Stephen King writes horror, sure, but anyone who’s ventured past The Shining knows the author’s got more tricks in his bag. Several of his latest books, for example, cast a spectral shadow across the tropes of hard-boiled crime—one of them, The Outsider, finished its first season as an HBO series earlier this year. And today, just a handful of months after dropping a collection of novellas, King has announced a return to the world of whodunits with Later, which is slated for a 2021 release.
The latest in King’s ongoing collaboration with Hard Case Crime, Titan Books’ evocative line of pulpy crime books, Later follows a young boy whose extraordinary talents could help an NYPD detective track down a killer. It follows King’s previous Hard Case Crime releases: 2005's The Colorado Kid and 2013's Joyland. As with those books, Later will get a sumptuous physical release featuring original artwork that evokes the pulp paperbacks of yore.
“I love the Hard Case format, and this story—combining a boy who sees beyond our world and strong elements of crime and suspense—seemed a perfect fit,” King said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.