Book Review: Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1), by Stephen King

Genre: detective suspense/thriller
Date Published: June 2014
Publisher: Scribner
# Of Pages/Listening Time: 436 pgs/14.5 hours

Goodreads | Audible

Synopsis: 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.

My Rating:

 ★★★ 1/2

.....For being a good King novel

Book Review: Bag Of Bones, by Stephen King

Genre: Horror
Date Published: September 1998
Publisher: Scribner
# Of Pages/Listening Time: 529 pages/21.3 hours

Goodreads | Audible

Synopsis: Stephen King's most gripping and unforgettable novel, Bag of Bones, is a story of grief and a lost love's enduring bonds, of a new love haunted by the secrets of the past, of an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire.
Set in the Maine territory King has made mythic, Bag of Bones recounts the plight of forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving even four years after the sudden death of his wife, Jo, and who can no longer bear to face the blank screen of his word processor.
Now his nights are plagued by vivid nightmares of the house by the lake. Despite these dreams, or perhaps because of them, Mike finally returns to Sara Laughs, the Noonans' isolated summer home.
He finds his beloved Yankee town familiar on its surface, but much changed underneath -- held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, who twists the very fabric of the community to his purpose: to take his three-year-old granddaughter away from her widowed young mother. As Mike is drawn into their struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations, ever-escalating nightmares, and the sudden recovery of his writing ability. What are the forces that have been unleashed here -- and what do they want of Mike Noonan?
As vivid and enthralling as King's most enduring works, Bag of Bones resonates with what Amy Tan calls "the witty and obsessive voice of King's powerful imagination." It's no secret that King is our most mesmerizing storyteller. In Bag of Bones -- described by Gloria Naylor as "a love story about the dark places within us all" -- he proves to be one of our most moving.

My Rating:

 ★★★★

.....For being a good ghost story

Book Review: The Outsider, by Stephen King

Genre: Horror/thriller
Date Published: May 2018
Publisher: Scribner
# Of Pages/Listening Time: 561 pages/18 hours 40 minutes

Goodreads | Audible

Synopsis: An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.
An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.
As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.

My Rating:

 ★★★ 1/2

.....For being a decent King novel

Book Review: The Gunslinger (Dark Tower #1), by Stephen King

Genre: Sci-fi Horror?
Date Published: June 1982 (revised edition published June 2003)
Publisher: NAL
# Of Pages 340 pages

Goodreads

Synopsis: In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

My Rating:

 ★★★

.....For being thoroughly confusing

My Thoughts:

Ummmm......huh. It's hard to say what I think about this book. I'm more confused than anything else.

The book is short, which is a new experience for me when it comes to reading a King novel, and I think I would have preferred some length. However, I do know this is part of a series, so I'm hoping that the subsequent novels will answer my (many) questions.

I also don't like the main character, Roland, aka the gunslinger. He's too stubborn and determined for me to like him, especially with how he handled the situation with the boy Jake.

And I'm confused about the man in black. He's a villain, but he gives advice? That entire last chapter was odd and threw me through a loop. Once again, I'm hoping for more answers in the next few novels.

Overall, when it comes to me and Stephen King books, it's either a hit or a miss. This time around, I think it's more of a miss. (If you're wondering which books were hits for me, they were Bag Of Bones, The Shining, and Needful Things) I will read the rest of the series (because I can't leave it open-ended like this), and I'm hoping it'll get better from here.