Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

75 reviews

honkinggoose's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Addiction, Murder, Racism, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death

retiredepisodian2robloxian's review

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King is quite an easy and fun read. The story centres around the retired cop Bill Hodges who is haunted by his unfinished case regarding the Mercedes Killer, AKA Brady Hartsfield.

The main elements of the book I enjoyed was (of course), Holly Gibney. I have read two books with Holly’s character and enjoyed her in both. I also liked Bill’s character, also I am coming for Stephen King for killing off Janey. I was hoping the dog wouldn’t get hurt but instead it was Janelle I was supposed to be worried about. Also liked Jerome and honestly would love a seperate novel for his character exploring more detective work.

As for Brady’s character. Uh. He was definitely a lot. His instances of insest and violent behaviours made me feel especially disgusted by him and his mother. Frankie and their backstory really introduced a platform for all his homicidal behaviours and how his mother somewhat enabled these.

The plot was interesting, I do want to continue and read Finders Keepers. The plot was fast-ish? King’s writing has always been quite easy to get into which allows for an intriguing and captivating read.

Basically Hodges gets back into the case as Brady sends him a note in hopes to make him (Hodges) suicidal. This then make him question the case and how they interacted with Olivia. He employs other characters to complete the case especially to help computer-wise. Ultimately everything was wrapped up nicely with foreshadowed plot points being brought up here and there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, and Suicide

linda_wolf's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Car accident, Cursing, Bullying, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Mental illness, and Murder

michaelavictoria's review

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Racial slurs, Child death, Child abuse, Racism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Mental illness, Murder, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Cursing

Minor: Medical content, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Torture, Chronic illness, Police brutality, Body shaming, Dementia, Eating disorder, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Slavery, Bullying, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Infidelity

kileyjojo's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

Not one of King’s best but I enjoyed this thriller. There were definitely parts that felt overdone and tired but King’s style is amusing and kept me intrigued throughout. I’m thinking of revisiting it just to see if I still can be surprised by it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Violence

crystal689's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Violence, Misogyny, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Stalking, and Racial slurs

sydgolt's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is why Stephen King gets the hype he does. This book was dark and twisted but also full of love and friendship and bravery. writing from the perspective of both the hero and the villain was so fascinating and, no doubt, challenging. Getting into the mind of someone as unstable as Brady Heartsfield is a testament to the dedication King puts into his books. 

I had so much fun listening to this. I went in blind and, to be quite honest, with low expectations. In my experience, over hyped authors with the number of books that King has tend to disappoint me (with some exceptions of course). But i was beyond pleasantly surprised by this book! It’s not one I’ve heard any reviews about and I’m shocked, because it was just so good. 

I have some issues with how he wrote about the women (making unnecessary comments about their breasts). While those comments are a little icky, they didn’t take away from the quality of the writing or the plot. 

Overall, I love this book, I love King’s writing, and I can’t wait to read more from him!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Rape, Death of parent, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content

Minor: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Animal death

yodamordecai's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a nice easy read. The last 50 pages were some of the most tense and enthralling I have ever read, which  bumped this up from a solid 3.5 to a 4.5. There is some stuff that doesn’t really make sense, like why is this seventeen year old with a healthy social life spending so much time with his elderly neighbor? Stephen King also doesn’t really understand computers and it show. If you can overlook some of that stuff, you’ll have a really good time with this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Child death, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Incest, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual content

nightstitch96's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Classism, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Child abuse, Blood, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Murder, Mental illness, Incest, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Death of parent, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Grief, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Medical content, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Transphobia, Vomit, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, and Suicide

thematicaudience's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

One of my absolute favorites of Stephen Kings novels, especially due to its introduction of one of my favorite characters of his, Holly Gibney. Not only that, but the mass murderer is very well written, and realistically at that. Not to mention how many twist and turns kept me engaged and loving every second of the chase.

That being said, there were a couple too many slurs being thrown around by Brady Hartsfield for personal comfort, even though they had purpose in showing his character, especially aimed at poc throughout, and disabled people later on in the novel. Holly Gibney also does not show up until about 2/3rds of the novel is done, and female love interest leading up to her arrival I did not find nearly as remarkable. Her character was bland and while I was surprised by her sudden death, I could not say I was necessarily upset by it.

 
I also am in general not a fan of sex scenes, and the ones in this were particularly hard to sit through, though skimming helped, however that may be personal preference, and they at least served a purpose.
However, ultimately, the whole thing was incredibly enjoyable and a favorite of mine. Definitely a great start to a trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Car accident, Blood, Racial slurs, Fatphobia, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Incest

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Abandonment, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Almost all horrific acts, ableism, racism, etc are done by the main antagonist or those related to him, though there are minor instances of ableism and fatphobia put forward by who we are rooting for.