In the early 2010s, Stephen King pulled off a magic trick. Not content to be the greatest horror writer of his generation (maybe ever), he decided to turn his considerable skills to the crime genre. With Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers, King introduced readers to retired Detective Bill Hodges, his assistant/partner, Holly, and Jerome, a young man who is often in the middle of the mysteries Hodges works to solve. Instead of resting on his laurels, King closes this trilogy by jettisoning realism entirely, thrusting his three heroes into a race against time against a deadly supernatural enemy.
Years after capturing the notorious Mercedes killer, Brady Hartsfield, Hodges gets a call from his old partner on the police force concerning a murder/homicide that seems eerily linked to Hartsfield's killing spree. Recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Hodges enters a new cat-and-mouse game with Hartsfield, who has acquired powers beyond the scope of human ability in the wake of his defeat at the hands of Hodges, Holly and Jerome. Over the course of three days, King tracks the gumshoes as they put together the pieces of Hartsfield's new insidious plot and scramble to protect his would-be victims.
At this point in the series, King's characters are well established, and he uses the warm connections among them to create moments of mirth and pathos. End of Watch has the great lived-in quality of many long-running detective series. While it's best for those new to the series to begin with Mr. Mercedes, fans of King's work will find another rip-roaring thriller in the author's late-career renaissance. --Noah Cruickshank, marketing manager, Open Books, Chicago, Ill.