Stephen King, MR. MERCEDES

Like many of you, I have been a long time fan of Stephen King.  However, I have to admit that I have not kept up with his books written in the last decade.  Probably because I got a little tired of horror, and his rate of production was so overwhelming, I didn’t know what to read.  But recently I downloaded DR. SLEEP, and although it has many features that make a Stephen King novel good, I was somewhat disappointed.  When I thought about it, I decided that the problem was that none of the characters you really cared about was ever killed or was even seriously threatened.  One of the things that made King’s books truly scary was that nobody was safe.

Since MR MERCEDES was nominated for an Edgar, I read that next, and I was very impressed.  This story of a retired cop who comes out of retirement to hunt down a mass murderer who threatens to kill again was very good.  I think working within the limits of the crime story helped King keep his writing disciplined and to the point.  Not to give anything away, but he was also not afraid to kill off a major character.  This is an excellent book that shows King is not only a skilled horror writer, but no slouch as a mystery writer either.