Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

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Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King



On the morning of August 10, 2009 a gray Mercedes-Benz SL500 plowed into a crowd of people lined up outside of the City Center, waiting for the doors to open for a job fair. The driver killed eight people, paralyzed three and injured countless others. The killer parked the car blocks away, leaving only a clown mask and the vehicle as evidence. There were no leads and no suspects, only the many victims. When Detective K. William Hodges retired months later the case was still open. Now months have passed since his retirement and his somewhat dull existence has caused him to contemplate suicide. Then he receives a letter in the mail from the Mercedes Killer. A letter both taunting and inviting. The killer has been watching and he knows that Hodges has nothing to live for and he wants to push him over the edge.
                Mr. Mercedes is a fast paced, thriller focused on the actions and psychosis of a mass murder, Brady Hartfield and his new target, Retired Detective Hodges. The novel opens with the massacre and catapults from there into Hodges’ life and his plain, daytime TV filled being. Brady Hartfield, who is identified to the reader early on in the novel as the Mercedes Killer, is a psychopath who sees Hodges as a new challenge. He is proud of the fact that he got away with the murders and though unsure whether or not he will commit another massacre of that magnitude, he wants to manipulate Hodges simply because he thinks he can. Now it’s all about the hunt and the chase. Hartfield leaves a trail of breadcrumbs that he doesn’t believe Hodges will be able to uncover, while Hodges tries to rattle Hartfield’s cage to get him to make a mistake and reveal himself or unravel.

                The first chapter of Mr. Mercedes is exactly why I love reading Stephen King novels. Within that first chapter he set a precedent for the rest of the novel. King is an amazing writer. He can easily engage a reader, introduce the setting, completely demolish it and then you are hooked. You have to finish the story. You have to ride the adrenaline rush that you just received in the first ten pages of the novel. This was a classic suspense novel, with characters full of depth, and an interesting storyline that was constantly evolving. I found myself breezing through the pages, trying to get two steps ahead of an unpredictable story while looking for references to what may come. If you are a fan of King then this is a novel that you will enjoy. If you have never read King before than this would be a good introduction. This isn’t his best novel but it is still pretty damn good. It’s not filled with horror and gore but it is intense. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I definitely got the Stephen King fix and rush I was looking for. 

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