The first Stephen King novel I read was Carrie followed by The Green Mile. Carrie is the novel I enjoyed the most due to how much I rooted for Carrie as the protagonist. Carrie’s mother is one of the creepiest fictional mothers I have ever read about. Sitting on my “to be read” shelf on Goodreads was Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes trilogy which is more detective series than horror. I liked Mr. Mercedes a lot and I look forward to continuing the series.

Detective Bill Hodges is retired, overweight, and unhappy. His job was what he lived for, so without it, he wouldn’t find meaning in his retirement. When Detective Hodges retired, he left a few cases unsolved. One unsolved case was the “Mercedes Case” which involved a person driving a Mercedes into a job rally in 2009 killing eight including a young infant baby. In a private chat, Hodges is contacted by the “Mercedes Killer” nicknamed Mr. Mercedes by the media. This private chat brings Hodges purpose in his retirement as he is willing to risk his safety to catch this killer. 

Let’s be serious, Detective Hodges isn’t a character I particularly like. He seems somewhat selfish allowing him to put his eighteen-year-old house helper and a mentally ill woman in danger to apprehend Mr. Mercedes. I’m more attached to who Detective Hodges teams up with including Jerome Robinson and Holly Gibney. Even though Hodges puts their lives at risk, they both make him more human.

Brady Hartsfield is revealed to be the Mercedes killer early in the novel. He has an inappropriate relationship with his mother and kills his poor disabled brother, Frankie, by pushing him down the stairs. He’s racist, misogynistic, ableist, and more. There’s nothing unique about his character and reading his story was probably the least interesting, but necessary to build up this dual between Hartsfield and Hodges.

The mystery isn’t the identity of the Mercedes killer, but what his next plan of attack is. It’s hinted at, but his end goal isn’t revealed until the last 100 pages. The latter half of the book moves quicker than the first half and I did have trouble getting invested into the story because of the slow build-up with all the characters. I will say Brady gets what’s coming to him.

Overall, I liked the book. It wasn’t my all-time favorite Stephen King book, but it still kept my interest throughout the story. I’m planning on reading the other two books in the series, but it’s not a high priority right now. I rated Mr. Mercedes three stars on Goodreads.