author: Stephen King
published: June 3rd 2014
pages: 436
my rating: 5 out of 5 stars
In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, 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.
In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the "perk" and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.
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 highly unlikely 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.
This is definitely my favourite Stephen King book yet (I only read three but still). Even though it took me forever to finish, it was really gripping and I was definitely invested in the story.
It wasn't a very fast paced but it got more and more gripping and page turning as the story progressed.
The main character Bill Hodges is a retired police officer and doesn't know what to do with his life - he even contemplates suicide - but then he gets a disturbing letter from the Mercedes Killer, one of the offenders he couldn't catch in his time as a police officer. This letter leads him to investigate the old case on his own with the hope to finally catch the one responsible in a gruesome act of killings. But the investigation soon gets way more dangerous and personal than he anticipated.
He was a very interesting character and showed how everyone needs a purpose to keep going in life.
The story gets way more disturbing in the chapters that are written from the view of the killer. Not only does the reader know about future actions before Hodges does but the mind of the killer is so dark, twisted and disturbing on so many levels that it's impossible to know what he will do next and the investigation of Hodges seems a lot more dangerous.
But even though Brady Hartfield, the killer, is one of the sickest and most evil people I read about in a while his situation also made me pity him a little. Not necessarily him but the person he could have become if his situation and upbringing had been different.
There are also numerous sidecharacters, all of which I really liked because they each have a unmistakable personality. They also all seem vital to the story, none of them are just introduced without reason.
The plot starts of mostly interesting but it soon gets really captivating and thrilling and it won't let you go until the end. I finished this book a week ago now and still think about it, that's how invested I was in the story.
Overall, I really loved everything about this book and am more excited than ever to read more of Stephen King.
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