Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King - Book Review

I'm torn about my review for Mr. Mercedes. On one hand, it's a thrilling mystery read. On the other hand, it's a thrilling mystery read. I love Stephen King stories because they are full of horror, the paranormal and the supernatural. They are scary. Haunting. The stuff of nightmares. Even daymares! (Yes, it's a real word. I checked the dictionary.)

Mr. Mercedes is disturbing in a psychological kind of way. But I've seen plenty of that on my favorite crime television series like Criminal Minds and Law and Order. I won't go so far as saying that King's book is just a text version of a TV crime drama--it's much better than that. It's just that the novel wasn't what I wanted or expected from the king of horror.

Goodreads members, however, loved the novel. They voted Mr. Mercedes as the best mystery and thriller book, in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2014. King's book won over The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a. J.K Rowling), another writer who recently experienced success writing crime novels, after her massive success as a fantasy novelist. Meanwhile, Anne Rice's Prince Lestat won in the best horror book category.

In Mr. Mercedes, King tells the story of Bill Hodges, a retired police detective haunted by a high profile crime he failed to solve. The perpetrator, publicly known as the 'Mercedes Killer,' had rammed a stolen Mercedes sedan into a crowd of job fair hopefuls. The murderer left eight dead and 15 wounded.

When Hodges receives a letter from someone claiming to be the Mercedes Killer, he decides to take the law into his own hands, and solve the case without help from the police.

Brady Hartfield is the Mercedes Killer. He sent Hodges a letter in the hope that the retired detective would kill himself using the gun he toys around with while watching television all day. But when he discovers Hodges is doing detective work, Hartfield is forced to change plans. This time, he will kill or hurt thousands of people, to make Hodges suffer.

What I Liked:

Mr. Mercedes is a well-written page-turner of a crime novel. It had plenty of mystery solving elements, and several surprises, to keep the story fresh all throughout. Hodges is like-able as the novel's protagonist. He's not some super sleuth. Just a real retired detective with all his quirks and weaknesses.

I also like Hartfield as the Mercedes Killer. He's a character I loved to hate throughout the novel. He's really smart. There were moments when I actually wanted him to outsmart Hodges, to make things more difficult for the detective. Since he drives around the detective's neighborhood in an ice cream truck, I kind of imagined him as a thinner version of Sweet Tooth from the Twisted Metal video game franchise.

I love Jerome and Holly as Hodge's sidekicks, and Janey as Hodge's girlfriend. They add lighthearted, even funny moments, in an otherwise serious book.  Jerome and Holly especially became unlikely heroes in the story, and are rewarded for their deeds in the end. Hodges didn't even get the chance to directly confront Hartfield. I wonder how he feels about that?

What I Disliked:

I was waiting for Stephen King to introduce some horrific, fantastic, supernatural element in the story. But he never did. This was a pure detective story, which was a bit of a letdown for me. I'd be amazed if King managed to write the crime novel of the century. But I find this novel merely good, not great, compared to Under the Dome, for example. 

Mr. Mercedes is part of what will be a Bill Hodges trilogy, but I'm not jumping for joy at the prospect of reading the other two books when they're released. I've read much better Stephen King novels, and I believe there are plenty of great ones I have yet to read.

My Rating: