Bestseller Postmortem: Stephen King's "Later"
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I got a new toy. After years of using my iPad to read books, I broke down and had my guy pick me up a kindle paperwhite. It’s light and holds a battery charge for more than one sitting. Seriously fantastic.
The first book I bought and read on the kindle was Stephen King’s newest book Later. I’m not sure if I loved the book or loved the kindle. But whatever the case, I’ve enjoyed myself.
I want to remind everyone I don’t do book reviews. These autopsies are about learning how to write a bestseller. I want to see my book in airport stores all over the world. Plus Barnes and Noble. In order to get there, I need to read and study.
Also, I try very hard not to have spoilers, but read at your own risk.
Stephen King’s On Writing might be the most practical how to for writers. I’ve read it, given it to people, listened to it and occasionally hear a voice whisper to me about avoiding adverbs.
I tend not to read scary stuff. In my free time, I want upbeat stories. Life is short. However, because it was on the top ten, I gave it a go.
“When the fickle finger of fate points at you, all roads lead to the same place.”
AJ Montpetit
The story starts off with a little intro. It helped set the time and pace of the book. I’m not a huge fan of anything in front of chapter one, but I’ve noticed authors either fall into prologues or epilogues. I like a bonus ending. It’s all relative. And it isn’t a hard and fast rule.
The book is about a boy who is telling the horror story of his life. He looks backwards to things when he is a child. How he thought he understood stuff, and how later he knew he hadn’t known shit. I can relate.
One of my favorite thing’s authors use is telling us information early in the book that gets a payoff towards the end. I wish I was better at it because it’s brilliant when it works. Stephen King knows his business.
Most of the chapters are one scene. The book is fast paced with some sprinkles slowing down from time to time to give the reader a breather. Those rest stops are well timed. Something else I hope to get better at.
While the main character keeps telling me this is a horror story, I don’t believe him. Not one scare that made my heart rate race or gasp for breath with my hand across my mouth in shock. Just a wonderful story that I read in one sitting. Grabbed my attention and never let up.
Perfecto Capucine
Maybe it is a horror story. There are some awful things that happen to our man. Things that should never have been allowed to happen. Things that haunt him all the way to the end. But if you are thinking it’s a bump in the night kind of book, you’ll be disappointed. It’s just a great story and who cares what genre it’s in.
There are 69 chapters, and 252 pages according to Amazon. At 250 words per page, on average, that’s right around 63,000 words.
“Tell you what, the worst part of growing up is how it shupts you up.”
Stephen King always has some life lessons in his work. While I am sure there is someone somewhere out there who digs deep and finds hidden meanings where maybe there aren’t any, he always delivers some great one liners.
The number one thing I took away from this book was how down to earth it is. It’s like you were listening to a guy in the booth behind you while you chewed on your cheeseburger. Spying on someone else’s life.
I was sorry when the story was over, but it ended where it needed to. You will never forget the twists and shocks of things the main character finds as he peels back the onion layers of his life.
A master’s work.
