End of Watch is the final volume in Stephen King’s Bill Hodges-trilogy. Unlike Finders Keepers it directly links back to the events set out in Mr. Mercedes. In fact, the opening of this book gives us another angle on the Mercedes Killer’s rampage. Fast forward six years, where our favorite Ret. Det. Hodges, now diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, gets pulled into an investigation into a series of suicides. Along with Holly Gibney, his partner in their private eye agency Finders Keepers, they unveil the link: Brady Hartsfield, Mr. Mercedes himself. Despite being socked in the head with a sockful of ball-bearings, he still manages to manage mischief. Of course, in typical Stephen King fashion, in the end it sort of mostly ends well.
Where the first two parts of the trilogy were pretty straight-forward detective novels read like King was having fun with a genre piece. End of Watch throws in some supernatural twists and feels more like King doing what he does best. All in all, this was highly enjoyable.
- Book read
- Stephen King — End of Watch
- First line
- It’s always darkest before the dawn.