A 2019 Kirkus Reviews Book of the Year
"Falkin synthesizes multiple, unnerving apocalypse scenarios into
something entirely new in this horror novel."
―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
The world experiences an abrupt and unthinkable cataclysm on the morning
of October 29, 2018. Kevin March, high school band trombonist and
wannabe writer playing hooky, is witness to its beginning. To stay
alive, Kevin embarks on a journey that promises to change everything yet
again. On his journey, into a digital recorder he chronicles his
experiences at the end of his world. This book is a transcript of that
recording.
Depicting an unspeakable apocalypse unlike any seen in fiction--there
are no zombies, viruses or virals, no doomsday asteroid, no aliens, no
environmental cataclysm, no nuclear holocaust--with a Holden
Caulfieldesque protagonist at his world's end, The Late Bloomer is
both a companion piece to Lord of the Flies and a Bradburyian
Halloween tale.
The Late Bloomer is harrowing, grim and poignant in the way of Cormac
McCarthy's The Road. Told in Kevin March's singular and unforgettable
voice, delivering a gripping narrative with an unsparing climax as
moving as it is terrifying, The Late Bloomer defies expectations of
the genre and will haunt those who read it.
