Later by Stephen King

“If you can see the dead, maybe don’t tell people”

Later is considered a horror story, which is usually not a genre I read. But, hey, it’s Steven King. And it was short enough to give it a go.

The premise is that Jamie Conklin has the ability to see and talk to dead people. Told from the perspective of Jamie Conklin, the narrative shuttles between the immediacy of now and the hindsight of “later” to tell a kind of coming-of-age-as-mystery story, an exploration of innocence and what’s on the other side of childhood.

In Later, as well as telling a good story, Stephen King lightly brushes and engages with wider concepts. He looks at childhood relationships, what clarifies right and wrong, if murder can be justifiable, and far more. Whilst the book does not revolve around these issues, it certainly brings in a humane, thought-provoking angle in including such issues from the perspective of a child.

The key to this snappy little novel that reads so quickly is the narrative voice of Jamie. It has that coming-of-age innocence laced with a bit of streetwise sarcasm that just works so well. Despite an ultimate battle between good and evil, this one you find to be horror-lite. It doesn't get to the point of being terrifying, but coasts around that border a little.

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

“Guns, a dog, and a Cessna — post-apocalyptic survival pack”

Overview: Hig somehow survived the flu pandemic that killed everyone he knows. Now his wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley.

This story, for lots of reasons, reminded me of my father. The hunting, the solitariness, the chewing tobacco, the main character’s relationship with his dog, his sense of connection with nature; and I shared many of those experiences with my father, so this book really touched me.

I also liked it because it was a dystopian novel, but subtle. There wasn’t a lot of exposition or background on the nature of the “disease” that eradicated most humans - just sort of tossed you right into the middle of what was happening.

It’s hard for me to describe the power of this book, and through it all, I’d rate this post-apocalyptic story as "hopeful." But, in its odd, idiosyncratic and special way, I think it is. Even though the journey to that point of hope is a real doozy.