Bill Hodges is a retired police detective whose life hasn't been the same since he left the police force. Everyday seems like a struggle to find a reason to keep living, and someone else seems very aware of how hopeless he feels. Before he retired, Hodges was working one of the most horrific crimes he'd ever encountered--an unknown man had stolen a Mercedes and ran over several people waiting in line for a job fair early one morning. The one who did it was the one who got away, and Hodges hates that he was never able to catch whoever was responsible. But he's about to get a second chance. The killer is still out there, and he wants to play a cat-and-mouse game with Hodges.
Hodges is soon pulled into a dangerous pursuit of a man who seems void of compassion or guilt. The Mercedes Killer is more dangerous than Hodges imagined and he has to be stopped before he strikes again.
MR. MERCEDES by Stephen King is a novel that is a mixture of fun and disturbing. King does a great job of getting us into the head of his main protagonist Bill Hodges. And Brady, the primary antagonist, is truly twisted. The Mercedes Killer pushes Hodges' buttons in a way that somehow brings him to life. Hodges only feels alive when he's in the pursuit of finding a killer. Brady knows this and exploits it.
The novel has the fun feel of a mystery as Hodges digs deep into the evidence to discover who the killer is and what he plans to do next. Having read several Stephen King novels, this one does feel a little different, but its true Stephen King all the way through. King talks of writing books that start with a situation in his book On Writing. This is definitely that type of book with the Mercedes Killer attacking the people waiting in hopes of getting a job the way he does.
If you're a fan of King, this is another great book by him. It's a story of good versus evil and the pursuit of stopping a heartless killer. As a fan of Stephen King myself, I definitely recommend this as another great story by one of the greatest writers around.
Review copy provided by Scribner
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