Reviews with content warning for Dementia - Later

Dafür, wie entspannt die Geschichte begonnen hat - fast wie ein Memoir einer etwas ungewöhnlichen, aber größtenteils normalen Person-, hat mich das Ende ziemlich überrascht. Klar, die Menge an Action hat zugenommen, aber viel krasser fand ich die Geheimnisse und wie die Leute einfach damit lebten. Die Art der Erzählung fand ich sehr gelungen, zu Beginn war es gewöhnungsbedürftig, es hat sich aber über das Buch entwickelt, was glaubwürdig ist, da exakt das dargestellt werden sollte.
Dadurch dass nicht alle Fragen geklärt wurden, ist die Geschichte zwar etwas unzufriedenstellend beendet worden, das passt jedoch ins Genre, da man sich so unwohl fühlt. Es ist eher ein schleichende Horror in dieser Story.

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ricksilva's review

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emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Stephen King's take on a boy who sees dead people, ends up going in a pretty different direction than the film The Sixth Sense, but the inspiration for the idea is pretty clear.

Jamie Conklin can see the recently dead, and they must answer his questions truthfully. Jamie just wants to live a normal life, but when people close to him discover his abilities, they begin to think of ways it could be useful.

This had a surprising number of plot twists considering its relatively short length. What would be described as "false finishes" in pro wrestling come fast and furious.

The story is a bit more "typical" King than I was expecting given the marketing of the Hard Case Crime imprint. I went into it expecting something with no (or at least minimal) supernatural elements, something more like Mr. Mercedes.

Still, the story and characters were great, and in spite of relying on a lot of standard King tropes, the plot kept the surprises and twists coming right up to the end.

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aelis's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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camz's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Una de las pocas historias de King que creo tiene la cantidad justa de páginas. No es un secreto para nadie que a King le gusta escribir más de la cuenta, sin embargo creo que en este libro escribió lo justo y necesario.

La trama me gustó porque cuando empezaba a pensar que la historia iba por un lado me daba cuenta que se iba por el otro, en parte es debido a que no tenía planeado leer este libro, por tanto no leí sinopsis ni nada. No es que sea una historia particularmente innovadora, pero por lo menos sabe mantenerte enganchado.

Su final... es un gran wtf. No digo que sea bueno o malo, la verdad no me importa qué es lo que pasa en el, simplemente pienso que no aporta nada. Supongo que como el libro tiene un poco de coming-of-age entre medio del horror, se puede ver como el cierre del ciclo de la niñez del Jamie, pero incluso si es así, pudo ser mejor.

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rinku's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.0

Later was my first book of Stephen King and this was an exiting experience for me. I’ll definitely read more of his books in the future since this one already gave me a good taste of his style.

Even though I haven’t read a King book before, I still kinda know the drill of his stories and I had the feeling that this plot is quite typical for him with focusing on children and their supernatural abilities. This time, Jamie’s in the focus who can see the ghosts of dead people. But this fact does not play as big a part of the story as one would expect. There are many other topics picked upon, like literary agents and them trying to make as much money as possible with their clients even after their death – I’m pretty sure King knows a lot about this business. The story gets f-ed up quickly and the ending, even though I was not completely happy with it, was really shocking as well.

I also enjoyed how real-life events were included into the book, like the financial crisis or the American health system. We also have some lesbian representation which surprised me. Sadly, there was some sexism and especially objectification of women – probably one of my biggest critiques – which annoyed me.

It’s obvious that King knows his craft well: The flow of the story was so good, the writing style and its slightly cynic undertone was enjoyable to read, and the characters were great. I was surprised though that I didn’t find this book creepy, despite the fact I’m creeped out quite easily. It was more unsettling at some parts but that was it.

All in all, Later was a nice and especially short introduction to the work of King that is unsettling, but not too creepy.

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