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lovemydolphins's review against another edition
4.0
I don't think I've ever had such a hard time choosing between two ratings for a book. Mr. Mercedes was a 3.5 star read for me, and picking between 3 and 4 stars was hard.
First: I did like it. It was entertaining, there were times it was a page-turner, and I simply enjoyed it.
The story is pretty good, if not a bit unsurprising. However, it's a departure from King's horror/supernatural genre, and I expected that. The insta-love story was unbelievable, though.
The characters are not bad. Hodges is interesting, Jerome is funny, and the rest are okay. Brady was a joy to read through, even though I hated him so much.
I will say that I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the ending was too "happy." It should have had more consequence, instead of being so neatly wrapped up.
Overall, enjoyable read.
First: I did like it. It was entertaining, there were times it was a page-turner, and I simply enjoyed it.
The story is pretty good, if not a bit unsurprising. However, it's a departure from King's horror/supernatural genre, and I expected that. The insta-love story was unbelievable, though.
The characters are not bad. Hodges is interesting, Jerome is funny, and the rest are okay. Brady was a joy to read through, even though I hated him so much.
I will say that I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the ending was too "happy." It should have had more consequence, instead of being so neatly wrapped up.
Overall, enjoyable read.
charliegirl21's review against another edition
2.0
The only reason this sexist, racist, fat shaming, ableist shit pile is getting a two is because I like Holly and Jerome. I know where this story arc currently ends because I loved the novel Holly, so I like where King starts both of their character(minus the Tyrone shit). If you hate older white men using their narrative voice to write characters who belittle and use slurs against pretty much every other marginalized group, albeit in fiction, I recommend you read the summary of the book and skip this one if you are interested in the series and origins of Holly.
I pretty much disliked most of this, from the creepy incest to the endless use of the n-word and the word cripple. I inspected this as whether it was simply writing a loathsome villain, but a nine year old and their mom also pull out cripple and Jerome does weird slave impersonations. The fat shaming is endless. The vast majority of the women are plot points with tits, minus Holly. The bummer is for a crime novel, it has decent bones. It’s too bad it’s sentence after sentence of vitriol. I’m moving on to the next one. Here’s to hoping King figured it out, because this ain’t it.
I pretty much disliked most of this, from the creepy incest to the endless use of the n-word and the word cripple. I inspected this as whether it was simply writing a loathsome villain, but a nine year old and their mom also pull out cripple and Jerome does weird slave impersonations. The fat shaming is endless. The vast majority of the women are plot points with tits, minus Holly. The bummer is for a crime novel, it has decent bones. It’s too bad it’s sentence after sentence of vitriol. I’m moving on to the next one. Here’s to hoping King figured it out, because this ain’t it.
anniep95's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting enough, the dialogue felt interchangeable though… Like the characters didn’t have a lot of voice, any given dialogue could have been changed out to any other character and it wouldn’t have changed anything. There are worse books, this just did not do it for me (not sure I’m a hard boiled detective novel fan though so maybe my problem is the genre?). I also have been a fan of King’s older horror and so maybe I’m holding this to a higher standard because I know what his writing can be. Anyways.
So I found a few things problematic which resulted in the low rating despite it being a somewhat interesting read (again taking into account I’m not a fan of the genre):
Jerome’s little racist trope alter-ego????? Like Jerome as a whole didn’t need to happen. The reader is constantly reminded that he’s black, but also that he’s smart. But in the same breath he’s reminding you that Jerome is smart (bc it’s always telling you rather than showing you in Mr. Mercedes) he goes into some racist slave caricature voice—he calls him “Tyrone Feelgood Delight”. WHAT??? I am baffled as to how this was written in this century.
Sexist tropes were also rampant. King did not manage to write a single strong female character in this book. We start with the mom at the job fair—she’s only ever framed as incompetent. Incompetent for not having a partner, a job, or a babysitter. Janey is unable to do ANYTHING without Hodges help. She barely knows him, but she needs him to hold her hand and make funeral arrangements, deal with her family that he’s never even met, etc. It was considered outlandish that anything other than Olivia’s incompetence could have resulted in her car being used for the massacre. And then there’s Holly. It was bashed into the readers skull at any moment possible that Holly was mentally ill. In fact, you also see intricate to the point of excessive depictions of how mentally ill Olivia was, so Holly’s just doomed bc it runs in the family. It just seemed performative to have it fall to her to disarm Brady, bc like “Oh it’s the mentally unstable woman, will she be able to do it??”
I’m sure this has been mentioned about this book before but the fatphobia was pervasive. Hodges is 30lbs overweight but you’d think he weighs 300 based on how he’s discussed. Constant references to his weight, his diet, and why his romantic partner is even giving him the time of day.
The pop culture references were… not current. There’s a list of “pop groups” that will be playing at the major concert venue over the summer and I can’t remember the list but it was Bruce Springsteen and his contemporaries which like contextually made no sense because he was talking about how the venue made all their revenue on pop acts during the summer and the only one that wasn’t dated wasn’t a real band.
I don’t know if this is a pop culture thing but Hodges is watching Jerry Springer and he calls an ankle tattoo a “tramp stamp” and like it’s these little weird misfired references in King’s more recent work that’s making him sound out of touch. I’m accounting for the fact that one of the main characters is a 63-year-old man, but he’s also supposed to be a street-smart 63-year-old man and even the stuff younger characters were saying seemed anachronistic.
So I found a few things problematic which resulted in the low rating despite it being a somewhat interesting read (again taking into account I’m not a fan of the genre):
Jerome’s little racist trope alter-ego????? Like Jerome as a whole didn’t need to happen. The reader is constantly reminded that he’s black, but also that he’s smart. But in the same breath he’s reminding you that Jerome is smart (bc it’s always telling you rather than showing you in Mr. Mercedes) he goes into some racist slave caricature voice—he calls him “Tyrone Feelgood Delight”. WHAT??? I am baffled as to how this was written in this century.
Sexist tropes were also rampant. King did not manage to write a single strong female character in this book. We start with the mom at the job fair—she’s only ever framed as incompetent. Incompetent for not having a partner, a job, or a babysitter. Janey is unable to do ANYTHING without Hodges help. She barely knows him, but she needs him to hold her hand and make funeral arrangements, deal with her family that he’s never even met, etc. It was considered outlandish that anything other than Olivia’s incompetence could have resulted in her car being used for the massacre. And then there’s Holly. It was bashed into the readers skull at any moment possible that Holly was mentally ill. In fact, you also see intricate to the point of excessive depictions of how mentally ill Olivia was, so Holly’s just doomed bc it runs in the family. It just seemed performative to have it fall to her to disarm Brady, bc like “Oh it’s the mentally unstable woman, will she be able to do it??”
I’m sure this has been mentioned about this book before but the fatphobia was pervasive. Hodges is 30lbs overweight but you’d think he weighs 300 based on how he’s discussed. Constant references to his weight, his diet, and why his romantic partner is even giving him the time of day.
The pop culture references were… not current. There’s a list of “pop groups” that will be playing at the major concert venue over the summer and I can’t remember the list but it was Bruce Springsteen and his contemporaries which like contextually made no sense because he was talking about how the venue made all their revenue on pop acts during the summer and the only one that wasn’t dated wasn’t a real band.
I don’t know if this is a pop culture thing but Hodges is watching Jerry Springer and he calls an ankle tattoo a “tramp stamp” and like it’s these little weird misfired references in King’s more recent work that’s making him sound out of touch. I’m accounting for the fact that one of the main characters is a 63-year-old man, but he’s also supposed to be a street-smart 63-year-old man and even the stuff younger characters were saying seemed anachronistic.
sianw1992's review against another edition
3.0
I've been a massive fan of Stephen King ever since I picked up a collection of his short stories. His novels can be epic, small, focused on two characters or feature a town full of people. Every single one is different and he seems to write them quicker than I can read them!
Mr Mercedes is a break from his normal supernatural and fantasy stories. This one is pure crime/cop caper and we are introduced to two main characters, retired Detective Bill Hodges and Brady Hartsfield. No attempt is made to disguise the fact that Hartsfield committed the horrific crime in the novel, instead this story is more cat and mouse.
King is a solid writer. It normally takes me a couple of chapters and I'm in. This book was a little different. It took me a lot longer to get going. I think the problem with this book is that the characters were so predictable. Detective Hodges is overweight, contemplates suicide, watches tonnes of day time TV, eats too much fried food and even wears a fedora. Since retiring he's blatantly bored and a letter from the killer is just what he's been waiting for.
Hartsield obviously took Psychopath 101. He is a loner, hates everyone, lives in his basement and has a dysfunctional relationship with his mother. These are characters we have seen before countless times before. I expected more from King.
There are several sidekicks who all have roles to play in catching Hartsfield, namely Jerome, a black seventeen year old who runs errands for Hodges and Holly, a forty year old who lives off cigarettes and medication.
Once the plot picked up I had no problem getting engrossed in the novel but the characters just seemed to leap to conclusions with no obvious way of reaching it and the ending was just as I expected. I gather that this was about the journey, not the conclusion but it was a bit of a let down compared to King's other works.
Mr Mercedes is a break from his normal supernatural and fantasy stories. This one is pure crime/cop caper and we are introduced to two main characters, retired Detective Bill Hodges and Brady Hartsfield. No attempt is made to disguise the fact that Hartsfield committed the horrific crime in the novel, instead this story is more cat and mouse.
King is a solid writer. It normally takes me a couple of chapters and I'm in. This book was a little different. It took me a lot longer to get going. I think the problem with this book is that the characters were so predictable. Detective Hodges is overweight, contemplates suicide, watches tonnes of day time TV, eats too much fried food and even wears a fedora. Since retiring he's blatantly bored and a letter from the killer is just what he's been waiting for.
Hartsield obviously took Psychopath 101. He is a loner, hates everyone, lives in his basement and has a dysfunctional relationship with his mother. These are characters we have seen before countless times before. I expected more from King.
There are several sidekicks who all have roles to play in catching Hartsfield, namely Jerome, a black seventeen year old who runs errands for Hodges and Holly, a forty year old who lives off cigarettes and medication.
Once the plot picked up I had no problem getting engrossed in the novel but the characters just seemed to leap to conclusions with no obvious way of reaching it and the ending was just as I expected. I gather that this was about the journey, not the conclusion but it was a bit of a let down compared to King's other works.
roisinkk's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
somebodys_fool's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Murder
aimalicious811's review against another edition
5.0
I love the way Stephen king lets readers see into the minds of the villains. I really like how this book took the reader along with the characters in discovering the bad guy!
erickibler4's review against another edition
3.0
The little mismatched group of intrepid detectives/adventurers who set out to stop the bad guy before he does something... bad. Call them Scoobies. Call them a ka-tet. Whatever you call them, you can always count on King to put such a group together and to put them through their paces, with some suspense, thrills and chills along the way.
Sometimes he does it with a special resonance that makes you love the book. Sometimes he just works his formula. Either way, you usually end up entertained, if not wowed.
This one's okay. A serviceable summer read, but not one of my favorites.
Sometimes he does it with a special resonance that makes you love the book. Sometimes he just works his formula. Either way, you usually end up entertained, if not wowed.
This one's okay. A serviceable summer read, but not one of my favorites.
matmyers's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
abookloversdiary's review against another edition
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5