It’s been literally decades since I read a Stephen King novel. I believe that the last one that I read was Misery in 1987, before my grown up children were born. That book was simply too horrible for me. Later, for whatever reason, I watched or tried to watch the movie version of that story and that cinched the deal for me. I have not read a Stephen King book since then and not seen many of his movies either.That is, until the 2014 book Mr. Mercedes was chosen this year as one of the reads for our book club. Now I am wondering what I have missed in all of the books since 1987 as I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Mercedes. It was not too horror-ible at all though horrible things do happen in the book. However, it is a fast paced crime or detective story rather than a horror story. It is riveting; another book that I could not put down. A race-against-time thriller.
It is very well written with well-developed characters that include a retired police detective and a psychopath.
The police detective is not enjoying his retirement and is pulled back into one of his last, unsolved cases, that of the Mercedes killer.
The psychopath is, as The Globe and Mail says, “one of King’s great creations, twisted and deranged, but cringingly human.” On the outside, he is ordinary and could be one of your neighbours. However, on the inside he has many issues.
What results when the detective and the psychopath collide is a riveting story with two men ‘fighting’ to the end.
Mr. Mercedes is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by me and by the Globe and Mail, too, LOL.
It is exciting that I just discovered that Mr. Mercedes is a trilogy so I (we) have two more books to read in the series, including Finders Keepers and End of Watch. I only hope that they live up to Mr. Mercedes.
There is also an AT&T Original mini series that has just started as I write this in August, 2017. I watched the trailer just now on Youtube and cannot decide if I will be watching the program or not. I have prematurely made up my mind that it cannot live up to the excellent book but I will be waiting to see what people think of the mini-series. As always, I recommend reading the book first.
You can learn more about Mr. Mercedes or order your copy of the book from Amazon by clicking here.
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Mercedes is King’s 62nd novel, though only 44 feature his name. He says that this book is based on a real incident in which a woman drove her car into a McDonald’s restaurant.
Will you be reading Mr. Mercedes?
See you at
the book store!
Brenda
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Brenda, like you, I seldom have read Stephen King books. I think he's an outstanding author, but his edge on horror is more than I can take most of the time. But I do love a good mystery/thriller, especially where the main character is a police detective, so I think you have convinced me to give Mr. Mercedes a try. Most interesting review.
ReplyDeleteWhat she said (Wednesday Elf). I've always steered away from horror stories that give me nightmares, so it's good to know that this book's emphasis is on a good mystery with a great character. Definitely on my "need to read" list. Excellent review!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'll look forward to your follow-up reviews on the other two books on the trilogy, as well as on the mini-series.
DeleteThanks, ladies. I hope you enjoy the book if you do get around to reading it. So many good books!
ReplyDeleteBrenda , like you I read a few King books in the 80's and then quit because I really don't like horror stories. This book does sound like one I'd like though. Thanks for the recommend.
ReplyDeleteYou are actually the third person to recommend this book to me! My husband read it and loved it. Also, Bev included it in her review of the Bill Hodges series and now I feel it truly must be excellent since you recommend it too. I almost want to set aside the book I am currently reading to jump into the Mr. Mercedes story. Thank you for a great review and recommendation.
ReplyDeleteYou've made me want to read it, but I think I'd better wait until I have an uninterrupted time slot so I don't have to put it down before I finish it. I'm not good at that and often lose too much sleep if I don't allow enough time.
ReplyDeleteI know only to well what you mean, Barbara. It seems I have these days NO self control. I am currently blitzing my way through another excellent book and was reading at 3 a.m. one night this week...
DeleteThanks for your comments, ladies!
ReplyDeleteWell my mother would love this book since it's more crime detective centered. I'll be adding this to a list of possible gifts to get her. Mr. Mercedes may end up in her collection now. Thanks for the review, I always appreciate book recommendations.
ReplyDeleteI usually pass up STephen King novels because they give me nightmares. Too vivid an imagination I guess. But detective novels I love, so this sounds like it would be enjoyable to me. I wonder too if I have missed out on some of his other novels......
ReplyDelete