Later is a 2021 novel from Stephen King. This is not one of the thick and dense hardcovers, but a lighter paperback at 264 pages, published by Hard Case Crime. They have two other King titles - The Colorado Kid and Joyland, featuring dynamite pulp cover artwork. This deals with childhood memories and innocence lost, friendships and heroism, morality and corruption - but this is Stephen King territory, so also, ghosts of the dead and the malevolent horror of corpses possessed by an evil deadlight from Hell.
But, you'll read about that later.
Thirteen year old Jamie Conklin lives with his struggling single mother Tia, a literary agent. Their Park Avenue apartment is gone thanks to a Wall Street Ponzi scheme, but the two of them make do with the help of her cop girlfriend Liz, and a recently widowed elderly neighbour. Sometimes it seems Jamie is the adult of the family, and he has his own struggles - like his ability to see and talk to dead people. They aren't scary, they are just dead. Tia is uncomfortable with this, but accepts it when one of her famous authors dies, and he can tell Jamie how to finish the novel - to everyone's benefit. Liz also uses Jamie to solve the crimes of a bomber who has just killed himself. Except this time, the visitation of the corpse doesn't slowly fade away, but grows stronger as it becomes inhabited by a 'dead light', threatening to take Jamie over.
Narrated by Jamie at 22, looking back to age 13, King gets the tone and language exactly right. While there are several storylines which weave and cross, he successfully balances it all. Years later, the events of his childhood return to Jamie when Liz (now a disgraced junkie) kidnaps him for a major crime. Things go south quickly, when demons materialize to cause havoc on the scene, forcing Jamie to invoke The Ritual of Chud. There is a lot going on in this novel, but even the themes revisited from previous novels ranging from Stand By Me to The Shining seem fresh and inventive.
Is it a young adult coming-of-age novel, a demonic horror story, supernatural crime story, or a gruesome ghost tale? Yes, and its one of King's better short novels, suitable for young adults as well as older fans. I stay away from the major hardcovers as I feel there is usually a lot of dead wood, but this I recommend. I read it in a day and it's a perfect book to curl up with for an adventure.
Read my other reviews of Stephen King:
2021 / Tradeback / 264 pages
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