Book Review: Finders Keepers by Stephen King

Title: Finders Keepers
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date: June 2nd 2015
Synopsis: 1978: Meet Morris Bellamy, a reader obsessed by novelist John Rothstein, the reclusive genius who created the celebrated fictional character Jimmy Gold.
Morris is livid – not just because Rothstein has stopped writing but because he has made the nonconformist Jimmy sell out for a career in advertising. Morris breaks into Rothstein’s house and empties his safe of cash. But the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel – and Morris is prepared to kill for them. Later, he goes to jail for another crime but not before he has hidden the spoils.
2009: Meet young Pete Saubers, whose father was brutally injured by a stolen Mercedes while he was queuing at a job fair. When Pete discovers a buried trunk containing the money and notebooks, he realises he has the means to rescue his family from poverty. If he can keep it secret…
2014: Morris is up for parole. And he’s hell-bent on recovering his treasure. That’s when retired detective Bill Hodges – who has set up a company called ‘Finders Keepers’ – is asked to investigate. Together with colleagues Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson, Hodges must rescue Pete from the ever-more deranged and vengeful Morris…
Not since Misery has King written with such visceral power about a reader with such a dangerous obsession. Finders Keepers is spectacular suspense, and it is also King writing about how literature shapes a life – for good, for bad, for ever

Review:

Finders Keepers was a book I had been looking forward to for a long time…specifically since the end of Mr Mercedes (one of my favorite books last year) and so when I got it I clutched it to my boosm…that sounds weird, scratch that thought. I was excited to read it. I also, stupid me, thought I knew what to expect. But one should never assume, because when you assume you make and ASS out of U and Me…BOOM! Sorry I’ll get on with things now.

 The pacing of this book was slightly different that what I was expecting, but not I’ve found, untoward for a Stephen King novel. It was also set up a little different, crossing two time lines, building up until the merge in the current day. And these were interesting perspectives, thought I felt like I was waiting for it to start without realizing that it already had.

 I also think I need to try harder to not cross compare between books and series’. The ‘villan’ doesn’t always need to be this mad, creepy maniac capable of strange things. Brady was up there with the creeps but Morris felt more flat this time round and it was all about the passion for literature that drives his criminal intent rather than some inherient intent. Though this is something I’m sure that boils in all of us…though I’m not sure we would do what he did…..

 And tangents. Back on track.  It was interesting that this book follows the course of Mr Mercedes linking the books in a really nice way, something that seems to come naturally to King. And whoda thought that he was a Jennifer Aniston fan eh! There was a bit of name dropping here of all these ‘popular culture references’ which felt weird, but I guess they are sometimes needed.

 For all it may sound like I did enjoy this book and it’s a solid king offering. He get’s voices, and he does them so well, that the characters seem so built and you can hear them and see them. They have great little traits, such as Jerome’s tendency to slip into his "massa Hodges" persona, that adds those little things that lifts a book up. They also work well together as a weird balance; Hodges, Holly and Jerome and they make for good reading, so it will be good to get them back for a third outing whatever that may be!

 As is King’s way he can’t just leave you with what you’ve got, so right up to the last sentence you think OK I got his, I know what’s happening and the suddenly in the last sentence BAM…and you’re left like ‘Did that really just happen’ so it’ll be interesting too see where that goes….

 So overall solid King effort, also good for fans as a build up to the new short stories (looks fantastic), keeping the King fix ticking, and also good for fans looking for some solid crime with more of a smooth pace. 

 Until we meet again.

P.S I LOVEEEEE the cover of the American edition which I had to include below. The UK cover of Mr Mercedes was a gem, and whilst the UK Finders Keepers is cool and follows the vibe well, there is something erie and creepy and amazing about the US cover...just saying. Cover love over.