Post by annaj26 on Jun 3, 2014 19:57:50 GMT -5
“Mr. Mercedes,” Stephen King’s new book, isn’t that horrific. It’s more of a crime thriller, one that pointedly portrays the plight of the unemployed while putting on the page some of the author’s most redeeming characters yet.
Does that make “Mr. Mercedes” sound boring? It isn’t. In some novels, King expresses outright tenderness and it’s evident here. That doesn’t mean, though, that he’s not good for scenes of brutal carnage.
One comes right at the outset. The author takes us inside the lives of some of the hundreds of desperate candidates milling in line at a job fair in 2009. Particularly touching is a young single mother forced to bring her baby as she waits overnight for a shot at a job. She and the infant are curled inside a sleeping bag in the direct path of a Mercedes when it purposely plows into the crowd, killing eight, injuring many others.
What kind of monster targets the unemployed for mass murder, leaving behind the clown mask he wore during the attack on the front seat? Detective Bill Hodges, who ran the investigation, never found out. Now deep into retirement and not handling it too well, he gets a second chance when the Mercedes Killer sends him a very friendly letter.
He begins by congratulating the detective on his many years of service, claims that the murders gave him “memories to last a lifetime,” and vows he has no urge to do it again.
So both the cop and the psycho killer are retired? No way.
What follows is a twisty tale as the former cop and his two recruits — a middle-aged woman with a pronounced psychiatric disorder but mad computer skills, and the teenager who mows Hodges’ lawn but is bound for the Ivy League — close in on the Mercedes Killer as he plans an outrage so explosive it would make the parking lot massacre seem relatively merciful.
In “Mr. Mercedes” King displays a light touch, telling a story that could almost be characterized as sweet except of course for the sociopath on a bloody rampage. King will be King, and he’s never less than scary. Who in their right mind would want him to be?
Read more: www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/stephen-king-new-thriller-mr-mercedes-article-1.1803803#ixzz33cxRkYJY