Mr. Mercedes, Stephen King

Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 405
Format: Paperback
ISBN-10: 1444788655
ISBN-13: 9781444788655
Series: Bill Hodges Trilogy #1
Publisher: eBook | Hardcover | Paperback

In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of 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 Hartfield 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 a couple of highly unlikely 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.

The first word I jotted down when starting my thoughts on this book was massacre! The next thing I realized was that the book can cause a person to feel anxiety in crowded places. With everything that is going on in the world this book touched reality a bit to much at times.
Reading both sides of the story I was scared at points that the one part would outrun the other ruining the whole search and adventure of Bill and his companions. Thankfully that does not happen keeping and it was exciting to find out how it would all come together in the end.
The characters on the other hand were a bigger problem. Many of them on the verge of a psychotic breakdown I started to wonder if there were any sane people left around there. Though that does add something on the guessing whodunnit part the characters failed to be convincing and I had a hard time connecting.
Still a compelling read and I will probably pick up Finders Keepers at some point.

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