Bill Hodges Series by Stephen King
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Bill Hodges #1

Mr. Mercedes
Stephen King
**Now an AT&T Audience Original Series**
WINNER OF THE EDGAR AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL
# 1 *New York Times *bestseller! In a high-suspense race against time, three of the most unlikely heroes Stephen King has ever created try to stop a lone killer from blowing up thousands. “*Mr. Mercedes* is a rich, resonant, exceptionally readable accomplishment by a man who can write in whatever genre he chooses” (*The Washington Post*).
In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes.
In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.
Brady Hartsfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again. Only Bill Hodges, with two new, unusual allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady’s next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands.
*Mr. Mercedes* is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.
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Bill Hodges #2

Finders Keepers
Stephen King
**Now an AT&T Audience Original Series**
A masterful, intensely suspenseful novel about a reader whose obsession with a reclusive writer goes much too far—the #1 *New York Times *bestseller about the power of storytelling, starring the same trio of unlikely and winning heroes Stephen King introduced in *Mr. Mercedes*.
“Wake up, genius.” So announces deranged fan Morris Bellamy to iconic author John Rothstein, who once created the famous character Jimmy Gold and hasn’t released anything since. Morris is livid, not just because his favorite writer has stopped publishing, but because Jimmy Gold ended up as a sellout. Morris kills his idol and empties his safe of cash, but the real haul is a collection of notebooks containing John Rothstein’s unpublished work...including at least one more Jimmy Gold novel. Morris hides everything away before being locked up for another horrific crime. But upon Morris’s release thirty-five years later, he’s about to discover that teenager Pete Saubers has already found the stolen treasure—and no one but former police detective Bill Hodges, along with his trusted associates Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson, stands in the way of his vengeance....
Not since *Misery* has Stephen King played with the notion of a reader and murderous obsession, in this #1 acclaimed bestseller filled with “nail biting suspense that’s the hallmark of [his] best work” (*Publishers Weekly*).
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### Amazon.com Review
**An Amazon Best Book of June 2015:** For those of you who spent part of last summer being thrilled by Stephen King’s *Mr. Mercedes*, this worthy sequel arrives just in time for summer 2015. Of course you can read *Finders Keepers* on its own if you’re so-inclined—King takes time to introduce new characters and new crimes in the first half of the book before carting out some familiar faces from the past. The story begins with a murder (of an author) and a robbery (of the author’s notebooks, including at least one unpublished manuscript). The crimes will linger in your mind, but what might linger most is when King explores his obsessions with, well, obsessions: obsession with reading, obsession with writers, even the need to get revenge. The book is well-plotted, but there remains an organic feel to this series, like the characters are writing themselves to some extent. As a character in *Finders Keepers* puts it, “a good novelist does not create events, he watches them happen then writes down what he sees. A good novelist realizes he is a secretary, not God.” Amen. That's why we love you, Stephen King.*--Chris Schluep*
### Review
**Praise for *Finders Keepers***
“Stephen King’s superb new stay-up-all-night thriller, *Finders Keepers*, is a sly,often poignant tale of literary obsession that recalls the themes of his classic 1987 novel *Misery*…a love letter to the joys of reading and to American literature… wonderful, scary, moving.” (Elizabeth Hand, The Washington Post)
“[A] taut thriller about the thin line separating fandom from fanaticism…Bellamy is one of King’s creepiest creations—a literate and intelligent character whom any passionate reader will both identify with and be repelled by. His relentless pursuit of a treasure that his twisted thinking has determined is rightfully his generates the nail biting suspense that’s the hallmark of King’s best work. A sharp closing twist suggests Hodges will be back.” (Publishers Weekly)
“King’s many, many fans will want this, especially those who enjoyed*Misery*, but the second volume in King’s projected trilogy will appeal to anyone who enjoys suspense and action, or anyone who finds enlightenment in reading about the internal struggle between right and wrong. It’s not necessary to have read the previous book to enjoy this one.” (Library Journal)
“As in *Misery* and *TheShining*, King swan dives into the looniness lurking at both ends of thewriter-reader transaction…the narrative hums and roars along like ahigh-performance vehicle…a rip-snortingentertainment; one that also works as a sneaky-smart satire of literarycriticism and how even the most attentive readers can often miss the wholepoint.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
**Praise for *Mr. Mercedes***
"Classic Stephen King. Creepy, yet realistic characters that get under your skin and stay there, a compelling story that twists and turns at breakneck speed, and delightful prose that, once again, proves that one of America’s greatest natural storytellers is also one of its finest writers." (Associated Press)
"On one level, *Mr. Mercedes* is an expertly crafted example of the classic race-against-the-clock thriller. On another, it is a novel of depth and character enriched throughout by the grace notes King provides in such seemingly effortless profusion. It is a rich, resonant, exceptionally readable accomplishment by a man who can write in whatever genre he chooses." (Washington Post)
“A taut, suspenseful race-against-time book . . . [King is] in reliably fine form.” (New York Times)
"A taut, calibrated thriller . . . The majority of the book is merciless and unforgiving, and the scariest thing about it is how plausible the whole scenario is." (Miami Herald)
“Nicely dark, never predictable and altogether entertaining.” (Kirkus Reviews)
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Bill Hodges #3

End of Watch
Stephen King
The spectacular finale to the New York Times bestselling trilogy that began with Mr. Mercedes (winner of the Edgar Award) and Finders Keepers—In End of Watch, the diabolical “Mercedes Killer” drives his enemies to suicide, and if Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney don’t figure out a way to stop him, they’ll be victims themselves.
In Room 217 of the Lakes Region Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, something has awakened. Something evil. Brady Hartsfield, perpetrator of the Mercedes Massacre, where eight people were killed and many more were badly injured, has been in the clinic for five years, in a vegetative state. According to his doctors, anything approaching a complete recovery is unlikely. But behind the drool and stare, Brady is awake, and in possession of deadly new powers that allow him to wreak unimaginable havoc without ever leaving his hospital room.
Retired police detective Bill Hodges, the unlikely hero of Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers, now runs an investigation agency with his partner, Holly Gibney—the woman who delivered the blow to Hartsfield’s head that put him on the brain injury ward. When Bill and Holly are called to a suicide scene with ties to the Mercedes Massacre, they find themselves pulled into their most dangerous case yet, one that will put their lives at risk, as well as those of Bill’s heroic young friend Jerome Robinson and his teenage sister, Barbara. Brady Hartsfield is back, and planning revenge not just on Hodges and his friends, but on an entire city.
In End of Watch, Stephen King brings the Hodges trilogy to a sublimely terrifying conclusion, combining the detective fiction of Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers with the heart-pounding, supernatural suspense that has been his bestselling trademark. The result is an unnerving look at human vulnerability and chilling suspense. No one does it better than King.
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