Category: King Stephen

The Outsider by Stephen King

8/18/2018

I just finished The Outsider today--classic King! I don't mind telling you that there were nights that I was reading it when I had to sit with the wall at my back rather than the front door, so the creep factor is definitely there. The premise--a boy is horrendously murdered in a small town in Oklahoma, and the police are convinced that the local baseball coach Terry Maitland did it. Detective Ralph Anderson has the fingerprints and the DNA to back him up. But Terry swears he was in another city at a teacher's convention, and his school colleagues swear to it as well. How can someone be in two places at once? Well, they can't, unless they're in a Stephen King novel. And even then . . .

I raced through this one, because it was Stephen King at his best. Characters that I wanted to spend time with, unexplained phenomena, definite shivers up the spine. King spends time exploring mob mentality, the consequences of being proven guilty in the court of public opinion, and redemption (in the character of Claude Bolton). Also, no spoiler here but a definitely surprise--an "old friend" turns up to help out, and it was so nice being able to spend time with her again! Though it was a satisfying ending tied up with a bow, I wouldn't mind having Ralph and police officer Yune Sablo (not to mention our "old friend") turn up again in another King novel. Don't stop writing, Mr. King. Just keep givin' us the goods, please!

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End of Watch by Stephen King

10/6/2016

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I previously reviewed Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers, so I had to finish the trilogy with End of Watch (which is fulfilling the 12 x 12 list for "a book published this year.") End of Watch picks up five years after the Mr. Mercedes murders, when Brady Hartsfield killed eight people and subsequently ended up in the Lakes Region Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, supposedly in a catatonic state. But looks can be deceiving, and there's a LOT more going on in that evil Brady head than meets the eye. Bill Hodges and his partner Holly Gibney start investigating suspicious suicides which have connections to the Mercedes Massacre, and it becomes more and more apparent that Brady is still very much involved in the lives of those who were part of the collateral damage. Of the three books, this one delves into the supernatural much more than the first two, which makes it more traditionally a King novel than the first two might have been (at least in my humble opinion). It's hard for me to be objective because I have such a Stephen King obsession, but definitely if you read the first two novels, you should finish this trilogy. I found this a satisfying, poignant ending with characters that I truly enjoyed spending time with.

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Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers by Stephen King

8/24/2015

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Anyone who knows me know what a nut I am for Stephen King (I have most of his books in first edition hardcovers in my study), so as soon as he publishes another one, I'm online to Barnes and Noble! I'm doing these together because Mr. Mercedes introduces us to the characters and then Finders Keepers starts exactly at one tragic climax in the book and follows another character's storyline. Along the way we befriend a great cast of characters--Bill Hodges the ex-cop turned private detective, Holly Gibney his secretary who is definitely on the autism spectrum, and Jerome Robinson the neighborhood lawn boy now turned college student who comes back home for the fun. And it is fun watching these three in action; I hope Mr. King plans on writing more about their adventures. This is a cast of characters with whom I enjoy spending my time. Plenty of action and suspense thrown in (but no sci-fi creepiness, for other King fans who know his work!)

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Books You Gotta Read

The Outsider by Stephen King

End of Watch by Stephen King

Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers by Stephen King

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