Mr. Mercedes

I hate myself a little for that title.

Every time I read a King novel, I'm somehow freshly reminded at how good he is at writing characters. Each one is incredibly unique, and frankly I don't know how he continues to do it despite his astoundingly prolific career that's now several decades long.

Mr. Mercedes is a departure from my normal King read. I usually pick out a classic horror every October to read, but my step-mother-in-law (I know, it's the best I can come up with), said I absolutely had to read this series. Without any spoilers I can confidently say that she has a severely, and wonderfully, twisted mind. This is roughly the equivalent of a an incredibly well down Netflix adaptation of a true crime story.

There are no bumps or jumps in the night, no creepy crawlies, or murderous clowns. The accuracy and...probability of this story is what chills me to my bones. The growth of Detective Hodges, and even his failure in growth and recognition thereof, is such a beautiful depiction of someone struggling to come to terms with the failures in their life.

Everything I want to say about this book is a spoiler, but suffice to say King's characters, emotions, and brutality are all present, and in a decidedly unique (from my experience with his novels) manner.

Le King de l’année, le voici ! Le Maître nous entraîne dans une intrigue rondement menée et peuplée de personnages attachants. Le suspens reste au rendez-vous même si l’identité du tueur n’est plus un mystère dès les premiers chapitres, le principal intérêt résidant dans le jeu établi entre le tueur et le policier à la retraite, hanté par cette enquête jamais résolue. Le tueur à la Mercedes est un champion du vice, sa façon de tuer nous laisserait presque admiratif devant tant d’ingéniosité. Esprit retors, manipulateur surdoué, mais également fils très attaché à sa mômôn, il prend un malin et démoniaque plaisir à provoquer Bill Hodges, pour le pousser à bout. Mais c’est sans compter le talent et la perspicacité de ce dernier, qui, bien qu’au bord du gouffre, retrouve un sens à sa vie de retraité divorcé et un peu alcoolique. Les personnages secondaires ne manquent pas d’intérêt non plus, comme d’habitude chez King tout le monde a son rôle à jouer et on s’attache vite au moindre protagoniste. La résolution de l’enquête mène à un final où la tension ne cesse de monter au fil des pages. Que dire de plus, si ce n’est qu’il s’agit à mon sens d’un très bon cru, bien noir et torturé comme je les aime.

When I picked up Stephen King’s new novel Mr Mercedes, I felt anxious and nervous. This novel has been billed as King’s first hard-boiled detective novel and it reminded me of his past attempts at pulp fiction. Joyland was billed as a pulp novel and by all accounts it had the makings of a good dime-store novel but the end result felt like King stuck to what he does best and only paying homage to the genre. Mr Mercedes has all the hallmarks of a hard-boiled novel, a brooding and jaded detective, a femme fatale and mysterious villain but this read more like a cat and mouse suspense thriller. Don’t get me wrong, this novel is a homage to detective fiction; Philip Marlow gets a mention and a fedora even makes an appearance. Though the third person narrative and chapters focusing solely on the killer meant we are in a thriller and I had to adjust my expectations.

Bill Hodges is a retired cop with not much to do; when he was on the force he was highly decorated but now he is left alone with the thoughts of all his unsolved cases. One of those cases was the psycho-loner who ploughed down a crowd of people in a stolen Mercedes. One day Hodges receives a letter from this killer taunting him into a little game of cat and mouse. This is a high-stakes race against time; can Hodges catch the Mercedes Killer before he strikes again?

I found it interesting that Stephen King picked the fundamental character archetypes found in hard-boiled fiction, in particular to Bill Hodges, and made it his own. On the other hand the plot felt into the typical tropes found in suspense thrillers. So we have a book that is walking a fine line between homage and cliché. When it comes to hard-boiled detectives, there has been a great evolution in the genre and character archetype; it was felt a little dated to see an old white guy again. I felt it to be unnecessary, in fact I am struggling to think of any ethnicity within the book that didn’t come across as stereotypical. It was a shame because you can do so much with a hard-boiled detective and still keep him as a homage to 1940’s crime novels.

I get the impression that maybe Stephen King is the kind of writer that sticks to the tried and true methods of writing within a genre. As prolific author, I’m beginning to question if he ever takes a risk in his writing. I am not one to judge King’s work, I’ve only read a few of his books (I think five) but they all seem to follow the typical tropes found within their genres. Does he take risks?

It is starting to bug me this whole ‘old white guy’ category of novels all feature non-multicultural characters and if we do have some ethnicity, they all feel a little too stereotypical. It isn’t necessary in today’s novels; there is room to explore some diversity within a book. I won’t go into anything about feminism because I fear I would give spoilers with what I want to say but we need more strong/independent women in novels like this.

Having had a bit of a rant, I found that I’ve managed to talk about the novel and not give any spoilers. I did in fact enjoy the ride this took me on, it was predictable and typical of the genre but sometimes it is fun to go on that journey again. In fact (with the exception of On Writing) I think this is the first Stephen King novel that I have actually enjoyed. I find some parts of his other books entertaining but on a whole they do not work for me. Maybe I’ve just read the wrong King novels. Bill Hodges is returning in another two more novels and I will be picking them up and using the books as a little entertaining read when I need them.

This review originally appeared on my blog: literary-exploration.com/2014/08/21/mr-mercedes-by-stephen-king/