Two Bloggers One Series ~ Mr. Mercedes

 So Barb and I are tackling the Bill Hodges trilogy and I think she might have liked this first one more than I did. I even forgot to post my review! Sorry about that! Anyway go check out what Barb had to say at Booker T's Farm.

In the predawn hours, in a distressed American city, hundreds of unemployed men and women line up for the opening of a job fair. They are tired and cold and desperate. Emerging from the fog, invisible until it is too late, 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.

Months later, an ex-cop named Bill Hodges, still haunted by the unsolved crime, contemplates suicide. When he gets a crazed letter from "the perk," claiming credit for the murders, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, fearing another even more diabolical attack and hell-bent on preventing it.

Brady Hartfield 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 a couple of eccentric and mismatched 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.

I have been wanting to try this series for a while, but I also know that I don't like Stephen King as much as I use too. I have no patience for the excess descriptions that go on for pages and the thickness of his books anymore...lol. 

I listened to this one thank goodness or I might not have made it as for me it was just sort of boring. Bill is a retired detective and being taunted by the Mercedes Killer and he figures since he has nothing better to do he would try and figure out who he is. 

This puts several things into motion especially as he gets closer to figuring things out and doing his own taunting to the killer. 

It wasn't till something happens to someone that Bill was starting to like that things really sort of ramp up and get a bit interesting for me and that would probably be at 60% or more into the book. Then the race to catch the killer became much more interesting and fast paced. 

Bill Hodge is an okay character but I would say my favorite character would be Holly, who I believe has autism and is in her 40s and a wiz with computers. She ends up helping Bill towards the end and will be in the other books which I am happy about. (I think she is even has her own spin off book)

My biggest complaint is King's lovely use of the N word. This book came out in 2014 I believe and can't be blamed on the fact that it was written a long time ago. So why does he get away with using that word over and over, so much I lost count, yet they want to rewrite great classic books!!!! Okay rant over. 

3 stars