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A review by leventmolla
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
4.0
I am a diehard Stephen King fan and I put his books at the same level as Dean Koontz, but King can sometimes be very verbose, especially in hefty tomes like The Dome. However, both authors are masters of the supernatural and they have produced many books that you can consume in one breathless reading.
In this book published in 2014, Stephen King is - probably for the first time - not engaged in the supernatural. Mr. Mercedes is a good old-fashioned crime novel, in the comfort zone of Jeffery Deaver and similar crime writers.
King introduces a new protagonist named Bill Hodges (the book being marked as #1 of the Bill Hodges Trilogy), who is a retired detective. After many years of service, he has just retired, without having a chance to solve some of the latest crimes and he can not keep his mind away from these cases. However, one of the cases is really horrific, where a woman has allegedly left her car keys in the ignition, which has resulted in a maniac stealing the car and driving it on a crowd of job seekers, causing several deaths, including that of a child. Bill Hodges still feels angry at not being able to solve this case and his successor has not had much progress either. The woman whose car was used for this hideous crime has committed suicide, feeling guilty about her negligence. Things get heated up when Hodges receives an email from the perpetrator, explaining why he committed the crime and basically taunting the retired cop to commit suicide. Getting infuriated by this mail, Hodges forgets all about his suicidal impulses and starts his own quest to solve this hideous crime. Briefly considering going to his colleague who took his former post, he then decides to solve this case by himself.
The rest of the book is told in a high-tempo, flowing narrative reminiscent of Deaver. Admittedly, the book does not have the signature plot twists Deaver uses frequently to fool the reader about the true identity or motive of the killer, but it is still a dynamic story and you never get bored.
I have enjoyed King in this new foray into uncharted waters and would like to read him further in this genre.
In this book published in 2014, Stephen King is - probably for the first time - not engaged in the supernatural. Mr. Mercedes is a good old-fashioned crime novel, in the comfort zone of Jeffery Deaver and similar crime writers.
King introduces a new protagonist named Bill Hodges (the book being marked as #1 of the Bill Hodges Trilogy), who is a retired detective. After many years of service, he has just retired, without having a chance to solve some of the latest crimes and he can not keep his mind away from these cases. However, one of the cases is really horrific, where a woman has allegedly left her car keys in the ignition, which has resulted in a maniac stealing the car and driving it on a crowd of job seekers, causing several deaths, including that of a child. Bill Hodges still feels angry at not being able to solve this case and his successor has not had much progress either. The woman whose car was used for this hideous crime has committed suicide, feeling guilty about her negligence. Things get heated up when Hodges receives an email from the perpetrator, explaining why he committed the crime and basically taunting the retired cop to commit suicide. Getting infuriated by this mail, Hodges forgets all about his suicidal impulses and starts his own quest to solve this hideous crime. Briefly considering going to his colleague who took his former post, he then decides to solve this case by himself.
The rest of the book is told in a high-tempo, flowing narrative reminiscent of Deaver. Admittedly, the book does not have the signature plot twists Deaver uses frequently to fool the reader about the true identity or motive of the killer, but it is still a dynamic story and you never get bored.
I have enjoyed King in this new foray into uncharted waters and would like to read him further in this genre.