King, Stephen, Finders Keepers ( # 2 in the Bill Hodges Trilogy)
Tom Saubers goes to the job fair where “Mr. Mercedes” begins. Tom becomes one of those lined up for work, only to be maimed by the attacking Mercedes and left unable to earn a living. So it is a fantastic coincidence that the Sauberses live in the house where Morris lived right after the 1978 robbery and that the 13-year-old Pete Saubers finds a trunk full of literature and loot that Morris buried nearby.
John Rothstein is an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but hasn’t published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy is livid, not just because Rothstein has stopped providing books, but because the nonconformist Jimmy Gold has sold out for a career in advertising. Morris kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash and the real treasure, notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel.
Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then he is locked away for another crime. Decades later, a boy named Pete Saubers finds the treasure. Pete’s father, Tom Sauber, had gone to the job fair where “Mr. Mercedes” begins. Tom had lined up waiting for work opportunities only to be maimed by the attacking car and left unable to earn a living. So it is a fantastic coincidence that the Sauberses live in the house where Morris lived right after the 1978 robbery and that the young Pete Saubers finds a trunk full of literature and loot that Morris buried nearby.
Finders Keepers is an investigative company headed by Bill Hodges. He retired from the police force right after the Mr. Mercedes incident and was helped by Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson. They are tasked with rescuing Pete Saubers from the deranged and vengeful Morris when he’s released from prison.
Bill Hodges Trilogy
Mr. Mercedes #1
End Of Watch #3
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The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King
In the first chapter, titled the Pregame, Stephen King writes: “The world had teeth, and it could bite you with them anytime it wanted. Trisha McFarland discovered this when she was nine years old.”
Trisha is going on a small day trip to the forest with her Mom and elder brother. She takes a baseball cap, her Walkman, and some food. As they move on the trail, her brother and mom are absorbed in their quarreling. Trisha lags behind and tells them to wait for her when she has to go to the bathroom, but they don’t hear her and keep going. She steps off the trail but never finds her way back.
Trisha is lost. She tries to stay calm and shouts for help but winds up going in the wrong direction. She fears no one has noticed her missing as she walks, constantly eaten by the mosquitoes. As it gets dark, she is starving and eats some of her food supplies. Alone she finds companionship with the Walkman and listens to a ball game that evening which helps her forget the forest noise she is sure she has heard of, the cracking of a branch and something following her.
She wanders for days having some hallucinations where she meets three strange people, two in white clothes and the other one – in black. After two days, her food supply is gone, and as her hallucinations become more frequent, she starts talking with the baseball star she worships, Tom Gordon, who appears to her off and on.
Her mother and brother found when they finally returned to the car that first day that Trisha was not with them. She wanders for days and is far away from the search area.
Eventually, she is found but is confronted with a bear-like beast. We finally learn of how she is saved in the final chapter called the Postgame.
Stephen King keeps you not wanting to put the book down in this simple but well-constructed story.
See more about Stephen King in the Favorite Author Section.
The Mist by Stephen King
“This is what happened on the night that the worst heat wave in northern New England history broke—the night of July 19—the entire western Maine region was lashed with the most vicious thunderstorms I have ever seen.
The story narrator, David Drayton, tells what else happened. He and his wife and son Billy lived on Long Lake, and about an hour before dark, they saw that a bad storm was on the way, just rolling across the lake towards them. The storm raged through the night and did more damage than David, the second generation on the property could ever remember happening before.
The following day the storm had stopped, and the sky was blue, but a dense mist had settled on the lake and seemed to be moving slowly towards them. Some thought the fog might have come from the direction of a local military facility, but it came on the heels of the storm.
The mist seemed to have sharp edges and looked a little like a cloud. David and Billy go into town to get supplies when Norton, a neighbor, shows up and goes with them.
When they reach the town, they find themselves trapped in the local supermarket with a small group, all survivors of the storm needing help. The mist emerges and has hidden within it unnatural forces that want to kill them in terrifying ways. Trapped in the supermarket, the people turn on each other and struggle to find a way to escape the threats from both within and from the mist.
A scary story from the master of scary stories, Stephen King
See more about Stephen King and the books reviewed here
Misery a Novel, by Stephen King
Stephen King’s novel Misery tells of a famous writer, Paul Sheldon, who crashes his car in a snowstorm and gets rescued by Annie Wilkes, a lifelong nurse and number one fan of Misery Chastain, the character Paul has made into a long series of successful books.
Paul has his only copy of a new book, Fast Cars, which he hopes will replace Misery Chastain, now that he has killed her off in his last book.
Annie takes Paul back to her home and is thrilled to have her favorite author to nurse but really upset with the outcome of the Misery book. She nurses him, it seems, and pushes him to write another Misery book and bring Misery Chastain back to life somehow.
Annie forces Paul to burn his Fast Cars manuscript a he quickly learns how serious she is and that she may kill him if he doesn’t do what she asks.
This novel works on several levels with the theme of staying alive itself showing the power of writing as Paul struggles to stay alive. Annie loves Paul for his ability to tell a story and that saves his life.
The book is brilliant in its plot and the intensity of Annie.
See Favorite Author section for more about Stephen King
Quotes From the Book Misery
“Writers remember everything...especially the hurts. Strip a writer to the buff, point to the scars, and he'll tell you the story of each small one. From the big ones you get novels. A little talent is a nice thing to have if you want to be a writer, but the only real requirement is the ability to remember the story of every scar.
Art consists of the persistence of memory.
“I am your number one fan.”
“There may be fairies, there may be elves, but God helps those who help themselves.”
“dirty birdy”
“Can I? Yeah. You bet I can. There's a million things in this world can't do. Couldn't hit a curve ball, even back in high school. Can't fix a leaky faucet. Can't roller-skate or make an F-chord on the guitar that sounds like anything but shit. I have tried twice to be married and couldn't do it either time. But if you want me to take you away, to scare you or involve you or make you cry or grin, yeah. I can. I can bring it to you and keep bringing it until you holler uncle. I am able. I CAN.”
“Writers remember everything...especially the hurts. Strip a writer to the buff, point to the scars, and he'll tell you the story of each small one. From the big ones you get novels. A little talent is a nice thing to have if you want to be a writer, but the only real requirement is the ability to remember the story of every scar.
Art consists of the persistence of memory.”
“I am in trouble here. This woman is not right.”
“He lay back, put his arm over his eyes, and tried to hold onto the anger, because the anger made him feel brave. A brave man could think. A coward couldn't.”
