Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Book Review - Later; Stephen King

 

TITLE/AUTHOR:  Later; Stephen King

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Audio

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2021

GENRE: Fiction /Supernatural Thriller

FORMAT:  audio download /LENGTH: 6 hours and 32 min

SOURCE: Library download

SETTING(s):  New York


ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  A young boy with a special gift and his struggling single mother's efforts to protect him.


BRIEF REVIEW:  Jamie Conklin is a nice young boy who's just a bit different. He can see dead people but, it's a secret that Jamie and his single mother hope to keep to themselves.  The dead people don't stick around forever, once their spirit fades so do their voices and then they move on.

Mother and son's life has gone from very good living on Park Avenue, NYC  to money being tight and having to move.  When his literary agent mother asks Jamie for a special favor by using his special ability,  it's no longer just their secret as his mothers girlfriend Liz, a NYPD Detective becomes aware of his powers as well. Unfortunately, she is a crooked cop who takes advantage of Jamie's ability for her own evil purposes.

The very end of the book goes to something I hadn't even thought about and wasn't expecting. It's nothing bloody or gory just a OMG moment that made me wonder.

This is one of those shorter Stephen King books, it's a Hard Case Crime release and it was great on audio - very easy to follow with not too many characters.  The first person narrative worked really well and there aren't too many supernatural spirt encounters.  As always King's writing did not disappoint. The audio is narrated by Seth Numrich who did a great job.  Worth Reading if you like this genre.

RATING:  4/5 stars

MEMORABLE QUOTES: 

"I don't think the world starts to come into focus until you're fifteen or sixteen; up until then you just take what you've got and roll with it."

28 comments:

  1. I have his Joyland in pulp fiction edition but have yet to read it. I'm curious about this one.

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  2. I've heard good things about this one. :)

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    1. I thought it was good, I see some negative reviews but, more positive.

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  3. Looking forward to it. I had heard some so-so reviews so then I put it on the back burner but I am pulling it off again once I finish this King read along for The Green Mile.

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    1. I liked the audio a lot, great narrator and I like the Jamie character.

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  4. I used to read every book by King as soon as it was released but haven't read anything by him in a long while. I may get a copy of this.

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    1. Me too Vicki and then over the years missed 5 or so maybe more.

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  5. We usually like the creepy King dude.

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  6. I have never read Stephen King and I'm really not sure why. I should remedy that flaw in reading list. This book is getting lots of good reviews and might be a good place for me to start.

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    1. Really? His more recent books have less horror. 11/22/63 was a good one you might like to try.

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  7. A new one for me. Something to look forward to.

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    1. Not really scary IMO either. I was happy I listened to it.

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  8. This does sound pretty good.

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  9. Glad you enjoyed this one, Diane.

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  10. I'm really curious about this one! It's on my list, so I'm glad you enjoyed it.

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  11. I tend to avoid King since I am not into horror, but I read Mr Mercedes and Outsider, both of which I really liked.

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    1. This would be a good one for you Helen, iy's short and not scary at all IMO.

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  12. Stephen King does not get the attention he deserves from me. I will read at least one of his books this year.

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    1. I think I've read all but maybe 5 of his books. I do like the more mellow ones like this one the older I get.

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  13. So many people love Stephen King. I've only read one of his books, the one that was post-apocalyptic, The Stand, and I could see that he is a very good writer. I tend to avoid all his books because I'm always afraid he will stand behind a door and pop out and scare me, I think.

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  14. It's been quite a while since I read a Stephen King book. I think the last one was Mr. Mercedes which was quite good. I really like the sound of this one and will have to add it to the list!

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  15. I’m going to eventually read my paperback of this, it gets a lot of love!

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