Book Review: Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Mr. Mercedes is a crime fiction written by the well-known American author Stephen King. It was published on June 3^rd, 2014. Stephen King has so far published 54 books and is acknowledged as the grand master of horror fiction. Mr. Mercedes was his first volume of a projected trilogy.

A hardcover copy of the book has 436 pages and costs ₹670 on Amazon. The cover of the book is plain white with a dull blue umbrella in the center and red drops of blood falling on to it.

Mr. Mercedes is a detective novel filled with thrills and suspense. This book is for ages sixteen and above because of its mature content and graphic nature.

It begins from the perspective of an unemployed man standing in a crowd at a job fair when suddenly a Mercedes car nearby takes a swift turn and drives into the crowd killing eight people including him. It then switches to the perspective of a retired detective named Bill Hodges who is lonely and suicidal after his divorce and retirement. The Mercedes killer was his last unsolved case. He receives a letter from the self-proclaimed ‘Mr. Mercedes’. The rest of the book keeps switching between the perspectives of the two main characters Bill and Brady Hartsfield, the Mercedes killer.

Mr. Mercedes is a cat and mouse story of a renegade cop trying to catch an emotionally disturbed psychopathic killer on the loose. This book was different from King’s other books as it was not horror/fantasy. It surprised a lot of fans when they found out that it was a detective novel. The choice of words is excellent. It has been written in a narrative and descriptive form. King holds the readers by their neck as soon as they start reading and makes them crave for more.

It was inspired by a true event where a woman drove into a McDonald’s restaurant. It was originally meant to be a short story. King’s notable works include Carrie, The Shining, Shawshank Redemption, etc.

Mr. Mercedes received positive reviews along with some criticism. It scored a 4.07/5 on Goodreads, 4/5 on Barnes and Noble. It has won the Edgar Award for the best novel and Goodreads Choice Award under the mystery and thriller category.

This book targets mental illness, addiction, child abuse, poverty, childhood trauma, alienation, incest and other such issues. King makes us feel the pain by putting us in the position of the people who were killed. This book is different from most detective novels because it gives us insights on what goes on in the killer’s mind, from his motives to post murder thoughts.

 

The book has recently gotten its own TV series adaptation which started airing in August 2017. It has a score of 8.2/10 on IMDb and 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Here's a link to the trailer.

Overall it is an interesting read. It does get gory and graphic at times but it does not sugarcoat reality. It reveals to us a different side of the world which we are not fully aware of. Although the book gets monotonous halfway through, I loved it. I would recommend this to someone who wants to break into reading Stephen King’s novels.