Later

 

In the late 2000s, young Jamie Conklin lives in New York with his mother Tia, a once-successful literary agent who has fallen on hard times. The two of them alone know that Jamie secretly harbors the ability to communicate with the dead, a gift that comes in handy when one of Tia’s clients dies before completing his final novel. Later, Tia’s ex-girlfriend, ethically compromised NYPD detective Liz Dutton enlists Jamie to find the final bomb left behind by mad bomber Kenneth “Thumper” Therriault, a recent suicide. But unlike the other ghosts, Thumper has no intention of leaving Jamie alone once the boy finishes asking his questions.

 

A new Stephen King novel is usually cause for celebration, but his work for the Hard Case Crime imprint has been inconsistent. The Colorado Kid was a nice change of pace albeit underwritten while Joyland was somewhat predictable and failed to capture a North Carolina setting. Add to that the aging King’s wavering ability to write young characters, and Later invites lowered expectations. However, it easily surpasses his previous Hard Case works, delivering a deft blend of coming-of-age story, crime caper, and supernatural suspense.

 

One of the best moves King made here was providing some built-in cover for stylistic discrepancy. From snarky digs at The Sixth Sense to precociousness beyond his years, Jamie’s narrative voice sounds more like King than that of a child, but the conceit of Jamie raised by a literary agent and sharing his story as a young adult makes it easier to accept. It also helps that Jamie is a sympathetic character, exposed to and shaken by death at an early age yet trying his damnedest to live a normal life.

 

King’s secondary characterization is also surprisingly adroit. Soapbox Stephen has, in recent years, been known to populate his casts with one-dimensional strawmen, a quality that is significantly toned down here. Rather than offer up a homophobic preacher antagonist as a target of audience venom, for example, he gives his characters much more believable moral shading. Tia is a largely good person who nevertheless cuts several ethical corners to ensure her and Jamie’s survival while Liz, though motivated by selfishness, still puts a stop to dangerous and depraved criminals.

 

For the most part, Later’s genre-blending is more asset than albatross. Anyone who picks up a King book looking solely for “horror” should know better at this point though the combination of supernatural and human threats and Jamie’s youth does raise the book’s stakes even when it isn’t particularly scary. That said, Later’s hazy connection to It feels underdeveloped and awkwardly shoehorned in.

 

With its ubiquitous cell phones and references to Bernie Madoff’s schemes, Later provides a decidedly 21^st century backdrop for King to explore some of his favorite themes. Later isn’t a revelation, but it’s also better than it needs to be.