Later, Stephen King

I generally start my SK books with a disclaimer: I don't like horror books (they scare me - duh). Later, however, written for a more delicate reader, me, was a lot of fun.

The protagonist is a young boy, Jamie, who lives with his single, struggling to make ends meet mom. Jamie, it turns out, not only sees dead people but can speak with them. Come to find out, at least in Later, the dead cannot tell a lie.

Later takes us through a few deaths, a couple are gruesome, but not in an I'm going to be scarred for life kind of way. SK tells the story superbly, through the eyes of young Jamie, his thoughts, his feelings, his childish ways - I could literally see and hear my own children when they were this age.

There is a zinger at the end that I think I may literally have said, "No way!" when I read it, but it in no way is what the book is about - don't read it waiting for this zinger, you will be disappointed.

Reading this lighter Stephen King novel allowed me to experience Mr. King's incredible style of writing in a way that doesn't leave me sleeping with the lights on; a win for me.