Stephen King

The second standalone novel in Stephen King's Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch) - and the basis of the third season of Mr Mercedes, an AT&T Audience Original Series (10 September 2019). 1978: Morris Bellamy is a reader so obsessed by America's iconic author John Rothstein that he is prepared to kill for a trove of notebooks containing at least one more unpublished novel. 2009: Pete Saubers, a boy whose father was brutally injured by a stolen Mercedes, discovers a buried trunk containing cash and Rothstein's notebooks. 2014: After thirty-five years in prison, Morris is up for parole. And he's hell-bent on recovering his treasure. Now it's up to retired detective Bill Hodges - running an investigative company called 'Finders Keepers' - to rescue Pete from an ever-more deranged and vengeful Morris... Not since Misery has King written with such visceral power about a reader with such a dangerous obsession. Finders Keepers is spectacular suspense, and it is King writing about how literature shapes a life for good, for bad, for ever.

Finders Keepers

Overview: Wake up, genius. So announces deranged fan Morris Bellamy to iconic author John Rothstein, who once created the famous character Jimmy Gold and hasn't released anything since. Morris is livid, not just because his favorite writer has stopped publishing, but because Jimmy Gold ended up as a sellout. Morris kills his idol and empties his safe of cash, but the real haul is a collection of notebooks containing John Rothstein's unpublished work - including at least one more Jimmy Gold novel. Morris hides everything away before being locked up for another horrific crime. But upon Morris's release thirty-five years later, he's about to discover that teenager Pete Saubers has already found the stolen treasure-and no one but former police detective Bill Hodges, along with his trusted associates Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson, stands in the way of his vengeance.

a novel

Finders keepers

Those books could NOT have been that good 

Zachary Roberts

Lara Engle

Another enjoyable Bill Hodges tale. This one involves murder, betrayal, buried treasure, more gruesome murder, and a touch of the supernatural, all overlaid with a veneer of hero worship and old-fashioned grit. I'm eagerly awaiting End of Watch in paperback.

Dennis Jacob Rosenfeld

I should stop torturing myself with these King crime novels. It's just a genre that doesn't fit him very well. I have a friend who religiously buys all King books in hardback, but if they aren't good he sells them and downgrades to the paperback. He's handed me both Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers instead of selling them. Maybe thinking that I might find them mildly amusing. 
I didn't. 
The characters are cliches and the psychology behind their actions feels forced and very banal. Normally I think King is capable of writing believable characters, but something happens when he writes crime. He is out of his league and the books suffer for it. The main premise in this one could have worked. It has reminiscences of Misery, but in the end it amounts to nothing and ends up feeling derivative of better things that King has done.

Arturo Hernández

Second part of a crime trilogy. It's like you want to love the main character but you can't get there on time. There are deaths thought...

Tina Rawls

2nd book in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy. 4 stars on the King curve.

James Eaton

I do appreciate how much of Mr. Mercedes was tied into the book. It was good to be back with some familiar friends (and interesting enemies). 

I love King's character work. I know it's probably not for everyone, but once I start one his books I have to keep reading to see what happens. 

I am excited to read the last book in this trilogy and then on to The Outsider.

Celeste Richardson

You can find this review and more at Novel Notions. 

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I had no plans to pick this book up because I was so disappointed in Mr. Mercedes, the first book in the trilogy. (You can read my review of that book here.) My major complaint with that book was its blandness; it just felt incredibly forgettable to me. Not so with Finders Keepers. In this story we have a much more multifaceted plot and, even better, a plot that revolves around books!

I’m a huge sucker for books about books. Even though Finders Keepers is at its core a suspense and a crime drama, fiction played a huge role in the story. A Salinger-esque author has hidden himself from the world, but continues to handwrite more stories and poems and essays, locking the notebooks away in his safe instead of sharing them with the public. When he’s murdered and the notebooks go missing, the author becomes even more cloaked in mystery.

These missing notebooks mean radically different things to our two main perspective characters. For Pete, they’re a godsend during a massive rough patch in his family’s life. They found within him a passionate love for literature and alter the course of his life in more ways than one. For Morris, these notebooks are an obsession, and he has no qualms about killing whoever stands between him and the objects of that obsession. I think King did a great job of drawing a line between a healthy passion for books and an unhealthy obsession. I love books, but I’ve never for a moment actually thought they were more important than real people. That knowledge is what separates Pete’s views of the books from Morris’s.

I even enjoyed Hodges and his little team more in this book than I did in Mr. Mercedes. But Pete was definitely my favorite character. He was very multifaceted and sympathetic, and I rooted for him through the entirety of the novel. 

My only real complaint with this book is that some of the twists were blatantly obvious far before their reveal. It seems to me that when King writes a story without supernatural elements it often falls a bit flat compared to his other stuff. There was a hint of supernatural in the very last chapter of this book, which I’m sure was to pave the way for the final book in the trilogy. While I did enjoy Finders Keepers much more than Mr. Mercedes, it still just didn’t resonate with me as much as many of his other books. This trilogy feels more like a popular suspense series written by another author than it does a work from King. That being said, I will definitely still be reading End of Watch.

The second book of the Hodges Trilogy does not disappoint. 

The pace is incredible, it took me in and more than once I stopped reading as it got pretty intense. Similarly to Mr Mercedes, King made me feel these characters, their thoughts and their emotions. 

I found a couple of points slightly weaker than Mr Mercedes, but I could equally not put it down once I picked it up.

Really recommended but read Mr Mercedes first!

Piero Mamberti

The second book of the Hodges Trilogy does not disappoint. 

The pace is incredible, it took me in and more than once I stopped reading as it got pretty intense. Similarly to Mr Mercedes, King made me feel these characters, their thoughts and their emotions. 

I found a couple of points slightly weaker than Mr Mercedes, but I could equally not put it down once I picked it up.

Really recommended but read Mr Mercedes first!


Dana

Although it was a bit harder for me to initially get into than Mr Mercedes, it picked up really well and was hard for me to put down towards the end! And that ending was so incredible, it made me want to start next one immediately. The only reason I didn't was because I was on a bus and didn't have it with me when I finished it

Sabetha Danes

I hate to say it, but this book was a miss for me. 

The premise was fascinating, it had all the elements to be an un-put-down-able thriller but it fell flat with the many chapters of explaining aspects of the characters that just didn't matter to the story. 

Part One introduces us to the major players, and over all the majority of it can be skimmed through. It's a lot of nothing, filled with more nothing that could have been clipped to skip ahead to the actual story. 

If you are following the events from book 1 this installment does give two small teasers about the culprit from book one but you can read the last chapter if that's all you're here for.

The middle gives us a tad bit more action, and build up but again fills every scene with pointless character thoughts and long drawn out walking bits that really just make it hard to slug through. 

Once the end comes around, it's worth it, as all the climax is surprising but expected based on the traits we've had beaten over our heads for the last however many chapters.

I love the growth Holly displays in this book, and glad the gang is back together for another case. Stephen King does a marvelous job at showing us we're all connected in weird ways. This is another 'funny how we're all 5 degrees of separation' from each other.

You'll love this story if you love slow burn thrillers, and the characters from the first Bill Hodges book.

De eerlijke vinder

Iris

ashwitherow

It was a slight slow burner, but by the time I reached the half-way mark, I realised just how interested I was in the characters and plot line. I didn’t imagine I’d enjoy this second novel as much as the first, however it just got progressively more intriguing as the book came to its conclusion.

Alexis Rader

4.5 stars

This, in my opinion, is the stand-out of the series. I found the plot the most engaging and found the characters more interesting than in the other two books. This book focuses a lot more on the characters that are introduced just for this book, with less focus on Bill Hodges. Not that I dislike Bill or anything, but I just don't find his character arc terribly compelling in comparison. 

This is also more of a stand-alone than the other two: while they are all connected by Bill, Holly, Jerome, etc., this story was merely framed by The Mercedes Killer. The events of the first book don't have too much of a bearing on this one otherwise, nor does it tie into the third book much either.

Without giving too much away, this book was compelling from the start, as a lover of books. It's a must-read, in my opinion.

I finally finished the book! It was pretty good, once the prologue that took up half the book was completed. I would have preferred a faster paced novel, but it got the job done. It pales in comparison to End of Watch, so if you don't like this installment, don't be discouraged!

Znalezione nie kradzione

Tomasz

Książka w stylu Kinga - dobrze opowiedziana, zbudowana, końcówka nawet trzyma w napięciu.
Tylko co z tego. Książka przeciętna.

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Książkę przeczytałem bez czytania "Pana Mercedesa". Dodam też, że trochę gubiłem się w postaciach, ale były one (chyba) bez związku z pierwszą częścią cyklu.

Kerri McDonald

This book. This book just had me doing something that I rarely do. It had me sitting up, once all pages were read, and loudly declaring, "Holy s*&%..."

I would say Finders Keepers is the continuing story of Bill Hodges and Friends, but it is and it isn't. Yes, Bill and Holly and Jerome are back in action, but they don't really even get involved in the story until we're halfway through it. This is the story of a crazed fan who would (and does) do anything for a prize he stole and hid away. It's a story about Morris Bellamy's slow but steady descent into madness. And it's a story about Peter Saubers, the boy who finds Bellamy's treasure, trying to play with the big boys and screwing up royally. The main thing, though, is that it's a freakin' *great* story!

Even with all that, the thing that made me sit up and curse loudly (and scare a very upset cat off of my lap) was what is happening with another recurring character. That thing makes me want to start reading the next book, End of Watch, right now, even though it's well past midnight. Mr. King, you've hooked me again.

b.andherbooks

I'm so happy right now because I have that post-Stephen King glow. I devoured this book in about two days, with multiple gasp out loud moments. The story really revolved around two characters, both obsessed with the same author and the trove of unpublished manuscripts one of them hid under a tree.

Bill Hodges, Holly, and Jerome are here, and the Mercedes Killer Massacre is a driving force of much of the action, but we don't meet up with Bill and gang until the second act. The slow build up leading to the stand off between young Peter and the fanatical Morris Bellamy leaves you right on the edge of your seat. Hell, King's latest really reminded me of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

And damn you Brady Hartsfield. I can't wait to see what Book 3 brings.

A Novel

Mahasin S Ameen

I actually liked this book more than Mr. Mercedes, the writing is strong and the characters are likable. Though finishing this book I realized that Jerome and his "alter-ego" Tyrone is basically what happened when someone showed Stephen King the wikipedia article on Code-switching. I'm not saying that there aren't young, educated black men like Jerome who adopt "ghettofied" alters, it just didn't ring as true to me.

Jana Pashovska

A bit underwhelming, which doesn't mean it lacked in gory details, grotesque events and twisted characters, but rather that the writing was somewhat weaker than in the first one. The story was as gripping as ever, however, and it revolved around books that are literally worth killing for, so it was interesting to read to what extent the influence of literature can extend. One more left in the trilogy, so on we go.

Rachel

Finders Keepers is a great sequel to Mr. Mercedes and it has me dying for the final installment.

Morris Bellamy is obsessed with the writer of his favorite series Jimmy Gold by John Rothstein. Jimmy Gold is the face of teen angst, but in the final book he gets a job in marketing, this upsets Morris because his idol sold out. John Rothstein becomes a bit of a recluse and stops publishing any new work, he continues to write short stories and even more Jimmy Gold books over the years, but its for his eyes only and they are to be burned when he dies. Morris isn’t having that and brings 2 accomplices to rob John, he kills John and his two accomplices, he has the notebooks and a nice stack of cash. Morris goes to his friend Andy Halliday to tell him he has the notebooks, but Andy is freaked out because the news broke John Rothstein was murdered and tell Morris to keep him out of it and the cops will find out about him in a matter of time. Morris is outraged by this, he hides the notebooks in a field behind his house in a trunk and goes out drinking, he commits another crime and is punished for it, he gets life in prison without having a chance to read the notebooks in 1978.

In present time, Pete Saunders is a child of one of the Mr. Mercedes victims and his family is going through a hard time, his dad can’t work, his mom had to take a job with less pay and less hours and it is causing tension between his parents. Pete finds the trunk with the money and notebooks in the field that is behind the house he lives in, Morris’ old house. He sends the money to his parents anomalously over the next few years and he reads the notebooks and becomes a fan of the Jimmy Gold series. When the money runs out and the family financials are still too tight and his sister wants to go to private school, he finds out how to go about selling one of the stolen notebooks, he finds Andy Halliday, who is more than willing to take them and knows that Pete is shafting him, Morris said there were more than what is being presented to him.

Little do they know, Morris is out on parole and when he goes to find the notebooks he’s been dreaming about all this time in prison, he discovers they are missing. The only person who knew about them was his buddy Andy and that is the first person he goes to see about his missing notebooks.Tina, Pete’s sister, senses something is going on with Pete and knows he’s the one who gave the money. She gets in contact with Bill Hodge to find out what is troubling her brother.

The story is great, it didn’t go in the direction that I kept expecting and I’m glad it didn’t, the plot was more interesting the way it was written. I would of liked more of the story to involve Bill, since this is his series after all, but when he is finally introduced into the plot it works. Mr. Mercedes even makes an appearance throughout the second half of the book and sets up what the third and final book will focus on. The characters of Morris and Pete were well written with good background given, more so with Pete. As a reader you can relate to their love of a series and a particular author, just one of them takes it way too far. I am worried that Finders Keepers will be the weak link in the series, a filler even, I hope there will be a connection with the characters in this story and the final book.

Finders Keepers

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