but it’s a reminder as we get older, we see the sies of people they think they can hide from the young. Indeed, this tale is a loss of innocence in many ways as Jamie learns not everyone can be saved and indeed there are sometimes no happy secrets to be revealed and the finale is a sobering revelation that reminds us in noir happy endings are often that you survived rather than lived happily ever after.
This is a very good tale, and one seasoned King fans should enjoy for offering a good mix of horror and thriller to tell us an engaging fast paced tale with great character moments. A lot of fun and well worth your time!
