2022 Book Log 1- Later by Stephen King
Oh, I see I didn't post beyond 8 here last year - was mostly on the other computer that doesn't have the password saved...
I intended to try starting 2022’s recreational books with Dickens’s The Cricket On The Hearth, but it’s more a Xmas book, which was past already, and it was tiny print that was also repro to Victorian paper, so somewhat broken up, and also I just couldn’t get into it. So one we hit 12th night, I gave up and went with...
1) LATER by Stephen King
This is one of his Hard Case Crime books, but very definitely a horror/supernatural story that echoes a lot of his earlier stuff- notably the kid seeing dead people as in The Shining (he references The Sixth Sense, as to reclaim the concept), deadlights, and (a different version of) the Ritual of Chud from It.
With the narrator being the sone of a literary agent, there’s a wealth on in-references to the publishing businiess and King’s experiences in it (the fact that this is a 250-page book coupled with a line about authors reaching a stage where they refuse copyediting or any editing). The main plot concerns what happens when the narrator who can see dead people gets involved with a bombing case because his mum’s girlfriend is a (dirty) cop, and finds that some things are worse than the merely dead.
On the crime front, we have a dirty cop story told from an unusual aspect, which is a great change, even if some of the developments are a bit sudden and shaky - but then they would be, being from a 9-13 year-old’s memories, who isn’t an omnipotent narrator. On the horror front, we have something that starts off as King reclaiming his themes from the likes of The Sixth Sense, adding to the Kingverse mythos, and - best of all - takes a lovely orbit around MR Jamesian territory, in particular Oh Whistle And I’ll Come To You. Interestingly the text refers to the “title of a famous ghost story” but not to the Burns poem that MRJ got it from, which is definitely an element in the story, so that side is nicely held as subtext for the MRJ fans.
In a lot of ways it feels like what the Odd Thomas series would be if it was written by Kin rather than Koontz - not in the sese of King doing a version of that, but just my feeling of how they play. If the book has a downside, it’s that the one last twist is kind of irrelevant and unnecessary, and comes out of nowhere, though with that said, it does tie into the background of the Oh Whistle title, just in an an out of the blue tag scene way.
Overall it’s a hugely enjoyable page-turner, and being shorter than the average King doorstop means it flows that much faster and fresher. Good characteriation and… You know it might just be the most enjoyable and accessible King, unburdened by hundreds of pages, in years. Highly recommended- it only came out last summer and has been a great start to the reading year for me.
I intended to try starting 2022’s recreational books with Dickens’s The Cricket On The Hearth, but it’s more a Xmas book, which was past already, and it was tiny print that was also repro to Victorian paper, so somewhat broken up, and also I just couldn’t get into it. So one we hit 12th night, I gave up and went with...
1) LATER by Stephen King
This is one of his Hard Case Crime books, but very definitely a horror/supernatural story that echoes a lot of his earlier stuff- notably the kid seeing dead people as in The Shining (he references The Sixth Sense, as to reclaim the concept), deadlights, and (a different version of) the Ritual of Chud from It.
With the narrator being the sone of a literary agent, there’s a wealth on in-references to the publishing businiess and King’s experiences in it (the fact that this is a 250-page book coupled with a line about authors reaching a stage where they refuse copyediting or any editing). The main plot concerns what happens when the narrator who can see dead people gets involved with a bombing case because his mum’s girlfriend is a (dirty) cop, and finds that some things are worse than the merely dead.
On the crime front, we have a dirty cop story told from an unusual aspect, which is a great change, even if some of the developments are a bit sudden and shaky - but then they would be, being from a 9-13 year-old’s memories, who isn’t an omnipotent narrator. On the horror front, we have something that starts off as King reclaiming his themes from the likes of The Sixth Sense, adding to the Kingverse mythos, and - best of all - takes a lovely orbit around MR Jamesian territory, in particular Oh Whistle And I’ll Come To You. Interestingly the text refers to the “title of a famous ghost story” but not to the Burns poem that MRJ got it from, which is definitely an element in the story, so that side is nicely held as subtext for the MRJ fans.
In a lot of ways it feels like what the Odd Thomas series would be if it was written by Kin rather than Koontz - not in the sese of King doing a version of that, but just my feeling of how they play. If the book has a downside, it’s that the one last twist is kind of irrelevant and unnecessary, and comes out of nowhere, though with that said, it does tie into the background of the Oh Whistle title, just in an an out of the blue tag scene way.
Overall it’s a hugely enjoyable page-turner, and being shorter than the average King doorstop means it flows that much faster and fresher. Good characteriation and… You know it might just be the most enjoyable and accessible King, unburdened by hundreds of pages, in years. Highly recommended- it only came out last summer and has been a great start to the reading year for me.