NINETOES VS MR. MERCEDES

Ninetoes begins his revisit to Stephen King’s Bill Hodges trilogy with Mr. Mercedes.

TITLE: Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy Book 1)

AUTHOR: Stephen King

GENRE: Mystery

PAGES: 538

FORMAT: Ebook

PRICE: $9.99

Hey there, book lovers! It’s your old pal, Ninetoes, coming to you from Ninetoes Loves Books Headquarters. Today, I have my review of Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes. I have coffee in my system and my thinking cap on, so let’s get to it!

This book has been on my “To be read” pile for a very long time. Well, the time has come to take this one down!

On an early, damp morning, a group of people gather for a job fair. They are desperate, the economy is tanking, and people are losing their homes. Any job will do. Then a grey Mercedes-Benz plows into this group of people, killing several and injuring more. A year after that, the driver of the Mercedes resurfaces and gets retired detective Bill Hodges in his sights. Bill lives a very ordinary life. He watches afternoon TV in his recliner as he holds his dad’s .38, wondering if today is the day he eats a bullet. Then he starts getting messages from Mr. Mercedes, taunting him (in the hopes that Bill will kill himself), and Bill takes the initiative and starts investigating on his own. He uses every resource at his disposal: former colleagues, friends, even a new love interest. Along the way, he meets Holly Gibney, and the case really takes off! It becomes a race against time to stop Mr. Mercedes from committing a catastrophic event.

I have to be honest, it really took me a while to get into this book. I hate to say this, but the beginning of the book felt like it was written by someone else. I was halfway through it before it got its legs and started hitting its stride. Honestly, the first half felt like repetition soup. The second half was where things got really interesting; the King came back in grand style. It shifted gears from cat and mouse to beat the clock. In the second half, I felt the tension building up as Hodges and crew tried to find out who Mr. Mercedes was and what he planned next.

As mysteries go, I would classify this one as a “How-done-it”. Not necessarily my cup of tea, I like to be led along, and try to figure it out before the author reveals the culprit. Just a few tweaks here and there, and he could have had one hell of a “Who-done-it”.

The characters in this book were well fleshed out and engaging. I wanted to see the heroes succeed and the villain fall, and this is what happened. Mr. King did sneak in a few twists and surprises that he is known for, right down to a couple of “Oh, no, he wouldn’t!” and then does. He gave us a few heroes to really pull for: Hodges, Jerome, and Holly Gibney, and a villain to really detest, Mr. Mercedes. Yeah, Mercedes was one messed-up dude. His home life really did not give him a chance.

This book is perfect for those who like a good “How-done-it”.

I give this one 4 bookmarks out of 5.

Darren “Ninetoes” Perdue is a book and media reviewer. When he is not reading, he is watching true crime shows, cooking for his family, or working on a plan for universal domination. If you see him on his porch, say hi. He does not bite…much.