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A review by joyride
Finders Keepers by Stephen King
2.75
[The Good] Finders Keepers has some of the strongest, likeable characters I've ever read in a King novel. Holly Gibney is a delightful, intelligent and resilient woman. King has mentioned he has a lot of affection for her, and it really comes through. While one big negative is his clumsy description of her as neurodivergent ("obsessive compulsive", etc), at the end of the day she is still a competent and kind nerd. And of course, as an autistic man I relate to her a lot which deepens my <3 for her. I also really liked Bill Hodges. I will always have a bit of a soft spot for the character archetype of "mild-mannered, intelligent and all around Upstanding and Good middle aged white guy". He supports and really loves Holly too, and always struck me as a kind uncle type to her. I will miss him. And can we talk about Morris Bellamy? The way he was written -initially, anyway- makes a powerful case study in the ways prison can destroy a man. He didn't need punishment, he needed help and support. Prison only makes his problems worse, and he emerges from it a painfully broken and defeated man. I found him very sympathetic. In the hands of a more competent and contemporary author, he could have been so much more than what he was in this book.
The first 2/3 of the book is also written and paced very well. The beginning is a fascinating slow burn that lays the foundation of the rest of the book. It is quite cleverly, and I enjoyed Peter's pov. The slow convergence of Morris, Hodges and Peter was also done very well, and I will admit I stayed up till 5 AM to get through that section. It was intriguing, it was fast, it was well-written.
[The Bad] Yeah, Morris Bellamy's end was shit. King seemingly ran out of ideas by the end of this novel, choosing not to explore any of Bellamy's complicated and compelling traits + motivations he himself laid out. He chose a lazy cop-out of "he's craaaazy and out for revenge!" Come on. The ending in general was disappointing, to be honest. It fizzled out rather than going out with a bang. The fact that the last scene was Peter in a photoshoot and Bill giving him some trite advice makes me scoff.
[The Ugly] King's books seem to get more bigoted the more he writes. It is nauseating how many outdated, nasty and archaic tropes he continues to use. "Predatory and fat and greedy gay man" sounds like a character he would have written in the 70s, not in fucking 2015. And it is not a passing mention, either. King seems to delight at every chance to describe in detail how disgusting and fat and gay he is. Jerome is also a bizarre character, further proof that King has never bothered to learn how to write Black people; he falls into a bizarre 'massa' voice from time to time, which is supposed to be Jerome making a joke. In what world does that make any sense..lol? The only other Black character is Bellamy's parole officer, who is also fat and sinister and taunting. Not any better.
The first 2/3 of the book is also written and paced very well. The beginning is a fascinating slow burn that lays the foundation of the rest of the book. It is quite cleverly, and I enjoyed Peter's pov. The slow convergence of Morris, Hodges and Peter was also done very well, and I will admit I stayed up till 5 AM to get through that section. It was intriguing, it was fast, it was well-written.
[The Bad] Yeah, Morris Bellamy's end was shit. King seemingly ran out of ideas by the end of this novel, choosing not to explore any of Bellamy's complicated and compelling traits + motivations he himself laid out. He chose a lazy cop-out of "he's craaaazy and out for revenge!" Come on. The ending in general was disappointing, to be honest. It fizzled out rather than going out with a bang. The fact that the last scene was Peter in a photoshoot and Bill giving him some trite advice makes me scoff.
[The Ugly] King's books seem to get more bigoted the more he writes. It is nauseating how many outdated, nasty and archaic tropes he continues to use. "Predatory and fat and greedy gay man" sounds like a character he would have written in the 70s, not in fucking 2015. And it is not a passing mention, either. King seems to delight at every chance to describe in detail how disgusting and fat and gay he is. Jerome is also a bizarre character, further proof that King has never bothered to learn how to write Black people; he falls into a bizarre 'massa' voice from time to time, which is supposed to be Jerome making a joke. In what world does that make any sense..lol? The only other Black character is Bellamy's parole officer, who is also fat and sinister and taunting. Not any better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia, Gun violence, and Homophobia