I am not going to lie... when it comes to la King, I am one grossly biased fan-boy. I was very excited by the release of his latest offering, and although different to what many people might be expecting it is one solid, psychological, tense, character-driven motherfucker.
This time around, King has gone for the pure modern day crime thriller, sharing a genre with the likes of Thomas Harris and James Ellroy. If this was the aim, he succeeds hands down.
As with all of King's work, it is the characters which rule the plot. The main protagonist, a retired police detective, is drawn with a practise hand, and Mr Mercedes himself is a classic study of sexual dysfunction with a psychopathic mommy issue. I suppose there is nothing very new or imaginative in the themes that King uses here. There is no supernatural sub-plot of any kind, and readers wanting their dose of horror will be disappointed.
As all Stephen King aficionados know, you read one of his books because you want to care about the characters. Either way. Love or hate. You want the heroes to win because of the struggles they have endured. You want to understand what is going on inside the mind of the monsters, and you want to feel sad when a character you like ends up biting the proverbial bullet.
There are a lot of so-called brilliant writers who never achieve this, and it is a prejudice I encounter when I try to explain to folk why I read Stephen King. Just because he has been pigeon-holed as a schlock-horror writer does not mean he is not a great writer as well.
So, if you like Stephen King, read Mr Mercedes.
If you like thrillers and crime novels, read Mr Mercedes.
But above all, if you love reading novels that are crafted with care, emotion and brilliance, read Mr Mercedes.
As with all of King's work, it is the characters which rule the plot. The main protagonist, a retired police detective, is drawn with a practise hand, and Mr Mercedes himself is a classic study of sexual dysfunction with a psychopathic mommy issue. I suppose there is nothing very new or imaginative in the themes that King uses here. There is no supernatural sub-plot of any kind, and readers wanting their dose of horror will be disappointed.
As all Stephen King aficionados know, you read one of his books because you want to care about the characters. Either way. Love or hate. You want the heroes to win because of the struggles they have endured. You want to understand what is going on inside the mind of the monsters, and you want to feel sad when a character you like ends up biting the proverbial bullet.
There are a lot of so-called brilliant writers who never achieve this, and it is a prejudice I encounter when I try to explain to folk why I read Stephen King. Just because he has been pigeon-holed as a schlock-horror writer does not mean he is not a great writer as well.
So, if you like Stephen King, read Mr Mercedes.
If you like thrillers and crime novels, read Mr Mercedes.
But above all, if you love reading novels that are crafted with care, emotion and brilliance, read Mr Mercedes.
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