In 1978, Morris Bellamy invades the home of John Rothstein, a novelist
famous for a trilogy of books featuring Jimmy Gold. After killing Rothstein, Morris and his two
partners steal money and dozens of notebooks which may hold more Jimmy Gold
novels. Morris is unhappy with Gold’s
fate in the third novel and hopes Rothstein has written more about him. Morris buries the money and notebooks in an
old chest for temporary safekeeping but ends up in prison with a life sentence
for another crime.
Thirty years later, 13-year-old Pete Saubers, who lives in Morris’
childhood home, discovers the chest. He
uses the money to help his family which has struggled financially after his
father was injured in the attack carried out by the Mercedes killer. Pete reads the notebooks and, like Morris,
falls in love with them. What should he
do with them? Should be sell them to get
more money?
The story alternates between Pete and Morris’ stories in both the past
and present. The reader knows that the
two will meet somehow. Bill Hodges, the
retired police detective, is brought into the story when Pete’s sister becomes
concerned about his strange behaviour. Bill
and his partners, Jerome and Holly, discover that Pete is in danger and needs
their help.
Morris Bellamy is a problematic villain. He has absolutely no redeeming
qualities. Then there’s his obsession
with the fate of a character in a series of books. He feels such an attachment to Jimmy Gold
that he experiences sociopathic rage?
Really? I get that he is selfish
and immature (constantly blaming others for what has happened to him), but his
behaviour in the climactic scene is just over the top. I found it difficult to suspend disbelief,
especially when Pete also falls in love with the same books. I love reading and have read some transformative
books but . . .
Once again, Bill Hodges does not behave like a retired police
officer. In Mr. Mercedes, he doesn’t call the police when it would be
appropriate to do so, and that proves to be a life-changing error. Yet, he again does not alert police when a
body is discovered?!
This book is very much an awkward middle book in a trilogy. Hodges visits Brady Hartsfield, the villain
from Mr. Mercedes, in the hospital, and
it is obvious that King wants to get to the third book which will undoubtedly
include another conflict between the two.
Again, I enjoyed the reading by Will Patton on the audiobook, but as an
example of the detective story genre, this book is only mediocre.
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