Library book: Later by Stephen King


Published: 3/2/2021
Publisher: Hard Case Crime
Pages: 252
Genre: Paranormal Suspense
Review: Library book




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.

Later is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. With echoes of King's classic novel IT, Later is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears.

I was super excited to be able to read this book as it just came out and our public library just bought it. I did enjoy the storyline and the way the characters were but I felt this lacked something that Mr. King always delivers. We are introduced to Jamie who can see dead people. He sees them and can talk to them the neat thing they always have to tell the truth no matter what. Well, one ghost that Jamie meets is one that is not a normal ghost and Jamie learns this in a way he chooses not to. 
We center around Jamie seeing ghosts, his mother working in a book agency and losing everything in a scheme, being kidnapped by a cop who has a drug problem, and dealing with a demon. I feel like this a coming of age story with a bit of ghosty to it. I would not say the book was scary but it might have some "scary" characters for our teen readers. There was the scene at the beginning of the book that had me wonder where I read or saw a scene like the one written. It finally came to me, it was like the scene from the sixth sense and I am sure it was not the same one, but it had almost the same kind of details. Another thing that I would have liked for Mr. King to have done was have it to where Jamie interacts with more ghosts. I feel like he has this amazing ability but he only saw a handful of ghosts to interact with. Why not interact with more, I know you have to see plenty of ghosts in the store, on the sidewalk maybe even in school? I know he was scared but I mean come on embrace it! I do feel like there could be more with Jamie in the future, as I see this becoming an even better to tell us all. What happens to this demon that Jamie has to confront and tell to leave? I will say there was a bombshell that hits at around 90 percent of the book and I was not expecting it to go there. LIKE OMG!!! You went there Mr. King, alright do you boo! I got the feeling that this book was taken in a different era of things and not in this world, which is kind of a good thing probably. 








Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His first crime thriller featuring Bill Hodges, MR MERCEDES, won the Edgar Award for best novel and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Both MR MERCEDES and END OF WATCH received the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014 and 2016 respectively.

King co-wrote the bestselling novel Sleeping Beauties with his son Owen King, and many of King's books have been turned into celebrated films and television series including The Shawshank Redemption, Gerald's Game and It.

King was the recipient of America's prestigious 2014 National Medal of Arts and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American Letters. In 2007 he also won the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife Tabitha King in Maine.

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