Finders Keepers Discussion *SPOILERS*

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AchtungBaby

Well-Known Member
Dec 5, 2011
3,856
15,540
Finished last night. :)

I liked it just slightly less than Mr. Mercedes. Part 2 dragged a little for me, but to be fair, I don't think it was the story, but that I read that part in very small snatches of time, couldn't give it my full attention.

Part 3 was amazing, was unable to put it down, I read it in one sitting last night, only pausing long enough to move myself to my bedroom, where it was quiet. ;-D

Loved the peek into what Brady is up to, he is one creepy villain. He was already creepy, now he has super-duper supernatural brain power?!?:eek: Holly will not take that well, when she finds out! Loved that his hospital room number was 217.
Yeah, I felt the same about part 2. It wasn't bad, just sort of dry.
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
I just finished it and thought it was a good solid thriller. I think I liked it equally as well as I liked Mr Mercedes. I'm on a different page so I can't go back and look to see who posted it but someone posted about liking how we get to see the City Center Massacre from a different angle and I agree with that. The last third of the book was a real page turner and now we have a pretty good idea of what we are getting for part 3 of this trilogy and it looks very promising.

Cody, I do agree with you on Hodges. His character does seem a tad flat in this book. I thought Andy was a great sleaze ball.
Doing a hatchet job on him pleased me. ;-D
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am looking forward to part 3.

So that's my very brief summary for now. I'll probably have a few things to add later.
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
Again, I found it to be a good, solid story. The new characters (both the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys') were well developed, and their story was absorbing. Unlike some others, I didn't find the switching tense during POV shift jarring. Maybe because I read so much, and it's a writing style that's become very common, I barely noticed it. I found the present tense in Mr. Mercedes more jarring, perhaps because it's not a style Mr. King has used often in the past.

I did have some concerns, though. Here goes:
-I did find it surprising that the trio from the first book isn't even introduced until well into the story. To be honest, by that point I was so into the story of Morrie et. al. (that narrative was just freaking exquisite--classic mature King. I liked it better than Doctor Sleep or Revival) that I could have cared less about Hodges, Holly, and Jerome. And I didn't care much about them as the story progressed.
-Hodges felt like a paper cut-out: "weary detective". He was not irritating as much as...undeveloped.
-Holly fared a little better--she was more interesting than Hodges by far, and I think I'd enjoy a stand-alone story about her.
-Jerome. Ah Jerome. As much as I hate to say it, he was a character that was absolutely pointless in this book. He did nothing for the story, not even his computer geek thing from the first book. His screechy voice was diminished, but still there, and still embarrassing. I REALLY hope Mr. King gets over that. It comes off as borderline racist stereotype, and is ridiculous for someone Jerome's age, living in our world today. The social context is different for kids now (if that would have even been a thing in the 70s), and the screechy, over-the-top Prissy from Gone With The Wind thing is something they don't reference.
-tiny thing: Tina has a Mrs. Beesley doll. I had one when I was a little kid, but I'm 48. I don't even think you could buy one outside an antique toy shop/online in 2009. That jarred me.
-the end. One one hand, I loved it--it moved fast and made sense in the parameters of the story. I even loved the storied clack . BUT. BUT... I think it was a mistake. This is Mr. King's first published crime fiction trilogy. To many people, readers of crime fiction but not necessarily supernatural fiction, Mr. Mercedes might have been the book that brought them to Mr. King, especially after it won the Edgar. So they move in, start to get comfortable, think, "Yeah, that Stephen King... maybe I misjudged him. He can write other types of stories." (and I do understand that most of us would find this a no brainer, but to the general public he's Scary Book Guy #1). They pick up Finders Keepers, trip merrily through an interesting crime story, then... BOOM. Supernatural sh*t. They roll their eyes, shut the book, and toss it in the corner, never to return to Casa King. It's a 'cockadoodie cheat' to them. They bought crime fiction--they don't want no steenkin' stupid paranormal crap. They want crime that could happen! I loved it, because I like that supernatural sh*t. But this is crime fiction. It cheats the genre, KWIM?
-last thought: I'll go out on a limb, but not far, I expect, and say crime fiction bores the crap out of Mr. King (writing it, anyway). It goes back to what I was talking about in the NY Times review thread: though he says he doesn't like 'relationship stories', those are the stories that he's really good at writing. The most interesting parts of this book deal with relationships and how they affect someone, both externally and internally; it's the characters' personalities and the people they know that drive the story, not the other way around. It's when he tries to be a 'crime writer' that the story falls flat. He doesn't seem to care much for his intrepid trio, so we don't either. Crime fiction is most often story driven--the characters aren't nearly as important as what happens around them. Mr. King is a master of the character driven novel: we climb right in their heads, and whether we've entered hell or heaven, we enjoy where they take us. Crime fiction denies his greatest strength, IMHO.

Who's gonna tune up on me first? :noooo::lee::m_nosebleed: :D
 

danie

I am whatever you say I am.
Feb 26, 2008
9,760
60,662
60
Kentucky
Again, I found it to be a good, solid story. The new characters (both the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys') were well developed, and their story was absorbing. Unlike some others, I didn't find the switching tense during POV shift jarring. Maybe because I read so much, and it's a writing style that's become very common, I barely noticed it. I found the present tense in Mr. Mercedes more jarring, perhaps because it's not a style Mr. King has used often in the past.

I did have some concerns, though. Here goes:
-I did find it surprising that the trio from the first book isn't even introduced until well into the story. To be honest, by that point I was so into the story of Morrie et. al. (that narrative was just freaking exquisite--classic mature King. I liked it better than Doctor Sleep or Revival) that I could have cared less about Hodges, Holly, and Jerome. And I didn't care much about them as the story progressed.
-Hodges felt like a paper cut-out: "weary detective". He was not irritating as much as...undeveloped.
-Holly fared a little better--she was more interesting than Hodges by far, and I think I'd enjoy a stand-alone story about her.
-Jerome. Ah Jerome. As much as I hate to say it, he was a character that was absolutely pointless in this book. He did nothing for the story, not even his computer geek thing from the first book. His screechy voice was diminished, but still there, and still embarrassing. I REALLY hope Mr. King gets over that. It comes off as borderline racist stereotype, and is ridiculous for someone Jerome's age, living in our world today. The social context is different for kids now (if that would have even been a thing in the 70s), and the screechy, over-the-top Prissy from Gone With The Wind thing is something they don't reference.
-tiny thing: Tina has a Mrs. Beesley doll. I had one when I was a little kid, but I'm 48. I don't even think you could buy one outside an antique toy shop/online in 2009. That jarred me.
-the end. One one hand, I loved it--it moved fast and made sense in the parameters of the story. I even loved the storied clack . BUT. BUT... I think it was a mistake. This is Mr. King's first published crime fiction trilogy. To many people, readers of crime fiction but not necessarily supernatural fiction, Mr. Mercedes might have been the book that brought them to Mr. King, especially after it won the Edgar. So they move in, start to get comfortable, think, "Yeah, that Stephen King... maybe I misjudged him. He can write other types of stories." (and I do understand that most of us would find this a no brainer, but to the general public he's Scary Book Guy #1). They pick up Finders Keepers, trip merrily through an interesting crime story, then... BOOM. Supernatural sh*t. They roll their eyes, shut the book, and toss it in the corner, never to return to Casa King. It's a 'cockadoodie cheat' to them. They bought crime fiction--they don't want no steenkin' stupid paranormal crap. They want crime that could happen! I loved it, because I like that supernatural sh*t. But this is crime fiction. It cheats the genre, KWIM?
-last thought: I'll go out on a limb, but not far, I expect, and say crime fiction bores the crap out of Mr. King (writing it, anyway). It goes back to what I was talking about in the NY Times review thread: though he says he doesn't like 'relationship stories', those are the stories that he's really good at writing. The most interesting parts of this book deal with relationships and how they affect someone, both externally and internally; it's the characters' personalities and the people they know that drive the story, not the other way around. It's when he tries to be a 'crime writer' that the story falls flat. He doesn't seem to care much for his intrepid trio, so we don't either. Crime fiction is most often story driven--the characters aren't nearly as important as what happens around them. Mr. King is a master of the character driven novel: we climb right in their heads, and whether we've entered hell or heaven, we enjoy where they take us. Crime fiction denies his greatest strength, IMHO.

Who's gonna tune up on me first? :noooo::lee::m_nosebleed: :D
Probably not much of a surprise to you, SkiMom, but I agreed with most of what you wrote.
-I wish that the book had started out with our Mr. Mercedes trio of detectives...I'm like you--by the time they showed up, they seemed superfluous to the story. I loved all the other characters at the beginning, and felt they could have had their own stand-alone story without Hodges, Holly and Jerome. Hodges and Holly seemed really put out that Jerome kept doing the stereotype voice, so maybe that was SK's setup to get rid of it for book three.
-I had a Mrs. Beasley doll too, and I'm 51, so that really took me out of the reality of the story. I kept waiting for Mr. King to explain why a girl in the 2010s had such an antiquated doll.
-I was also very surprised that he threw in the supernatural aspect at the end. I love it too, but I'm sure some don't.
-Would've liked to have known much more of Rothstein's background.
-I didn't think the Jimmy Gold books sounded that great! I would've liked more excerpts from those, I guess, and more information as it why everyone thought they were such great literature.
-All in all, really enjoyed it. These are just some tiny things that don't even bother me much.
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
I thought the Mrs Beasley doll was kind of weird too. I'd heard of it, knew it was old but I couldn't exactly remember where I knew the name of the doll from. So I looked it up and the doll was the favorite doll of the girl on the 60s TV show, "Family Affair." The doll was an old lady which was a little strange and the doll became one of those hard to explain cultural icons of the time. I remember that TV show and I don't think I liked it much when I was a kid.

It's weird that this doll is in a 2010 book. Maybe SK described it as a collectors item or hand me down from mom and that description got cut in the editing process.
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
In 2000, the Ashton-Drake Galleries produced a replica of the Talking Mrs. Beasley doll (note 8). Unlike the original, which was intended and used as a child’s toy, the new Mrs. Beasley is a collector’s item, marketed to nostalgic adults--who have been buying and selling original dolls on eBay, etc. for decades (see notes 9-10), and priced accordingly. The Ashton-Drake box extols Mrs. Beasley as "TV's most famous doll" and notes that "She talks -just like you remember!” A notice on the bottom of the box warns, “THIS IS NOT A TOY. Not recommended for children under eight (8) years of age.”
 

do1you9love?

Happy to be here!
Feb 18, 2012
9,284
70,566
Virginia
Re: Mrs. Beasley. I didn't have one but a cousin of mine did. That thing creeped me out.

I don't think this is the first time I have seen her appear in an SK work but I can't remember right now which book/short story it's in. Some research is in order. Mayhap he just finds her creepy too!
 

mal

content
Jun 23, 2007
4,714
27,243
61
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I liked it. It's refreshing to read a nice buildup which moves to a stunning conclusion (instead of the constant cacophony of action/suspense/intrigue 24/7). During the read I wondered if the Rothstein notebooks would be destroyed and hoped they would be saved. Well, poor me, it did not work out they way I had hoped (yet one more reason why I love Mr. Kings' stories). As good as the story was it was almost secondary to the foreshadowing of what'll happen next...:cocksure:. All the best, mal.
 

carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
I am on page 88 and the mention of forced anal sex in jail more than a few times plus the derogatory use of the word "homo" is bothering me. Yes, I know the old argument, "People used to talk like that; it makes it more realistic" etc, etc. But why have to mention any of this at all? It is the ONE CONSTANT THING that has bothered me about SK's writing from the get-go and here it is now almost 40 years later and he's still doing it. So now once again I have to overlook it to get on with the story, which I am enjoying otherwise.
Oh well.
 

deftones

Member
Jun 12, 2014
11
58
41
Sooo I just finished this last night and I loved it, I thought it was great, while I will say I think that the villain in Mr. Mercedes was way creepier and bugged me out something serious and this one, not so much. He was viscous and cold blooded and was definitely disturbing at times but brady just creeped me out worse!! All in all though the story was great and I cant wait for the next one!! Did anyone else have their jaw hit the floor when he turned and shot the mom right in the head!!!?!?! I had to put the book down for a second because I was in shock!! Didn't see it coming at all!! I did kind of predict in my head though that he would end up in the rec center and realize he was amongst the notebooks that whole time but realize it too late, of course I had no idea that he was going to burn himself up with them, only SK's mind and imagination can come up with something like that!!!
 

AchtungBaby

Well-Known Member
Dec 5, 2011
3,856
15,540
I am on page 88 and the mention of forced anal sex in jail more than a few times plus the derogatory use of the word "homo" is bothering me. Yes, I know the old argument, "People used to talk like that; it makes it more realistic" etc, etc. But why have to mention any of this at all? It is the ONE CONSTANT THING that has bothered me about SK's writing from the get-go and here it is now almost 40 years later and he's still doing it. So now once again I have to overlook it to get on with the story, which I am enjoying otherwise.
Oh well.
Yep, I agree.
 

mal

content
Jun 23, 2007
4,714
27,243
61
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I am on page 88 and the mention of forced anal sex in jail more than a few times plus the derogatory use of the word "homo" is bothering me. Yes, I know the old argument, "People used to talk like that; it makes it more realistic" etc, etc. But why have to mention any of this at all? It is the ONE CONSTANT THING that has bothered me about SK's writing from the get-go and here it is now almost 40 years later and he's still doing it. So now once again I have to overlook it to get on with the story, which I am enjoying otherwise.
Oh well.
As distasteful as it is, it is also historic. I would rather hear the ugly truth than a whitewashed revisionist version. Just because Mr. King writes these characters does not mean he internally carries around their traits. Love and Banana Bread, mal.
 

carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
As distasteful as it is, it is also historic. I would rather hear the ugly truth than a whitewashed revisionist version. Just because Mr. King writes these characters does not mean he internally carries around their traits. Love and Banana Bread, mal.
"Historic truth?" These are fictional characters in fictional situations. SK could write these scenes in a more tasteful way and still have them be impactful. Again, I know that these these things happen and I know people talked (and still to this day talk) that way. I am not asking it be ignored. I am just stating that Sk has gone there ad nausem for 40 years now and it gets tired. Well, for me at least.

"Love and Banana Bread"

Not sure what that means.
 

bobledrew

Inveterate yammerer
May 13, 2010
2,782
1,924
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Not that I can speak for the man, but in my opinion, writers write what they NEED to write. If SK thought he needed to portray that, he had a reason (maybe not even a conscious one, but a reason.)

My point of view on this goes: it's not up to us to say to the writer "you shouldn't have written this, or you shouldn't have written this in that way"; it's up to us to face what the writer has written and ask why?

My thought about the anal rape in FK is that it serves to emphasize to us the subordination that Morris has to endure, at the hands of other cons, but also at the mind of his mother. Morris finds himself at the short end of every stick, always the loser, never with the last word. He must subordinate himself to bikers and others who are his "intellectual inferiors" in order to stay physically safe; he is left without control over his fate or the fate of the precious Rothstein books. It is also not surprising that someone who endures repeated and brutal rapes would find himself hating Andy Halliday and using words like homo to describe him. Morris is always the victim, never the perpetrator. All that's bad in his life is someone else's fault. The anal rape is the emasculating, dehumanizing act that symbolizes what his life is, and his hatred toward Andy -- successful, seemingly rich (little does he know), fat, gay -- is the hatred of someone who feels his greatness has been squashed by lesser people.

It's also interesting that in a body of work which involves a baby literally eating its mother alive, a hotel maid ensuring her son's success by consuming the semen of a despicable racist, a surgeon eating himSELF alive, Junior Rennie committing necrophilia, and an autistic boy using his aunt as a sexual plaything, that this is your breaking point.

I mean this in the gentlest way possible, but if you can't take that aspect of King's writing, perhaps it's best you don't read him.
 

carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
"I mean this in the gentlest way possible, but if you can't take that aspect of King's writing, perhaps it's best you don't read him"

I think after 40 years it's a little too late. :kiwi-fruit:

btw... I can take that aspect of his writing; it's just that it's a pet peeve of mine, so to speak. That's all. If an artist only invited positive reviews to his work, then where is the art? It's all good.