Mr. Mercedes By Stephen King: A Mystery, A Character Study, and A Race Against Time

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King: A Mystery, A Character Study, and A Race Against Time

If you’re big on the horror genre—or just big on books in general—chance is you’ve heard of Stephen King. Many of his books feature elements of supernatural terror, often bringing dysphoria to fictional towns in Maine like Castle Rock and Derry. Not all of King’s works are focused on paranormal terrors, however. His serial novel The Green Mile utilized some elements of supernatural events, but for the most part did so without elements of horror invoked. Instead, those events were more elevated in how the unnatural can impact reality or our perceptions of the world. His novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption remained grounded in reality, lacking the supernatural qualities that often identify with King’s tales. And, true to that reality, there is the first book in King’s Bill Hodges’ Trilogy, titled Mr. Mercedes. A self-described “hard-boiled detective book,” this novel differs vastly from many of the more fantastical elements found in King’s earlier works. And those unique elements are what makes it stand out.

Mr. Mercedes begins at an early-morning job fair in a small town, a location is never specified. The people milling about in the morning waiting for the job fair to begin are suddenly and violently interrupted by a Mercedes that rams into the crowd, killing eight and injuring many others. The book then cuts to retired detective Bill Hodges, a lonesome divorcee whose day consists of ample time staring at both his TV screen and his gun. Hodges had once been part of the investigation into the Mercedes massacre, though after six months of retirement, not even the people who were left the case in his absence have yet to solve it. There was no DNA; there were no hairs; there were no fingerprints; and the Mercedes itself had been a stolen vehicle. Nothing for the police to trace the massacre back to any one individual. Hodges, however, appears to be of special interest to the perpetrator. As, during one of his regular days as a retiree, Hodges receives a letter in the mail from someone claiming to be the Mercedes killer, going under the moniker “Mr. Mercedes.” The letter mentions details of the case kept from the public, things only law enforcement or the killer himself would know. While Hodges considers calling up the station and handing over the evidence, he decides—in one last attempt to reclaim the life he felt while on the force—to independently investigate the Mercedes killer.

What makes King’s approach to his first grounded detective novel, however, is that he doesn’t just stay in the perspective of the detective. Instead, he also allows readers to see from the perspective of Brady Hartsfield, the Mercedes killer. Working in an electronics shop and living at home alongside a mother he is much too close to, Brady is shown to be an unstable psychopath whose disturbances remain unchecked thanks to his ability to blend in with the rest of society. And out of all of King’s villains, Brady may be one of his most well-written. Not only is his character complex and compelling but reading a good chunk of the book from his perspective is eye-opening when it comes to the actual plot of the book. Brady, while obviously taunting in his approach to Hodges, is not a stupid man. His carefully crafted “plans within plans” paints a picture of not only a psychotic human being, but a devious animal unable to be stopped by any conventional methods. His place in the story serves to create a cat and mouse game between him and Hodges. One that slowly grows more complex as the book progresses.

What makes this first entry, so intriguing is the way King presents the story. For the most part, the audience knows what is happening throughout the novel, making it so that many of the story-based “twists” are events the audience was able to predict. The novel does not rely on the story itself as much as it does on the characters, however. Hodges and Brady are a night and day comparison that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the read. They are characterized in both broad and specific ways, each having characteristics of the typical “detective” and “perpetrator” archetypes while also being unique in their own ways. Hodges, while a detective, is also retired, doing anything he can to chase his youthful detective days down, even if it means this one last case. Brady, while a dastardly villain, has his own brand of psychopathy that makes him feel both creepy, and at time a little sympathetic. King writes his characters like real people with real lives and real motivations instead of trying to trap them in a shoebox of typified characteristics the audience would expect of them.

This goes the same for other characters as well. One of the most unforgettable heroines of this book is Holly Gibney, a mentally disturbed girl who, despite the struggles she has to go through each day, is able to overcome her perceived weaknesses to see the Mercedes case from a different perspective. The same goes for teenager Jerome Robinson, a tech-savvy youth whose expertise in the field comes in handy when Hodges needs a second pair of eyes on clues he can’t understand. The book is able to weave all of these unique individuals together to create a memorable cast of characters. A cast of characters whose interactions, conflicts, and journey to the truth rely on how expertly they’re all able to play off one another. The conversations and even minor events in the book feel real and do wonders to justify the creative decisions King makes, especially in the second half of the novel. There’s one scene in particular involving Hodges and a sock that demonstrates the good by which he operates in everything he does. Just as there is a scene involving Brady and his mother that represents the epitome of all evil.

But the characters aren’t the only standout parts of Mr. Mercedes. King’s writing also shines here, with many of his detailed descriptions and long-winded explanations typical of his style. What shines here, however, is that despite his writing having a good amount of detail to it, reading the book didn’t feel like it took a long time. At a little over 400 pages, the book feels about half that length given how each sentence flowed right into the next, making the descriptions feel smooth instead of jagged. While some of the long-winded descriptions in the book could have been cut without the audience losing much, that level of detail didn’t feel unneeded in the moment. It felt like just the right amount in order to keep the audience on the edge of their seats while offering a play-by-play of everything that transpired. This coupled with a winding plot and great, memorable characters is what makes this book such a great crime novel, detective thriller, and everything applicable in between.

Mr. Mercedes is just as great as many other memorable works by King, such as The Stand and It. Moving away from his typical supernatural indicators, King was able to craft a grounded, well-characterized, and entertaining novel that stands out greatly among the rest of his works. For anyone interested in a fantastic crime novel, this one gets my highest recommendation.