Review of MR. MERCEDES by Stephen King

3 Stars

I recently posted a review of my first Stephen King novel, 11/22/63, in which I mentioned that I was not overly impressed.  A friend who loves King’s books suggested I read Mr. Mercedes because I enjoy detective stories.  I took up the challenge and downloaded the audiobook version to listen to on my daily evening walks. 

While queuing up for a job fair, eight people are killed by a man driving a stolen Mercedes.  That driver, Brady Hartfield, escapes.  Bill Hodges is a policeman who worked on the Mercedes killer case; now retired with nothing to do, he is depressed and even contemplates suicide.  Then he receives a taunting letter from Brady, a letter which gives Bill a reason to live:  he sets out to find the Mercedes killer.  Bill suffers a loss which makes the chase more personal; fortunately, he is joined by two sidekicks who help him in his search to ensure more innocents do not suffer.

Mr. Mercedes is a fairly traditional detective story and that’s the problem; there is very little original in it.  There’s a renegade cop who works outside the confines of the law.  I just finished reading an instalment in the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbø and there are many similarities between Bill and Harry.  Both are depressives and both carry on their investigations without too much concern about legalities.  Despite their many shortcomings, both manage to attract women.  The relationship between Bill and Janey Patterson does not ring true; it seems an unlikely liaison, just like Harry’s encounters with various women. 

Bill has his sidekicks, one of whom, Holly Gibney, proves to be a computer genius.  Holly is quirky but always manages to find crucial information.  How many television detective shows are there with similar characters?  How about Spencer Reid in Criminal Minds?  How about Abby Sciuto in NCIS?

Then there’s Brady Hartfield, the killer whose identity is known from the beginning.  Am I the only one who sees so many similarities between Brady and Norman Bates in Psycho?  Certainly the mother-son relationships are similar.  There is little to distinguish Brady from so many generic bad guys who have a personal vendetta. 

The pacing is uneven.  The novel begins dramatically with a mass killing but then things slow down considerably.  The middle, in fact, tends to be almost glacial in places.  The climax, however, is very fast-paced. 

Bill is an unconvincing retired police officer.  He has the opportunity to call the police, including his former partner who is still working, but he keeps coming up with excuses not to do so.  He wants to be the one to catch the Mercedes killer.  This is just selfish and reckless; he endangers so many people by not being upfront.  As a former police detective, he would be aware of the problems caused by people not being forthcoming.  The excuse used at the end – the police being busy with another case – just doesn’t make sense. 

I can’t say that the book is not entertaining.  I did enjoy the alternating points of view (Bill and Brady).  Will Patton, the narrator of the audiobook, is excellent, so I can even imagine I will download the second book in the trilogy.  However, I repeat that I’m not overly impressed with Stephen King.  Once again, he doesn’t offer something fresh and original.