Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

11 reviews

jomojobo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Wow. Wow wow wow. Talk about a tense emotional roller coaster! As usual, King brings characters to life in a way that few other authors can. Their motivations, emotions, and responses feel realistic, even when the plot requires suspension of disbelief. Though this isn’t necessarily a “horror” novel, it’s plenty horrific, and even the slow parts maintain a sense of foreboding. Our antagonist and his thought process are also particularly relevant given the state of the alt-right manosphere today.

There was a stretch of several pages (and there is always a stretch of several pages in a King book) that I just skipped right over because it was too distressing.

Freddy’s final disposition.

 

I wasn’t sure while reading if I would continue with the series, but after finishing Mr. Mercedes I will definitely be checking out book #2!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Pedophilia, Sexism, Vomit, Medical content, and Classism

brendontyler's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Gore, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcohol

reeltomi's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Incest

eadrianschmitz's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I don't like the way he writes about the female characters, and if you can get over the unrealistic progression of the plot, it's a pretty good story. Two minor things from the first scene that drove me crazy: Costco doesn't have bags, misuse of the term "baby mama". Can recommend audiobook. Great narrator.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

I don't like the way he writes about the female characters, and if you can get over the unrealistic progression of the plot, it's a pretty good story. Two minor things from the first scene that drove me crazy: Costco doesn't have bags, misuse of the term "baby mama". Can recommend audiobook. Great narrator.

jonssweater's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Dementia, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Drug use, Pedophilia, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury

michaelavictoria's review against another edition

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

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

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

sydgolt's review

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

Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, and Forced institutionalization

melodyseestrees's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

 If there is one thing Mr. King excels at it is writing absolutely unlikable characters. Even characters that should be likeable largely have aspects that can make the reader dislike them. In some chapters this worked well and framed the event how each character saw them clearly. In other chapters the reader became enmeshed in a slog of diatribe that was a true chore to get through, even in the audiobook format. 
If you are fond of Mr. King's other works and characters you will probably like this. If you are coming in expecting a typical thriller you will not enjoy this as much. For me, despite my casual familiarity with several of King's works I found it difficult to get up to the 40% mark in the book. To the story's credit the pace does pickup upon the changing of a key character or two somewhere around the 50% mark.

The pace picks up after the death of Janey.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Incest, Racial slurs, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Fatphobia, Sexism, Car accident, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Excrement, and Vomit

There is an adult/minor relationship between Brady and his mother. He claims to have been a victim of a different adult/minor relationship during his psychological torture of Olivia.

maddieloves_books1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

breezie_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Mr. Mercedes is not your typical Stephen King read. It's a crime thriller that follows a disturbed man named Brady who, in the beginning of the book, ran a Mercedes through a crowd of people at a job fair, killing eight. He gets away with it. The book also follows the lead detective, Kermit William Hodges (or Billy Hodges to his coworkers), on the "Mercedes Killer" case, now retired. The fact that Mr. Mercedes got away with the murder of those people at the job fair haunts Detective Hodges even after his retirement. So when Mr. Mercedes reaches out to him to let him know that he's been watching and waiting and that he also thinks the retired, overweight detective should kill himself, Det. Ret. Hodges decides to take it upon himself and find out who this person is.

I haven't read many crime thrillers before. Crime novels aren't usually my go-to book, and if I had known before opening this that it was a crime thriller, I might never have read it at all, regardless of who the author is.

However.

The book is written in two perspectives: Brady's, and Detective Hodges (which I think is a really annoying name so most of the time I just mentally shortened it Hodge because that's less cumbersome). Brady's perspective was more interesting to read for me. I felt like nothing really happened when the book focused more on Detective Hodges. Well, nothing except a random affair with Janey. It might just be because I'm not middle-aged, divorced, and lonely, but I don't see how the affair between Janey and Hodges made sense enough for it to fit into the plot of the book. They literally knew each other for less than a day before jumping into bed? The banter was kind of cute(?) sometimes (like when Janey made fun of Hodges's "yeah" and I don't know, I thought the thing with the fedora was endearing), but it seemed like it was supposed to be more of comedic relief than anything else, and it just wasn't doing it for me. Especially the scene when they had first slept with each other. That entire interaction was unnecessary. If you know, you know.

Hodges involves his neighbor, Jerome, who is a 17 year old boy who does odd jobs for Hodges around the house/yard and helps him with his computer whenever he needs it. I don't see the justification of bringing Jerome into this. Well, okay, Hodges sucks at anything involving a computer, which makes sense considering he's 62 years old and it's only 2010. But even being completely unknowledgeable about computers, bringing Jerome in as far as he did into his illegal investigation made no sense. Especially when he kept telling himself, and Jerome, that he wasn't going to get him involved anymore. And then almost immediately afterwards gets him involved even deeper in something that even Hodges himself shouldn't be doing. And Hodges never tried to deny the fact that everything he was doing was extremely illegal.

I understand the desire to solve the case on his own. This was the most notorious killer of Hodges's career, and he couldn't find out who it was. Brady went home with no consequences and of course it bugged the shit of Hodges. And then he finds out Brady had been watching him? That he wanted him to kill himself? I get it. Now it's personal.

Jerome is the one who makes the connection about Brady being Mr. Mercedes. But the way he does it doesn't add up to me. A lot of people have two jobs. In this economy, you kind of have to. And back then? Yeah, it was even more necessary, especially if both jobs were only part-time gigs.

Brady works as an IT Technician for an electronics store, and he also works as an ice cream truck driver (hence the popular quote "Everyone likes the ice cream man.") Jerome realized that they were the same person and then knew immediately that Brady was the same guy who had run that Mercedes through the crowd of people at the job fair the year before, but we're never told HOW he made that connection. And that's what makes the whole revelation thing a little unbelievable to me.

Before starting this review, I had intended to mention Stephen King's treatment of his minority characters (Jerome is a young black man (with an apparently white name, according to Brady, and that seems to be the only reason Brady hates Jerome. Because he "wants to be white, with his white name and good grades." Like, what?)), but I decided against putting it into the actual review. I could go into a rant all of its own about how he writes minorities and how unnecessary and disrespectful it is, but I won't.

What I will do, however, is say that the biggest reason I had stayed with this book and the reason I had been as invested as I was in the story, was because I was interested in what Brady would do next, and if he would actually succeed in his plan to "go out with a bang."

I thought the parts of the book that were written in Hodges's POV were uninteresting and they kind of dragged for me. The whole "I'm going to do something big and kill even more people" wasn't even officially mentioned until Brady heard about the 'Round Here concert that was going to take place at the MAC. And then things REALLY sped up.

The synopsis of the book makes it seem like the entire thing is a "race against time, high speed chase" before Brady can commit to his grand scheme and blow up the theater, but that really only became a part of the plot in the last, what, 100 pages? 120 pages? The book wasn't what the synopsis had promised, and it left me impatient for when the "big bang" would actually happen. Which might have been the point, but I didn't appreciate it. Brady didn't even know he was going to blow up the concert until he heard about it. The synopsis seemed more like false advertising to me than anything else.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Incest, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis