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stephen king bill hodges looking forward jimmy gold morris bellamy end of watch holly and jerome hodges trilogy john rothstein another great book in the trilogy third book read mr mercedes sequel to mr mercedes edge of your seat brady hartsfield highly recommend second book pete saubers king at his best
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Nicholas
5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Stephen king
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2015
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So many people have already rated this book so I doubt this will be read by anyone. But here goes anyway.

These two books... Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers, though the books didn't have any other worldly characters or monsters, doesn't make it any less terrifying and leaves to our imagination that there may be some very real monsters who may live next-door and we just don't know about it.

These two books are classic King which means a total page turner and gripping suspense to the last.

Stephen King has said that he doesn't write about extra ordinary people who deal with normal things but instead he writes about regular people who are in extraordinary situations. That's almost a direct quote from him.

I enjoyed every part of it. I listened to the audible versions of these two books and say that the narrator was one of the best that I've ever heard and was so completely appropriate for these Stephen King books. Only having Stephen King narrate them could have been any better.

I highly recommend these two books and state unequivocably that this is the best "King" writing that he is done in about five years.
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Tina W.Top Contributor: Coloring
5.0 out of 5 stars Bow Down Before the King
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2017
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After reading Mr. Mercedes I had to buy this second book in the trilogy of Bill Hodges. It was like quicksand and I was sucked in immediately and instead of trying to pull myself out, which without immediate plans, I don't think that I could have anyway, I spent my Saturday with Bill and his friends. It was worth every minute and every hour. There is never a dull moment, with King's books there rarely is. What did I do before I even wrote this review? You guessed it, I bought the final book in the trilogy. I'm forcing myself to wait before I start it because I do need to spend the rest of my Saturday accomplishing something outside of the quicksand. I do, however, recommend that you download this and slip into the quicksand. Put off everything else for a while because sh#t ain't sh#t.
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Jerry Bull
3.0 out of 5 stars Catchy premise and suspenseful ending, but longish plot to get there - sequel rather tangential
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2016
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We have mixed feelings about the aptly titled “Finders Keepers”, a sequel of sorts to King’s earlier “Mr. Mercedes” novel. This one opens with a crazed burglar, William Morris, robbing famous author John Rothstein, who has been silent for a couple of decades, of not just cash but dozens of moleskin notebooks containing two unpublished novels and other writings – and then kills him because he doesn’t like the direction Rothstein took his hero (Jimmy Gold) in the last published work. Morris thought a rare bookstore owner was going to sell the notebooks for millions and make them both rich, but the guy refuses, saying to wait a decade or two. In frustration, Morris goes out, gets drunk, rapes and assaults a woman, and spends some 35 years in jail before he finally gets out on parole. (He had previously hidden the cash and notebooks in a trunk he buried near a pond adjoining the back of the property where he lived.)

Then we meet the Saubers who now reside in Morris’ old house; the parents of 13-year-old Peter and his younger sister Tina are struggling in both their marriage and their finances. Peter stumbles upon the buried treasure and parcels out the money to his parents anonymously through the mail with like $500 payments for several years. He meanwhile reads all the author’s writings and loves them and thinks about trying to sell the notebooks to guess who – the same guy who refused Morris. Meanwhile his sister Tina suspects Peter was the source of the monthly cash and tells retired cop Bill Hodges, the guy who solved the case in the prequel. Hodges tries to intervene with Peter before it gets too late.

When Morris gets out of prison and finds his trunk empty, he suspects the book dealer and on we go. The suspense heightens as he discovers it was Peter who took all; and he doesn’t care who he has to kill to get the stuff back.

We think this would have made a great novella – without the follow-up to the earlier book which was somewhat tangential. As is, it was sort of long and drawn out despite a catchy premise and a suspenseful ending. Several readers find deeper meaning in the obsession of first Morris and then Peter with the author and his works, but we didn’t work hard enough to figure out what that might be. We love our good books too, but not to the point of murder and skullduggery!
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Anne C.
3.0 out of 5 stars Booooriiiiing
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2019
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This trilogy, so far, has been one of my least favorite of King's works. The characterization just isn't there like it is in books like The Green Mile and Insomnia and most of his others, even the short stories.

Bill Hodges is boring. A trilogy that is frequently called the "Bill Hodges trilogy" isn't really even about Bill Hodges because he is boring.

Holly Gibney is the most interesting recurring character, IMO. Brady may take second place in End of Watch , but he was pretty boring in Mr. Mercedes , and he was still more interesting than Hodges, and definitely more interesting than Morris Bellamy. Morris is one-note, and it's a harsh, jarring, evil note, at that. He's like Captain Ahab and his whale. He's awful, and yet somehow still boring.

This book has been compared to Misery due to some similar plot devices, but I'm telling you, Misery scared the living daylights out of me. It was horrible and terrifying and so well characterized that it was even scarier.

Morris Bellamy's got nothing on Annie Wilkes. Morris Bellamy reminds me more of Clayton Blaisdell, only without the streak of goodness that makes that character interesting.

TL;DR: Middle book syndrome is the pits. Here's hoping that End of Watch rocks my face off. Otherwise, I may turn into a cockadoodie brat.
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Mr Musashi
5.0 out of 5 stars Wasn't Expecting to Enjoy this One
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 25, 2017
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I had never read a Stephen King book before Mr Mercedes as I didn't have a massive interest in fantasy fiction. I'm a sucker for a good crime thriller so I picked up Mr Mercedes and loved every bit of it.

Finders Keepers, has a very different structure to the first book. Here we are experiencing the story through three characters, and it's not until the second part of the book do we meet the trio from the first. The first part of the book, has no real sort of suspense or horrific elements to it. Despite that, I still found myself very enthralled at the story telling. It took me a while to see where it was going, and I really had no way of guessing how it was all going to end.

After the first half of the book, the tension grows page by page, until exploding with a climax.

Undoubtedly, this is a bit of an odd one in King's writing. The amount of adverbs is unholy- I really cannot stand adverbs, one or two sprinkled is OK but man, did I cringe at some segments that were littered with adverbs. It did at times take me out of the experience, but nonetheless the story is quite strong here so I was quickly reeled back in.

Before I reached the second part this book was 5/10 for me, eventually, by the second part, everything that was read began to make perfect sense and it definitely became a strong 8/10 for me.
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B. Lengden
5.0 out of 5 stars Worthy second element in the Hodges trilogy.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2017
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Wasn't sure if I really wanted to read 'crime thrillers', even by Stephen King, before I started on Mr. Mercedes, but I did love it.
A few of the previous reviews for this one are scathing. One references Enid Blyton's Famous Five - blimey, I must have missed the one with gory murders, and an account of life in an American prison, including male-on-male rape - and suggests it is 'aimed at' children (!!), as it involves kiddies playing 'amateur detective'. It doesn't. Teenagers are involved, certainly, and get into anxiety-provoking trouble, but all the detective work is done by main characters of Mr. Mercedes: retired cop Hodges and Holly, a middle aged woman with mental health issues, assisted by Hodges' former odd job man, now a college student.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - perhaps not quite so much as Mr. Mercedes, but a near thing. The 'reminders' of events from that first of the trilogy, I found slightly intrusive, but they are needed I guess for the info of readers who haven't read Mr. M.
I guess I have to plead guilty, lol, to being one of S. King's 'constant readers', but I am not completely uncritical of his work. One of his favourite things, baseball, leaves me stone cold; thankfully, there's none of that here. I thoroughly recommend this book, whether or not you are already a fan of King, and/or Bill Hodges.
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andylennon
3.0 out of 5 stars Second half was good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2015
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The last hundred or so pages of this book were really good. So good that I was up reading until 2am! I just didn't want to stop.
However, getting the that last hundred pages was a really big struggle. I think had it been another writer, or if I hadn't already read the previous book in the trilogy I may have given up.
I'm glad I stuck through it because the ending really was good, but it was a looong journey getting there.
Just too much unnecessary filler which seems to be occupying more and more of Kings books lately.

All review can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk/
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Ramses
3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, good time, but wayyyyyy below Mr Mercedes. Reuse of some previous stories' plot elements.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2018
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This is number 2 of the " Mr Mercredes" trilogy but except for characters, the links to volume 1 are very tenuous. It is a really good story which gripped me to the end ... which I had however guessed. I took down two stars because it is basically a clever reuse of plot elements from 2 of King's previous stellar works, which I won't name here to avoid spoiling your fun. Common King themes like litterature, writing and prison life come back here, making quite a thrilling story but lacking in originality. (Almost) no fantastic here, just some cat and mouse and detective stuff. Good book, good time, but wayyyyyy below Mr Mercedes.
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Hugh
4.0 out of 5 stars King has never been better.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2016
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Another hugely enjoyable read from King, I've absolutely loved King's output in recent years (Duma Key, Mr Mercedes, Joyland; all great). This is the second book in the Bill Hodges trilogy but unlike in Mr Mercedes, he isn't the main character. This series is more thriller/ mystery than outright horror but that's no bad thing. As usual, King's ability to keep you hooked is amazing, I raced through it in a few days. The central story is very strong and interesting and at the same time there are clever and pertinent links back to Mr Mercedes. In addition the book sets up a nice bridge to the third book in the trilogy.
One slight niggle would be that that I've seen a lot of these characters before with different names and guises in other King books so it would be nice to see future protagonists differ slightly.
Overall this was great and I'd recommend it. 8/10
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