MR. MERCEDES - Stephen King

A non-supernatural thriller with an intriguing premise and race-against-time ending probably as suspenseful as any I've ever read, there are a lot of good things about Mr. Mercedes.  Bill Hodges is an overweight, out-of-shape retired ex-cop who spends his days watching TV and toying with the idea of killing himself with his dead father's gun; since retiring he has nothing to do, and no one to do it for. That is until a letter arrives, from a Mr. Mercedes, one of the few perps who got away when, maybe a year ago or so, he stole a Mercedes sedan and plowed it into a crowd of innocent people waiting for a job fair to open one early, fog-enshrouded morning, killing eight and maiming/injuring dozens.  Mr. Mercedes isn't through with Hodges, whom he actually wants to talk into committing suicide via the anonymous chat website Debbie's Blue Umbrella, but instead what inadvertently occurs is that the crazed murderer gives Bill Hodges a reason to live again - that reason being to catch Mr. Mercedes at last.  The supporting cast is terrific, Jerome and especially the not-quite-all-there Holly, and as said the finale is breathtakingly suspenseful.  My only problem with the novel is that it slows down greatly in the middle; it took me months to finish it, mostly because other books got in the way - meaning this one was fairly easy to put down, something I thought I'd never say about a King book.  But then, it IS King; expectations tend to be high.  Without a hint of supernatural horror in it, here Stephen King has instead written a book leaning more toward a traditional hard-boiled detective story that - via the soulless Mr. Mercedes - speaks of the potential for an even worse horror that can exist in mankind.  ****