With the second novel in the Bill Hodges trilogy, Stephen King returns to an exploration of the sometimes obsessive ties that bind authors and readers together, a topic that he explored so chillingly nearly thirty years earlier in Misery.
In this case a writer named John Rothstein has retired to the seclusion of an isolated home in the country after creating a fabulous character named Jimmy Gold who appealed particularly to large numbers of young men who were trying to find their way in the world. Decades later, rumors swirl that Rothstein has continued to write even though he hasn't published anything since the last Jimmy Gold novel, which disappointed many of his readers who felt that, at the end, Rothstein had allowed Jimmy to sell out to the establishment.
One of those disappointed readers is a young man named Morris Bellamy. Bellamy is so outraged by the perceived injustice of it all, that he recruits a couple of marginal criminals and the three of them break into Rothstein's house late one night. Bellamy has promised his illiterate confederates who wouldn't know John Rothstein from Jacqueline Susann, that the author has a large sum of money hidden in the house, but Bellamy himself is determined to find the notebooks in which Rothstein has allegedly been writing since he withdrew from public life. Rumor has it that Rothstein may have even written another Jimmy Gold novel and, if so, Bellamy is determined to have it all for himself.
Things do not go exactly as planned, and Bellamy winds up killing his literary idol, but not before making Rothstein open his large safe. The safe contains about $20,000 in cash and a trove of notebooks. Bellamy buries the cash and the notebooks in what he hopes will be a safe place behind the house in which he grew up. But before he even has a chance to look at the notebooks, fate intervenes and he gets sent to prison for a crime totally unrelated to the murder of John Rothstein. It will be thirty-five years before he has a chance to dig up the cash and the notebooks.
Well, as we all know, a lot can happen in thirty-five years. Another family will move into the old Bellamy home. Hard times will descend on the family, which is headed by a man who was badly injured in the massacre that opened Mr. Mercedes, the first book in this trilogy. In the family is a bright young son named Pete Saubers who will stumble across an old buried trunk that has been exposed by a storm.
When Pete opens the trunk, what he discovers will change the course of his life, along with that of a large number of other people, including Bill Hodges, the retired detective who was the principal protagonist in Mr. Mercedes. This is a gripping tale from first page to last, and it will appeal particularly to readers who are obsessive in their own ways, although one hopes, not to the extent of Morris Bellamy. The characters are very well drawn; Pete Saubers is especially sympathetic, and it's nice to see Bill Hodges and some of the other characters from the first book again. As in most Stephen King novels, there are lots of thrills and chills, and having read it, I'm very anxious to finally get to the concluding volume of the trilogy, even though I understand that, due to the size of my TBR stack, I'm already well behind most other readers in this regard.
In this case a writer named John Rothstein has retired to the seclusion of an isolated home in the country after creating a fabulous character named Jimmy Gold who appealed particularly to large numbers of young men who were trying to find their way in the world. Decades later, rumors swirl that Rothstein has continued to write even though he hasn't published anything since the last Jimmy Gold novel, which disappointed many of his readers who felt that, at the end, Rothstein had allowed Jimmy to sell out to the establishment.
One of those disappointed readers is a young man named Morris Bellamy. Bellamy is so outraged by the perceived injustice of it all, that he recruits a couple of marginal criminals and the three of them break into Rothstein's house late one night. Bellamy has promised his illiterate confederates who wouldn't know John Rothstein from Jacqueline Susann, that the author has a large sum of money hidden in the house, but Bellamy himself is determined to find the notebooks in which Rothstein has allegedly been writing since he withdrew from public life. Rumor has it that Rothstein may have even written another Jimmy Gold novel and, if so, Bellamy is determined to have it all for himself.
Things do not go exactly as planned, and Bellamy winds up killing his literary idol, but not before making Rothstein open his large safe. The safe contains about $20,000 in cash and a trove of notebooks. Bellamy buries the cash and the notebooks in what he hopes will be a safe place behind the house in which he grew up. But before he even has a chance to look at the notebooks, fate intervenes and he gets sent to prison for a crime totally unrelated to the murder of John Rothstein. It will be thirty-five years before he has a chance to dig up the cash and the notebooks.
Well, as we all know, a lot can happen in thirty-five years. Another family will move into the old Bellamy home. Hard times will descend on the family, which is headed by a man who was badly injured in the massacre that opened Mr. Mercedes, the first book in this trilogy. In the family is a bright young son named Pete Saubers who will stumble across an old buried trunk that has been exposed by a storm.
When Pete opens the trunk, what he discovers will change the course of his life, along with that of a large number of other people, including Bill Hodges, the retired detective who was the principal protagonist in Mr. Mercedes. This is a gripping tale from first page to last, and it will appeal particularly to readers who are obsessive in their own ways, although one hopes, not to the extent of Morris Bellamy. The characters are very well drawn; Pete Saubers is especially sympathetic, and it's nice to see Bill Hodges and some of the other characters from the first book again. As in most Stephen King novels, there are lots of thrills and chills, and having read it, I'm very anxious to finally get to the concluding volume of the trilogy, even though I understand that, due to the size of my TBR stack, I'm already well behind most other readers in this regard.
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