Finders Keepers by Stephen King

I was quite surprised and really excited to find that Stephen King had written a sequel to Mr. Mercedes featuring Det.-Ret. Bill Hodges. 
Read While Walking: Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King


I know there's a certain amount of fan service involved in being an author, but I was extremely gratified to see that Mr. King had seen my wish for a series featuring a PI firm run by Holly and Hodges and decided to answer it... though with a book about the dangers of failing to cater to your fans.


In the result, Finders Keepers was a really good book, and a good story.  Mr. King didn't spend much time on the characters of Hodges and Holly, assuming that readers were familiar with them from Mr. Mercedes.  Instead, the book centered on the two characters who received the stolen notebooks, Morris and Pete.  Briefly, both Morris and Pete (separated by a number of years) are ardent fans of an author and his trilogy of books.  But the author has become a recluse and stopped publishing, though he hasn't stopped writing.  His notebooks are stolen and contain two sequels to the original trilogy.  Both Morris and Pete want the opportunity to read the novels and learn about the further adventures of their hero Jimmy Gold.  Potential financial consequences of the find are decidedly secondary.  I also laughed when one of the characters considers trading the notebooks as part of a plea deal, but concludes that a prosecuting attorney couldn't appreciate the value of them, and probably thinks that Erle Stanley Gardner is great literature.


There's a bit of proselytizing which seems to be coming more from Mr. King than organically from his characters about the role of the author, but  it's to introduce explicitly some ideas about authors and their obligations which may not be obvious if left sub rosa.


There's some good suspense and action sequences, a couple of narrow escapes which show Mr. King is still a bit of a softie, but it's why I like his books; I don't need to worry about getting too upset at the bleakness and tragedy unless it's fully earned and provides closure in some ways.

I guess the best part of Finders Keepers for me is the way Morris and Pete are two sides of the same coin.  They both have the same drive to read, and both place the work of literature as central in their lives.  Mr. King has to work fairly hard to make sure Morris is sufficiently unlikeable that he comes across as the bad side of obsession to Pete's good side of love for literature.  I think, from time to time, I could see where Stephen King was starting to make Morris more sympathetic and then pulled back just a bit for contrast to prevent too much sympathy from falling on him or to remind us he's not a nice guy.  It's fascinating how easy it is (for me at least) to start to feel sympathetic with a character just because he likes books... but I think to some extent that's what Stephen King was trying to show in this book.  That a good story can unite people and help us to understand what we have in common with them, even if it's as little as a shared love of the same literature.  Knowing what they like to read tells us something about them, and despite everything else, if we like the same books, they may not be that different from us in how they see themselves and the world around them.