Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1
Summary: In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.
In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.
Brady Hartsfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again. Only Bill Hodges, with two new, unusual allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady’s next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands.
Mr. Mercedes is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.
Thoughts: I was on a Stephen King break when I decided to go ahead and start the Bill Hodges trilogy. I specifically wanted to listen to the audiobooks because they're narrated by Will Patton who is my favorite audiobook narrator. I had some idea of what these books were about and so I was excited (I always love a good detective story.) I am happy to say that I really liked this from the start. I was hooked from the start because we are taken through both the detective and the serial killers POV's which was very intriguing. I am not immediately picking up the next book in this series but I will soon continue it.
Spoilers Ahead
Finders Keepers | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bill Hodges Trilogy, #2Summary: Wake up, genius.
The genius is John Rothstein, an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but who hasn’t published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy is livid, not just because Rothstein has stopped providing books, but because the nonconformist Jimmy Gold has sold out for a career in advertising. Morris kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash, yes, but the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel.
Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then he is locked away for another crime. Decades later, a boy named Pete Saubers finds the treasure, and now it is Pete and his family that Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson must rescue from the ever-more deranged and vengeful Morris when he’s released from prison after thirty-five years.
Thoughts: This was such a great way to pick up after the first book because it gave us more of the characters we enjoyed, but a different story line. While it's basically the same premise, with our heroes defeating the villain, the story was different, since it followed a young boy and a murderer. Also, the murderer was kind of a book nerd so there's that.
I was really glad to see the trio back again and kicking butt, and I was really excited to see where the third book went, although, I knew that the end for Mr. Hodges had to be close.
End of Watch | ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bill Hodges Trilogy, #3Summary: In Room 217 of the Lakes Region Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, something has awakened. Something evil. Brady Hartsfield, perpetrator of the Mercedes Massacre, where eight people were killed and many more were badly injured, has been in the clinic for five years, in a vegetative state. According to his doctors, anything approaching a complete recovery is unlikely. But behind the drool and stare, Brady is awake, and in possession of deadly new powers that allow him to wreak unimaginable havoc without ever leaving his hospital room.
Retired police detective Bill Hodges, the unlikely hero of Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers, now runs an investigation agency with his partner, Holly Gibney—the woman who delivered the blow to Hartsfield’s head that put him on the brain injury ward. When Bill and Holly are called to a suicide scene with ties to the Mercedes Massacre, they find themselves pulled into their most dangerous case yet, one that will put their lives at risk, as well as those of Bill’s heroic young friend Jerome Robinson and his teenage sister, Barbara. Brady Hartsfield is back, and planning revenge not just on Hodges and his friends, but on an entire city.
Thoughts: I thought this was one of King's best endings, and I am glad I got through all three books. I really enjoyed this series as a whole, the last book felt like the weakest of the three. I felt like the story from the first book was very similar to this one, and they could've been one big chunker instead, with the second one as an addition.
I loved seeing all three characters again, but felt that this time around, their friendship was very repetitive. Overall though, it was a good and sad ending but found myself not as sad or connected as I had been before.
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