Reviews with content warning for Gore - Finders Keepers

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Finders Keepers by Stephen King

14 reviews

zakcebulski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I thought that this was a really great follow-up to the already solid start to the Bill Hodges trilogy.
I had heard talk before reading this book that people felt this to be the weakest of the BHT, and, while I have not yet finished this trilogy, I quite liked this book.
The basic premise starts off with the murder of a lauded author being robbed and then murdered by a devout fan who is unhappy with the direction the author took a beloved character.
The fan, a criminal known as Morris Bellamy, is a very well read literature lover who in addition to stealing twenty thousand dollars, as well as a series of Moleskin notebooks which contain the writings of John Rothstein over the decade and a half where he was a recluse.
Morris takes his goods and hides them, but is imprisoned for 36 years for the aggravated rape of a woman.
Meanwhile, young Peter Saubers finds these treasures buried quite literally in his back yard (he and his family reside in the same house as Morris Bellamy). Peter, ever the caring child, uses portions of the money to anonymously aide his family who has been struggling due to the financial downturn. As well, Peter's father, Tom, was one of the people who was injured in the Mr. Mercedes mass killing perpetrated by Brady Hartsfield who is currently in a hospital for brain damage (Holly fucked him up).

All seems to be going as well as well can be until Morris comes knocking when he is released from prison nearly four decades after his heinous crime.
Peter tries to sell these notebooks to Andy Halliday, a rare book seller, and one time associate (and the planter of the seed that blossomed in to the Rothstein murder into Bellamy's head). Halliday tries to manipulate Peter in to selling the manuscripts to him, and this tense situation is what causes Peter's sister Tina to enlist the help of two- KERMIE Hodges and Holly Gibney who have since the events of the last book formed a PI agency known as the titular Finders Keepers.

Now, this setup, to me, is immediately interesting. I am a literature nerd as much as the next person, and you can tell that King is as well. He clearly had so much goddamn fun writing this book, and it shows. It is one of those things where someone is doing something that they are passionate about and you can feel that come through in the writing.
I feel that the "in between" books in a trilogy sometimes fall victim to the idea of "this is a bridge book I don't really care that much about it", pairing that with the fact that we are not seeing Hodges go up against Brady, and this book had the complete makings of a by the numbers romp. However, I think that King delivered a truly interesting story, and one that I am sure is going to fit well within the realm of the BHT. Will this book be the worst out of the whole trilogy, it very well may, but, in this instance I don't feel that this book is a seriously deplorable or unworthy of reading read.

I have always liked the character of a prototypically "unworthy" person being in love with learning and reading and so on- think of Stoner in John Williams' Stoner or Will Hunting in Good Will Hunting. I think that Morris Bellamy is along the same thought pattern of these characters, but, obviously he is a fucking terrible person. I really did like the portrayal of him as a moderately intelligent man who you get the feeling is committing these crimes because of his situation. But, once he does, he truly falls in to the life of a criminal. All this to say that I thought that Bellamy was an interesting character and villain, especially because he was locked up for nearly 40 years of his life, he comes out of prison with the villainous sensibilities, but, is plagued by the fact that he was stagnant for 40 years. I did not think that he was as scary as Brady Hartsfield, but, again, I don't think that he was meant to be.

I don't really like Peter Saubers, I won't lie. I found him pretty boring to read through, and every time that I was reading him, I just felt like... "Where's Jerome? Where's Bill or Holly?". I thought he was a pretty dry protagonist that seemed like he was more there solely to move the plot along, and not so much because he was a character that I cared about. I will draw the comparison to Paul Sheldon from Misery- I liked Paul because he was the protagonist, but, would not have liked him otherwise. I felt the same for Peter. He seemed very one dimensional to me.

I thought that the pacing of this book was really well done, it had a strong build up and I loved the climax of this book- it was so fucking symbolic, Bellamy being killed by the books that he had obsessed over. I thought that the irony here was impeccable, as well.
What I really appreciate is that the massacre done by Brady is used as a framing device in these books. The fact that we pick up with the victims of the massacre is a really strong illustration of how these senseless acts of violence have ripple effects that last days, months and years and years. I do think that King has a good handling of these events, and they are not played for laughs, nor are they played as aa grotesque romanticization of the horrors of these events.

Overall, I think that the hardboiled nature of this book was pretty well done. The reveal that maybe Brady was more coherent and was back to his old ways was... cool, but, seeing as the third book has come out and King publicly announced the return of Brady made this faux- ambiguous ending sort of fall flat to me.

All in all, I think that this was a very fun outing in to the Bill Hodges- sphere. I am excited to see where the rest of this story ends up. I just hope that it focuses more on Bill and Holly. I don't understand the hate for this trilogy, but, I accept and understand that everyone isn't going to like everything the same!

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joyride's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

For a book that promised me buried treasure, Finders Keepers was extremely disappointing.

One of the things that made Mr. Mercedes so interesting was the villain. While I was never keen on Bill Hodges, Brady Hartsfield was twisted and interesting. A strong King villain. Morris Bellamy... is... not. His motive was weak and tired. And while our young POV Pete Saubers had potential to be interesting, I found King's other young protagonists (Jake Chambers!) to be much more compelling.

Basically, Finders Keepers is tired. The story offers nothing that other King novels don't already do better. There's a little The Body (Stand By Me, for movie fans) and a lot of Misery in the plot, but without the suspense or intrigue of either. Bill Hodges, our series lead, doesn't even appear until at least 70% of the way through the book, and even then, he's just another one of King's nondescript cantankerous old white men characters without anything to make him appeal to the reader. King's written better villains and better protagonists.

What's more, for a seasoned writer, it's disappointing how apparent the second-book-blues are in Finders Keepers. This book feels very much like a bridge between Mr. Mercedes and End of Watch. For me, Mr. Mercedes was an average-to-interesting book... and the sheer boredom of Finders Keepers really has me in a place where even Brady Hartsfield's return in End of Watch can't tempt me back to finish the series.

The pacing is really rough. This is a common attribute of King's books. We spend the first third of the book getting to know Morris and Pete's individual histories. At about 50%, the plot starts moving forward. A little. At 70% we have Bill, Holly, and Jerome enter. All the real action happens in the last 15% of the book, pushed through quickly and tied up in a not particularly satisfying way. I'm left with a feeling that everyone suffered - myself and the characters alike - for no real purpose here.

And yet, somehow, this is one of King's short novels.

I suppose King fans should check this one out, and those who really enjoy crime novels. Personally, I can think of a dozen better recommendations if you're looking to pick up a Stephen King novel. And while I don't read a lot of crime thrillers, I'm sure there are more compelling recommendations out there for those as well. Finders Keepers is a hard pass.

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