Just finished the book... SPOILERS and discussion

[no bounce no play]

I love detective stories. Just felt let down by this book. Still liked parts of it, just felt let down as the "ending" of the entire series. Yes that's my Great Pyrenees Cappuccino :-D

I'm down about the "ending" of the series too I liked all the other parts though

Cappuccino (cute name ) is beautiful! I'll never forget the first time I saw a Great Pyrenees. I was standing at the counter at my veterinarian clinic and I looked to see what was brushing against my hip and saw this gigantic dog. I didn't know dogs could be so big! How much does Cappuccino weigh?

 

[Kacey Cunningham]

I'm down about the "ending" of the series too I liked all the other parts though

Cappuccino (cute name ) is beautiful! I'll never forget the first time I saw a Great Pyrenees. I was standing at the counter at my veterinarian clinic and I looked to see what was brushing against my hip and saw this gigantic dog. I didn't know dogs could be so big! How much does Cappuccino weigh?

Well my baby is eleven years old. At his prime he weighed 165 pounds. Now he weighs 125 pounds. He is an absolute angel and my total Stephen King reading buddy!! And thank you for saying he is beautiful, I will tell him :-D

 

[Kacey Cunningham]

I'm down about the "ending" of the series too I liked all the other parts though

Cappuccino (cute name ) is beautiful! I'll never forget the first time I saw a Great Pyrenees. I was standing at the counter at my veterinarian clinic and I looked to see what was brushing against my hip and saw this gigantic dog. I didn't know dogs could be so big! How much does Cappuccino weigh?

 

[Haunted]

I just finished it and really really loved it except for one thing...

Spoiler

the ending made me cry

Spoiler

I knew when Bill talked with the doctor, how the book would end, and I was steeling myself for it. But after reading Mr. King's ending, I came away saddened, I'd lost a friend to a stinking disease, but he had had a great adventure, made new friends who loved him, and they conquered a great evil. No tears here.

THANK YOU, Mr. King, THANK YOU!!

 

[Rrty]

I've heard good word on the book and I look forward to see how it places on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list. I wonder if it will ever be connected to the Dark Tower universe somehow.

On the Great Pyrenees: do they tend to be friendly with strangers?

 

[Kacey Cunningham]

I've heard good word on the book and I look forward to see how it places on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list. I wonder if it will ever be connected to the Dark Tower universe somehow.

On the Great Pyrenees: do they tend to be friendly with strangers?

Ha. Well, let's just say mine is not. He is a guard dog through and through. He's never been violent to a stranger, but the pyrenees love to bark and bark and bark. Also getting a dog the size that he is, is life changing. However, I wouldn't give it up for the world.

 

[80sFan]

I finished the book last night. Overall, good read. I didn't love the ending, it felt rushed (when there were only a few pages left, I felt like 'how can everything happen that needs to happen?').
Finders Keepers is still my favorite Bill Hodges book. Mr. M comes in second.

 

[RichardX]

I liked this one although was never sold on King needing to write a detective series. If there is any genre that has enough good writers, it is that one. But water under the bridge. Brady was an interesting bad guy but something there didn't quite work. He was like Lee Harvey Oswald meets Holden Caulfield. A weird combo. He seemed a bit young and uneducated to be outsmarting the police and I never bought some of the technical jumbo. This was the strongest book for the Hodges character coping with his own mortality and unfinished business. Carrion Comfort meets Cell (or Halloween III for anyone that remembers that one). The Suicide Prince was a better title but King or the publisher likely were concerned he might be blamed if someone read the book and killed themselves. A weak point here - although a minor one - was Barbara's trip to Lowtown. King's description of a poor black community read like something a rich white guy would envision from watching re-runs of Good Times. I expected some character to say "dy-no-mite" at any moment. Unintentionally funny, but the book as a whole was entertaining and as a non-detective writer King had the ability to end things and move on. Many detective series go on and on to absurd lengths.

 

[RichardX]

Well my baby is eleven years old. At his prime he weighed 165 pounds. Now he weighs 125 pounds. He is an absolute angel and my total Stephen King reading buddy!! And thank you for saying he is beautiful, I will tell him :-D

I actually thought that was a polar bear.

 

[Bardo]

Just finished!
Good read over all, always a bit depressing reaching the end of a new story.
Steve tackles another sensitive subject.
I'll miss these three musketeers working together.
But onto the next!
( re-reading Dreamcatcher)

SSDD

 

[AchtungBaby]

I liked this one although was never sold on King needing to write a detective series. If there is any genre that has enough good writers, it is that one. But water under the bridge. Brady was an interesting bad guy but something there didn't quite work. He was like Lee Harvey Oswald meets Holden Caulfield. A weird combo. He seemed a bit young and uneducated to be outsmarting the police and I never bought some of the technical jumbo. This was the strongest book for the Hodges character coping with his own mortality and unfinished business. Carrion Comfort meets Cell (or Halloween III for anyone that remembers that one). The Suicide Prince was a better title but King or the publisher likely were concerned he might be blamed if someone read the book and killed themselves. A weak point here - although a minor one - was Barbara's trip to Lowtown. King's description of a poor black community read like something a rich white guy would envision from watching re-runs of Good Times. I expected some character to say "dy-no-mite" at any moment. Unintentionally funny, but the book as a whole was entertaining and as a non-detective writer King had the ability to end things and move on. Many detective series go on and on to absurd lengths.

Spoiler

I agree on Lowtown. King managed to make me uncomfortable every time he talked about race (which was SO much) in the three Bill Hodges novels. He doesn't write black people well, never has. He's slightly better at LGBTQ characters, at least.

 

[Haunted]

Now that is a hunka, hunka burning love!!!!

 

[doowopgirl]

I didn't think it was supernatural either. I thought it was

Spoiler

the most imaginative body snatchers story ever! without aliens and seed pods lol

Agree wholeheartedly.

 

[mjs9153]

I just finished the book this morning about 3 a.m., sprinted through the last hundred plus pages,haha.. the first thing I would say is a criticism, albeit a small one. I may have missed it but what happens to Fredericka and Izzy? They both seemed cut from the same cloth, selfish people. I think fredericka deserved some jail time because Brady couldn't have gotten it done without her, and she definitely knew something evil was going on and she could have boogied but she didn't. She wasn't under that much control that she couldn't beat feet.. and Izzy does not deserve to get promoted she needs to go back to working uniform walking the beat in winter..
What can you say about Bill Hodges? In a lot of ways I see myself in him, even down to owning only two handguns. Like him I see them only as tools, in fact now that I think about it I have two hammers, and I kind of look at them the same way, simply as tools..
I like how brave Bill was, and the way he put his head down and kept chugging on his case, even though he was very sick.. that's how the old-time cops did it, they just went out and did it because it was their job, not because they're looking for bennies or promotions.. Bill reminds me of Ralph Roberts from Insomnia, they're the same kind of guy.. going to miss hearing what he's up to,got used to it the last 3 June's..RIP Bill..

 

[Bardo]

I made the Ralph/Billl connection myself!

 

[fljoe0]

I liked each book in this series better than the one before it.

 

[Neil W]

I enjoyed all 3 books. I was a little disappointed that this one veered into "SK territory" and wasn't just a straightforward crime thriller, but it was such a fun ride overall that it is no more than the most minor of quibbles.

Given the element which got written into the plot, I was half expecting

Spoiler

Bill to use the Zappit to move into another body and for Hartsfield to end up dying in Bill's cancer-riddled body

. But I wasn't bothered by the way it panned out - a perfectly fitting set of endings.

 

[doowopgirl]

I wasn't disappointed in this book at all. There wasn't really any 'SK territory' in my opinion. I thought things were quite well explained.

 

[Nomik]

First of all, he does address the technical errors at the end. It is Fiction, he didn't exactly want to hand out a roadmap! I loved every reference to The Shining and Pet Semetary. Especially the last heroic scene with Jerome.

 

[dallywhitty]

I'm a little late but I finished the book about ten minutes ago. It was an enjoyable read, obviously, but definitely my least favourite in the trilogy. I just didn't think the Zappit plot device was all that interesting. It was too silly even by King's standards. I'd have to agree with others that the ending felt rushed, too, although I still found myself tearing up!

If I had to rate each of them:

Mr. Mercedes - 9/10
Finders Keepers - 10/10
End of Watch - 7/10

Anybody else wish he'd stuck with the original title of The Suicide Prince? Sounds like Tabitha wasn't too keen...