Stephen King’s “Mr. Mercedes”

“Mr. Mercedes” is the first of the Bill Hodges trilogy written by Stephen King. Bill Hodges, a retired detective contemplating suicide is pitted against a psychotic killer in a cat and mouse game in this crime thriller. 

The Mercedes killer is “the one that got away” in one of the cases Bill was formerly in charge of - a madman riding a Mercedes runs over a group of job seekers waiting outside a job fair on a foggy morning killing eight and injuring many more. The killer contacts Bill by sending him a letter and inviting him for a chat in a mysterious website. Bill comes out of his suicidal ideation and is bent upon catching this killer who has proved elusive before. 

The killer with his traumatic childhood and an unsettling and complicated relationship with his mother is one intricately written character. On the other hand, Bill Hodges as a retired cop starts off as a well written character but falls flat as the usual over-ambitious detective of mystery novels often driven by personal revenge. Holly as a socially awkward, mentally unstable middle aged woman shines towards the very end especially when the character tries to get into the mind of the Mercedes killer with deductions from her own condition. 

The exchange of messages between Bill and the killer is brilliantly written with enough suspense that keeps us guessing. There are flaws in the way the relationship between the characters are handled and it brings down the grounded nature of this novel. The novel never dips in pace and the scenes unfold seamlessly proving yet again that Stephen King is a master storyteller. 

Hoping the next in this series is even better!

Carrie by Stephen King

Stephen King’s “Carrie” is a supernatural horror novel that delves deep into the darkest corners of the human psyche. The novel is about Carrie, a girl with telekinetic powers - latent at first but intensifies as the novel progresses with each of her traumatic experience. 

Carrie, a high school student is often bullied by her classmates and suffers distressing experiences at school. Her mother being a religious fanatic, Carrie grows up in her oppressive influence as a naive and emotionally deranged kid. 

The narrative of the novel is presented as a combination of prose, excerpts from police investigation, news snippets, magazine articles, interviews and a personal diary of one of the characters Sue. The idea of narration from the perspective of different characters adds necessary depth to the proceedings. However, there are pacing issues and sometimes the narration from Sue’s diary feels like a monologue. 

Carrie’s characterisation as an emotionally disturbed kid due to the conservative upbringing in the hands of a religious fanatic mother and her spiralling descent into madness caused by events of extreme psychological trauma is well written. The other characters in the novel create a diverse environment and get proper closure at the end of the novel. 

A slow paced, yet well-written supernatural horror novel. 

“The Mist” by Stephen King

Stephen King’s “The Mist” is a novella based on cosmic horror. The city is hit by a deadly storm and even before the people recover from the havoc, another unprecedented horror looms over the city. 

A strange white mist engulfs the city and the protagonist and his son get trapped in a local supermarket along with few of his acquaintances. This unnatural situation outside intensifies when bizarre creatures begin to appear and take away lives. 

Their fear, their separation from their dear ones, their encounter with death face-to-face, their tendency to find solace of any sort, even in rituals like human sacrifice begin to create factions among the people trapped inside. The psychological effect such situations have on people and their reaction to escape the unnatural reality outside are portrayed brilliantly. 

The suspense that builds around the mystery of unidentifiable creatures that pop out of the mist and the question of salvation make this a thrilling read. Stephen King’s ability to convey the horrific experience of the characters in words makes us a part of the experience too, as if we were trapped inside!

An engaging no-nonsense novella that stays true to its genre.