Late Returns

by Joe Hill, Wil Wheaton (Narrator)

A grief-stricken librarian climbs behind the wheel of an antique Bookmobile to deliver fresh reads to the dead.

Narrated by Wil Wheaton

**Not a standalone work. But a short story exclusive to the book Full Throttle by Joe Hill

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Time Travel, Fantasy

Audiobook

Published October 1, 2019

About the author

Joe Hill's debut, Heart-Shaped Box, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His second, Horns, was made into a film freakfest starring Daniel Radcliffe. His other novels include NOS4A2, and his #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Fireman... which was also the winner of a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel.

He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.

He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.

He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply wow! Reached this story halfway through reading Full Throttle and I can easily declare it as my favourite.
Nothing short of amazing.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should immediately state that I read Late Returns as a hard back, beautifully illustrated (Francois Villaincourt) edition published by Subterranean Press. What a wonderful, beautifully written and extremely touching story. It's about loss, love and redemption through books and a mobile library, what more could any bibliophile want of a story?

[Meggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a bookmobile-driving librarian who has been starting the dance with parental grief myself, this was such a strangely specific and excellent read. Some spot-on public library interactions, plus time travel and ghosts(?) and grief? Weirdly, just what I needed.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

2/9/24
Inventive, thought provoking and sweet.

7/28/20
Simply fantastic!

[TaraLynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE short so far of Full Throttle 🥰

[David Edmonds · Rating 5 out of 5]

My final vacation read was this Subterranean Press edition of Joe Hill’s LATE RETURNS, originally published in his story collection, FULL THROTTLE, with paintings by François Vaillancourt. This is a ghost story, but it is also a love letter to books and libraries, and all the wonder and hope found in both.

When John Davies finds out his parents have passed, he moves to their home to help settle their affairs. Finding an overdue library book in his mother’s belongings unexpectedly leads to a job driving the local Bookmobile, where John comes face to face with ghosts, or Late Returns, who have found themselves stepping out of their past and into our present, where John helps them find just the right final book to read.

Quite frankly, this is a beautiful story. It is full of heart and hope and really does capture the importance of books, and libraries, in our lives, and possibly beyond. The accompanying art by Vaillancourt is gorgeous, and the entire production value on this book from SubPress is **chef’s kiss**. It’s a stunning slim volume that holds so much incredible story in its 85 pages.

🏷️ #LateReturns #JoeHill #FrancoisVaillancourt #SubterraneanPress #SubPress #ghoststory #ghosts #library #books #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #bookworm #booklover #bookreview #frommybookshelf #frommybookshelfblog

[Asheley T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story! Not horror at all, more like science-fiction. The main character drives a bookmobile and sometimes people who died in the past come to return overdue books. The narrator helps them check out a new book to read, something perfect for them. Oftentimes these are books that are contemporary, published long after the person died. The narrator worries that this could change history (ie, the butterfly effect) but it usually happens that these dead patrons find some sort of closure or peace thru the books they choose.

No summary or review can do this one justice. It does start a little bit slow, but the reward is great if you stick around until the plot picks up. It is a beautiful, comforting, wonderful story-one that I would love to revisit in the future.

This story is included in Joe Hill's Full Throttle collection and is worth the time it takes to procure the entire book.

[vk chompooming · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy crap, whatta read!! It's stories like this that make me believe in talent through bloodlines. Joe Hill knocks this short story outta the park!! The character development, the plot, and the dialogue r all top notch. Joe Hill proves that he can elevate his father's legacy!! This is the type of short story I need more of n my life.

[John Esse · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories from this collection seem to be the most "Steven King"-y, and that's a very bad thing. Lots of politics and meandering self-reflection and God OH GOD the incessant navel-gazing. We get it, you're a writer who writes about writers, HOW PROFOUND 👏

[Andrew kutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story by Joe Hill this one was really sad but I would highly recommend it but forewarned it does talk about suicide

[Amy T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating is for Late Returns only. I was expecting this to be a lot more interesting.

[Goldie Herechuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots to think about.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I feel that Joe Hill knows what to write to keep us all alive in this nightmare. Not sure if this is a kindness or a cruelty, just want him to keep writing

[Marina Hristova · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collaboration of short stories and I just wanted to read Late Returns about a book mobile where people return books from the past.

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the downloadable audio. I checked out Full Throttle from Hoopla because I was interested in this short story. I haven’t listened to the other stories yet but really enjoyed this one.

[Linsey May · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Wolverton Station I can’t help but think that Kingsward is a bastardisation of Kingswinford.
The idea if Joe Hill referencing my home town in ridiculously exciting

[James Biser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is one of the best that I have read. The narrator is the son of writers who have recently died. For some reason he has a commercial driver's license, so he takes a job as the driver of a portable library. He is surprised to learn that occasionally, the bookmobile is visited by people from past times. They are dead, and have an overdue book that they need to return. The narrator helps them find the perfect book to take with them. Often the book they checkout was written years after their own day. Sometimes they are books written by members of their family and the words allow them closure. The story is beautiful.

[Kostiantyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book I read by Joe Hill. Not knowing the author. Without any expectations… And it was cool. Not nasty, not boring, not short, not long… Just enough to be entertaining, fresh enough to be interesting. It has books (a ruck full of books and a bit of mystery that gives you goosebumps.

Unfortunately, none of his later works I read were even close to as interesting.

[Nick Katenkamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another good one from Joe Hill’s Full Throtle collection. Here we have a book mobile that has ghosts as patrons on occasion. Hill really nails this one.