I used to read Stephen King novels quite regularly but I went off the horror genre and stopped reading his work. Still I knew this wasn’t of the horror genre and when I saw it for £1.50 in a local charity shop thought I would give it a go.
Basic Plot (taken from the first few mini chapters):
Unemployment is a big issue and a jobs fare offering 1000
new jobs is going to be popular. Even before it opens many are in line.
Unfortunately some will not survive until it is supposed to open….
Bill Hodges, the lead investigator into the unsolved incident
which occurred at the jobs fair has now retired and is feeling lost, depressed
and thinking about using his loaded gun one last time…..
Hodges receives a letter, goading him about his failure to
catch the ‘Mercedes Killer’ Hodges now has a purpose again and decides to
investigate the crime one last time outside of the police. Can Hodges finally
catch his man before it is too late?
What I thought of it:
Just to let you know right from the off set, the novel is written
in a Colombo style story in that you are told early on who committed the crime
so the fun of trying to work it out yourself is lost. However, you are left
with the cat and mouse style story of the detective trying to figure it all out
and it is a psychological thriller.
The characterisation of the main characters does work well
with the detective shown as someone who has let himself go since retiring but
has still retained his sharp investigative mind and the fact he is portrayed,
at the start as being rather depressed does ring true of some people when they
retire and have nothing to do with their time. Mr Mercedes (not his real name)
is portrayed as a bit of a loner, intelligent but is a couple of sandwiches
short of a picnic who has a rather troubled relationship with his alcoholic
mother. Jerome, who works for Hodges as his gardener and computer fixer, at the
start appears like a throw away character but his part does build through the
novel and he almost becomes Hodges’ right hand man.
King’s style of writing is still the same as it is for his
other novels that I have read but this novel perhaps jumps around between the
detective and Mr Mercedes a bit too much. However, this is broken up into short
‘mini chapters’ which are only a few pages long at most. You are drawn into the
story right from the start. The fact the novel is written in the third person
does make this easier.
The way Hodges does his investigation is perhaps somewhat unorthodox
but as he is no longer with the police department it probably gives him a bit
more scope in this area. There are, also, many things which make Hodges more
realistic as he has his faults and is aware of them. He is certainly not the
6’2” gym fit investigator with the six pack (unless you count the one in his fridge)
many more modern detectives are portrayed as. He is more like the stereotypical
1990’s police detective who is a bit over fond of doughnuts.
The plot twists well these are lacking in some respect due
to the fact you know very early on who has done the deed but this is not to say
it is all very straight forward. There are some changes of pace within the
novel and the wrong turns and dead ends are there – just like in any police
investigation I suppose.
This was the first in a series of novels with Bill Hodges and I am in two minds if I would read another. I am not a big fan of the Colombo style way of knowing almost all along who did it. I much prefer time to try to work it out.
Summary:
Was it worth reading – well yes it was a different form of
thriller/murder mystery to what I would normally read and was worth the £1.50 I
spent on it. Whether I would have spent the £20 (it was a hardback) the book
was originally sold for I don’t know
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