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Author: Stephen King| Genre: Thriller | Pages: 370
The Plot:
Morris Bellamy loves John Rothstein for the Jimmy Gold books that changed his life.
Morris Bellamy hates John Rothstein for selling out on Jimmy Gold, his favorite character.
Morris Bellamy kills John Rothstein, burglarizing through his house of decent cash and all his manuscripts worth another Jimmy Gold novel.
Morris Bellamy is sentenced to prison for rape. 35 years of his life are gone.
But Morris Bellamy has hidden all the literary loot in a trunk close to his old house at Sycamore Street, the house where now the Saubers family stays.
As fate would have it, Peter Saubers finds the trunk and disposes off the money helping his family get out of a tight financial spot.
Peter Saubers already knows what the manuscripts are worth and before he can have his way with them, Morris Bellamy is out and is after Peter Saubers life for the theft of his loot.
Now it is up to Team Hodges of ‘Finders Keepers’ to stop Morris Bellamy from a deadly attempt at murder because once again, there may be more than one live on the line, to be saved.
This book is a sequel to Mr Mercedes which I have reviewed here. But even if you haven’t read the first book in the Bill Hodges Trilogy, you can hit this one without any qualms.
The book is fast paced as most King novels but it is soon evident that King is desperate to make this second instalment in the trilogy sail. While the plot is laced with a zillion twists and turns, it all falls flat in creating the much attempted intrigue and that’s where you start wondering if it is even worth your time. But you still drag yourself through it because well, it is King, and who questions the God when you’re an admirer.
The scenes flit between Bellamy’s life and that of Pete Saubers and you know, you just know that whoever runs into the periphery of Bellamy’s universe, is up for a nasty hit. You can almost feel your breath pacing faster as Saubers’ world keeps getting nearer to that of Bellamy’s. The tension unleashed upon the reader’s mind page after page is inevitable albeit predictable and run shades of a classic King novel.
The characters don’t have much to offer. They try too hard to please, but you’ve tasted better King characters with much higher IQ and EQ and hence, these fail to register anything but a lot of the plot. It is exceedingly difficult to keep a track of who is in it for what toward the end when King suddenly throws them onto a rollercoaster of catastrophes, beyond which it hardly matters what you end up with, because you are only waiting for the blasting madness to end soon.
The sad revival of Hodges and his sidekicks, Holly and Jerome, from the investigation establishment ‘Finders Keepers’ felt lost for a good cause. The part they played could be accomplished by the next door boy. Hodges was never my man, but with Finders Keepers I was assured why, even more.
This book is about books, about book lovers, about author fans, about neurotic fandom, about shit-ass plans, about murder, about minor felonies, about family, about love, et al.
And yet you don’t feel a thing for the plot or the characters or King himself, because the force-fits filling in the gaps, keep kicking the plot in the gut until the whole thing falls apart. Mr Mercedes did a much better job, as I realise.
I am now reading the last part in the trilogy – End of Watch. The review of which will follow soon.
You can buy your copy of ‘Finders Keepers’ by clicking on this link.
If you happen to read ‘Finders Keepers’ or have already read it, do share your thoughts below.
Happy reading till we meet next.
Until then, carpe diem! 🙂
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© Asha Seth
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Asha Seth 