Started: Sept. 16
Finished: Sept. 22
Notes: Since I recently finished Mr. Mercedes, the first book in this King series, I thought I'd go ahead and delve into the next book in this series.
Mini review: The plot is more convoluted than is usual for King, but I'll take a stab at breaking down the basics. Back in 1978, a famous author is murdered and numerous notebooks of his go missing. No suspects are ever caught. Decades later a 13-year-old boy finds the notebooks buried in a trunk. Not longer after, the author's killer is released from prison for a different crime, and he goes looking for those notebooks. There's much more to it than that, but that's the bare bones. I enjoyed this one much more than Mr. Mercedes, though there is a trend running through these novels which bothers me a little. There seem to be an awful lot of coincidences and serendipity. Usually I can brush this off when it comes to King's writings because there is an element of the supernatural involved, and my willingness to accept such is (I suppose) based upon the possibility of outside forces (both good and evil) working behind the scenes. In this series of novels, however, there is only the barest hint of anything unusual going, and for the most part the events appear to occur in something resembling the real world. That's what bothers me. Admittedly there are plenty of coincidences, good and bad and neutral, in reality, but they don't ring true in fiction when piled upon one another. Still, despite my lengthy rambling here, that's only a minor criticism of these novels. By the way, if you're wondering what the title refers to, it's the name of a sort-of private detective agency.
2 comments:
I didn't realize this was a kind of series. Haven't read Mr Mercedes
Yep, there's a third book out, but I don't have that one yet. I think that'll be the end of the series, but you never know with King.
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