Later is about a boy who can see dead people and who is going to tell you straight up it’s not like The Sixth Sense and I think as far as King novels go… it’s pretty darned average.
It’s not bad. It’s just there.
We follow Jamie who lives with his single mother who runs her families publishing house. One day on the way to a birthday party he sees a dead person and for Jamie its all ghost town from there. While the mother was kind of one note I did think her friend Liz, at least, was an interesting character and I liked where that went.
And I was honestly going to put it off as just a good easy summer read. Not much thought involved good for the beach you know? But then there’s just this weird thing concerning Jamie’s parents that’s just blurted out by your leave at the very end and then mainly glossed over.
And I was just like what? Why was that necessary?
Not going to lie it cast a pall over the end of the book.
I can’t lie either at the same time I was reading this I decided to reread Under the Dome which I haven’t bothered with since it came out but remembered enjoying… what I didn’t remember was the absolutely horrendous treatment of women in that novel.
Which definitely got me thinking. I mean the two female characters fair better here but that’s not saying much at all compared to the shit show that is Under the Dome and do they really?
I will say there’s no rape in Later and he amazingly keeps the commenting on the female appearances to a reasonable minimum. So it does have that going for it. I haven’t read any of his more recent novels so I don’t know if that’s something he’s consciously worked on.
I didn’t want this to turn into a ramble. I do enjoy King, obviously his older work, and Later is fine. It’s a engaging enough read but I’m willing to put money on Later being a distant memory but the end of the year if not sooner.
Recommend: Overall yes.
Mainly for King fans or people looking for a good and easy ghost story.