March Fiction

Horror master Stephen King strikes again with a gripping story of a boy with special powers…

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Later by Stephen King

The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote that “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” The same problem is laid out at the beginning of Stephen King’s new novel, as the narrator Jamie apologises in advance for his overuse of the word “later”. “I know it’s repetitive,” he explains, “but I had no choice.” This is because the story opens when he’s six and “only later” has he come to understand much of what went on. Then again, Jamie does have more to understand than most. Not only can he see dead people, but he can also talk to them and learn their secrets for a few days after their death.

Not surprisingly, when he tells his single mother Tia about this, she fears “she might be raising a crazy kid”. But once Jamie finds out from a recently deceased neighbour where she put the wedding ring her husband is frantically searching for, Tia has no alternative but to believe him.