Just Finished Reading Later by Stephen King

Later, just published last month, is the latest novel by the legendary horror writer Stephen King, and it fits that genre well. As his books generally go, it's not very long...and with the protagonist recounting its events in the first person I read it feeling that at least he, young Jamie Conklin, wasn't going to be in mortal danger, all indications at times to the contrary.  Jamie, living in New York City with his single mother Tia, who is struggling in the publishing industry to make ends meet for them, states up front that he sees and can converse with dead people, naturally bringing to my mind that kid in the movie The Sixth Sense with similar "talents".  But Jamie denies the similarity and lays out the way the encounters go: the dead are usually found in places they are used to being in, seem to recognize his awareness of them, and must answer his questions truthfully.  At first his mother doesn't believe he sees the recently deceased, but an encounter in Central Park with an accident victim changes all that.  Jamie's secret was to be between just the two of them, but circumstances give mom what turns out to be a really bad idea, as she enlists his help in talking to a newly dead writer.  The secrecy bubble gets burst...just enough for another person to pick up on Jamie's abilities, eventually putting his life and others' in danger.  The story jumps from incident to incident, starting when the narrator is 6 and ending at the "present" when he is 22.  As I said (and Jaime as well), this is a horror story...but also one about crime and desperation. Sometimes you really don't know someone until you experience them with their back against the wall and nowhere to go...with you as their only way out.  Maybe that aspect of Later is scarier than all the grotesque imagery Stephen King presents here.  I liked the book and I think I left enough out of the review to where I think you might as well...