Mr. Mercedes
Stephen King
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
Watch the complete MR. MERCEDES series on PeacockWINNER of the EDGAR AWARD for BEST NOVEL and #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! In a high-suspense race against time, three of the most unlikely heroes Stephen King has ever created try to stop a lone killer from murdering thousands. "Mr. Mercedes is a rich, resonant, exceptionally readable accomplishment by a man who can write in whatever genre he chooses" (The Washington Post). The stolen Mercedes emerges from the pre-dawn fog and plows through a crowd of men and women on line for a job fair in a distressed American city. Then the lone driver backs up, charges again, and speeds off, leaving eight dead and more wounded. The case goes unsolved and ex-cop Bill Hodges is out of hope when he gets a letter from a man who loved the feel of death under the Mercedes's wheels... Brady Hartsfield wants that rush again, but this time he's going big, with an attack that would take down thousands--unless Hodges and two new unusual allies he picks up along the way can throw a wrench in Hartsfield's diabolical plans. Stephen King takes off on a "nerve-shredding, pulse-pounding race against time" (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) with this acclaimed #1 bestselling thriller.
Product Details
Price
$32.00
$29.76
Publisher
Scribner Book Company
Publish Date
June 03, 2014
Pages
448
Dimensions
6.6 X 9.4 X 1.7 inches | 1.75 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781476754451
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
Reviews
"Pays off exuberantly . . . Surprising and invigorating."--The New York Times
"Classic Stephen King. Creepy, yet realistic characters that get under your skin and stay there, a compelling story that twists and turns at breakneck speed, and delightful prose that, once again, proves that one of America's greatest natural storytellers is also one of its finest writers."--Associated Press
"On one level, Mr. Mercedes is an expertly crafted example of the classic race-against-the-clock thriller. On another, it is a novel of depth and character enriched throughout by the grace notes King provides in such seemingly effortless profusion. It is a rich, resonant, exceptionally readable accomplishment by a man who can write in whatever genre he chooses."--Washington Post
"Think of Mr. Mercedes as an AC/DC song: uncluttered, chugging with momentum, and a lot harder to pull off than it looks. . . . King has written a hot rod of a novel, perfect for a few summer days at the pool. Mercedes-Benz commands drivers to demand 'the best or nothing.' In pop-fiction terms, that motto still applies to Stephen King, too. With apologies to AC/DC, the highway to hell never felt so fun."--Christian Science Monitor
"A taut, suspenseful race-against-time book . . . [King is] in reliably fine form."--The New York Times
"A taut, calibrated thriller . . . The majority of the book is merciless and unforgiving, and the scariest thing about it is how plausible the whole scenario is."--Miami Herald
"The nerve-shredding denouement is vintage King--a pulse-pounding race against time . . ."--Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"A full-throttle sprint to the finish; the last 80 pages cannot be doled out over multiple reading sessions. You'll have to swallow them all in a single gulp."--Sarasota Herald Tribune
"A literary Van de Graaff generator: tightly paced and parsed with dynamic dialogue and traumatic twists."--Columbus Dispatch
"An oh-so-dark mystery that never shuts the door on love, loss and, possibly, redemption."--Cleveland Plain Dealer
"No one can create a villain quite like King. . . . [A]ll the elements come together in a very public, potentially explosive finale (with a surprising post script). King fans may find themselves furiously turning pages long into the night."--Seattle Times
"Along book that doesn't feel like one. King's pacing is perfect here . . . [Y]ou should read Mr. Mercedes. You'll be checking your automobile's back seat for months, if not years."--BookReporter.com
"A fast-paced whodunit."--Esquire
"King excels in his disturbing portrait of Brady, a genuine monster in ordinary human form who gives new meaning to the phrase'the banality of evil."--Publisher's Weekly
"The most straight-up mystery-thriller of [King's] career...Pretty darn fresh."--Booklist
"Nicely dark, never predictable and altogether entertaining."--Kirkus
"King deftly takes elements of hard-boiled mysteries and puts a fresh spin on them."--USA Today
"A showdown between good and evil that characterizes the best of King's work, regardless of genre."--Los Angeles Times
"King may have left out the supernatural in Mr. Mercedes, but his gifts for creating thoroughly believable characters and thrumming suspense are in full play. He keeps raising the stakes and ratcheting up the violence, and just when you think everything is settled there's one spine-icing little turn on the very last page."--Tampa Bay Times
"King creates such vivid characters--people you can picture yourself drinking a beer with or inviting over for lunch. So when he puts them in great peril, and that includes Jerome's family and pet dog and the Mercedes' owner's family, it's a race against time . . ."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Hartfield is sensitive, sympathetic and one of King's most realistic characters. He is a lot like Norman Bates from Psycho, in the worst ways imaginable.You can add Hartfield to the list of great King villains, alongside the shape-shifting monster Pennywise from It and the hypnotic vampire Kurt Barlow from Salem's Lot."--Boston Herald
"A fast-paced cat-and-mouse game between Hodges, the motley group of unlikely heroes that he assembles, and the Mercedes Killer."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"As always, Stephen King draws very real people and scenes straight out of life as we know it . . ."--Raleigh News & Observer
"A trimmer-than-usual King, but that doesn't mean he skimps on the suspense and spine-tingling chills."--People Magazine
"With Mr.Mercedes, [King] demonstrates that he can still rock a pure genre novel like nobody's business. . . . a thrilling example of King's boundless imagination."--Bookpage
"A war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable."--Cemetery Dance
". . . barrels toward a memorable conclusion. King's work has almost always gotten lost in translation on the big screen, but his tense, propulsive, ultra-fast-paced climax here seems like it was written with the movie in mind."--Onion AV Club
"Classic Stephen King. Creepy, yet realistic characters that get under your skin and stay there, a compelling story that twists and turns at breakneck speed, and delightful prose that, once again, proves that one of America's greatest natural storytellers is also one of its finest writers."--Associated Press
"On one level, Mr. Mercedes is an expertly crafted example of the classic race-against-the-clock thriller. On another, it is a novel of depth and character enriched throughout by the grace notes King provides in such seemingly effortless profusion. It is a rich, resonant, exceptionally readable accomplishment by a man who can write in whatever genre he chooses."--Washington Post
"Think of Mr. Mercedes as an AC/DC song: uncluttered, chugging with momentum, and a lot harder to pull off than it looks. . . . King has written a hot rod of a novel, perfect for a few summer days at the pool. Mercedes-Benz commands drivers to demand 'the best or nothing.' In pop-fiction terms, that motto still applies to Stephen King, too. With apologies to AC/DC, the highway to hell never felt so fun."--Christian Science Monitor
"A taut, suspenseful race-against-time book . . . [King is] in reliably fine form."--The New York Times
"A taut, calibrated thriller . . . The majority of the book is merciless and unforgiving, and the scariest thing about it is how plausible the whole scenario is."--Miami Herald
"The nerve-shredding denouement is vintage King--a pulse-pounding race against time . . ."--Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"A full-throttle sprint to the finish; the last 80 pages cannot be doled out over multiple reading sessions. You'll have to swallow them all in a single gulp."--Sarasota Herald Tribune
"A literary Van de Graaff generator: tightly paced and parsed with dynamic dialogue and traumatic twists."--Columbus Dispatch
"An oh-so-dark mystery that never shuts the door on love, loss and, possibly, redemption."--Cleveland Plain Dealer
"No one can create a villain quite like King. . . . [A]ll the elements come together in a very public, potentially explosive finale (with a surprising post script). King fans may find themselves furiously turning pages long into the night."--Seattle Times
"Along book that doesn't feel like one. King's pacing is perfect here . . . [Y]ou should read Mr. Mercedes. You'll be checking your automobile's back seat for months, if not years."--BookReporter.com
"A fast-paced whodunit."--Esquire
"King excels in his disturbing portrait of Brady, a genuine monster in ordinary human form who gives new meaning to the phrase'the banality of evil."--Publisher's Weekly
"The most straight-up mystery-thriller of [King's] career...Pretty darn fresh."--Booklist
"Nicely dark, never predictable and altogether entertaining."--Kirkus
"King deftly takes elements of hard-boiled mysteries and puts a fresh spin on them."--USA Today
"A showdown between good and evil that characterizes the best of King's work, regardless of genre."--Los Angeles Times
"King may have left out the supernatural in Mr. Mercedes, but his gifts for creating thoroughly believable characters and thrumming suspense are in full play. He keeps raising the stakes and ratcheting up the violence, and just when you think everything is settled there's one spine-icing little turn on the very last page."--Tampa Bay Times
"King creates such vivid characters--people you can picture yourself drinking a beer with or inviting over for lunch. So when he puts them in great peril, and that includes Jerome's family and pet dog and the Mercedes' owner's family, it's a race against time . . ."--St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Hartfield is sensitive, sympathetic and one of King's most realistic characters. He is a lot like Norman Bates from Psycho, in the worst ways imaginable.You can add Hartfield to the list of great King villains, alongside the shape-shifting monster Pennywise from It and the hypnotic vampire Kurt Barlow from Salem's Lot."--Boston Herald
"A fast-paced cat-and-mouse game between Hodges, the motley group of unlikely heroes that he assembles, and the Mercedes Killer."--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"As always, Stephen King draws very real people and scenes straight out of life as we know it . . ."--Raleigh News & Observer
"A trimmer-than-usual King, but that doesn't mean he skimps on the suspense and spine-tingling chills."--People Magazine
"With Mr.Mercedes, [King] demonstrates that he can still rock a pure genre novel like nobody's business. . . . a thrilling example of King's boundless imagination."--Bookpage
"A war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable."--Cemetery Dance
". . . barrels toward a memorable conclusion. King's work has almost always gotten lost in translation on the big screen, but his tense, propulsive, ultra-fast-paced climax here seems like it was written with the movie in mind."--Onion AV Club
