4.5

Well, folks.
Primarily, I draw your attention to the fact that Stephen King (despite a prolific work over the past years) still has the skill to amaze, thrill and shock his readers. In fact this book is a blasting revelation even for King's loyal fans. We finally get a main hero who is not a writer or a teacher, but a detective (retired though). That is just one of the experiments you notice straight away.
Okay, ramblers, let's get rambling! And I do hope my review will not spoil it up.

After finishing the book it is fun to realize how Stephen King was toying with me. He actually sets up two perspectives of an interconnected story (the one of the Ret. Det. and the one of Mr. Mercedes), thus the reader is familiar with both the protagonist and the antagonist practically from the start of the book. Unlike the typical detective stories, we know who is the killer and the bad guy. King lets us look at the storyline from several angles. In a tricky manner, the author shifts the perspective from the killer and the detective chapter by chapter. And this is one of the reasons that gives this book so much suspense and intrigue up to the very last pages.

What really striked me was the way the author draws the killer. His character, talents and skills, actions and moves - everything portrays an exclusively nasty and disgusting homicidal and suicidal (after all) personality, a pure scumbag. It is a sick, sexually perverted, obscure, slippery young guy. But, he is smart (and especially computer savvy), cautious and even genuine at times.

This book deals a lot with the topic of desperation and second chances. Let's take a closer look on the similarities of the main heros. To some extent both the detective and the Mercedes Killer are similar in one thing - they both get their second chances and they take them, simply because they need them. Because they are both desperate. Retirement is a real headache for the ex-cop whose life loses the sense and an investigation of the huge case is a risky gasp of fresh air, whereas Mr. Mercedes desperately seeks self-assertion, the thing that so many serial killers need. And eventually he plans a gruesome massacre... They are both open to question and judgment, both so much controversial. That keeps you on the edge of the chair.

The thing that stands out and to me was rather unusual is the huge role of the Internet (Under Debbie's Blue Umbrella) and the technologies (Thing Two, devices, password and hacking) in this thriller. Strange, but I didn't expect online chats via social networks. Despite having a Twitter and some other online life, Stephen King himself seems to me a pretty oldshcool person, so I am sure depicting a story that circles around the Internet and hi-tech gadgets was rather challenging. And I am also sure his sons helped a lot. Let's face it, this is our everyday lives now.

The secondary heros are also worth to be mentioned. Their role and their value gradually increases as we move on to end. And what is more, each of this characters is complete and thoroughly worked out. Jerome, Janey, Olivia, Deborah Hartsfield, Holly or even Frankie - each of them shares a unique story of their lives giving so many additional problems to the main plot and so much controversial emotions for the readers. I assume this fact makes this book a really many-sided one.

I guess it is time to shut up. This is a great book, not a masterpiece, I don't want to overrate it, but a solid and decent piece of writing.
And let me end with a quotation.

She thinks they walk among us