I’m not a Stephen King completist – I read a bunch of his novels when I was younger, but now I’ll only pick one up when someone I trust tells me I should. A couple weeks ago I shared a link to an interview in Five Books with Hans-Åke Lilja who has been writing about King for almost 30 years. He declared Later one of the five best King books, and when I was in a favourite bookstore recently, it was there for a song. Serendipity!
Short version: I agree with Lilja – this is an excellent Stephen King book. There are elements of it that felt like classic King, without the weirdness and, uh, horniness(?) that pervade some of his earlier work. It’s also the rare King novel that seems like a simple adaptation to the screen – and though a TV adaptation was announced in 2022, there haven’t been any updates since.
Later is Stephen King’s third entry for the Hard Case Crime imprint. While marketed as a crime novel, it is unmistakably a King book-blending crime, horror, and coming-of-age elements, all in his signature bingeable prose. The story is told in the first person by Jamie Conklin, a boy who can see and communicate with the recently dead. Yes, Jamie references The Sixth Sense early on in the book, but there’s a pretty good twist to this: the dead don’t stick around for more than a couple of days, and when Jamie asks them a question, they can’t lie.
Jamie is a compelling, believable narrator, with an authentic and charismatic voice. His relationship with his mother, Tia, is particularly well-drawn, in a way that King does better than anyone. It’s realistic, emotionally resonant, and central to the book’s appeal. There’s a stretch of Later where Jamie describes his mother’s career arc that I could have read 100 more pages of. Liz Dutton, the NYPD detective and Tia’s partner, is another standout character: flawed, complex, and never reduced to a simple villain or hero (well, until.). Professor Martin Burkett, a family friend whose dead wife Jamie meets at the beginning of the novel, adds further emotional depth.
While the book contains its share of darkness, including violent deaths, supernatural threats, and moments of real menace, the overall mood is lighter and more accessible than much of King’s earlier work. This is largely due to Jamie’s narration: his voice is direct, honest, and often charmingly blunt, with youthful observations that bring warmth and humour to the story. The result is a novel that, while it doesn’t shy away from horror or the macabre, feels approachable and even comforting, balancing suspense with moments of humor and emotional candor.
King still has his quirks, and the ending of the book goes a bit off-the-rails, but not as much as some of his books (The Outsider and Under The Dome, I’m looking at you). There’s a ton of unnecessary foreshadowing, but the book is so much fun that it doesn’t break the spell. Later is a great entry point for teenage readers and a satisfying, nostalgia-tinged addition for longtime fans.
