Just read the entire series in a week. Loved it. Can't wait for my copy of The Outsider to show up!
Just finished the book... SPOILERS and discussion
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The Nameless
M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
I feel like he peaked early with this trilogy, Mr Mercedes was the best one for me. End of watch, while a massive improvement from finders keepers (which is the worst book I've ever finished), overall it was a good book and it was nice to see plenty of holly and her continued growth as one of kings better modern characters. Jerome was too perfect.
Yep. SK took another leap of faith and good for him.
And it works for me.
I knew Jack Ess about the stories.
I hadn't read a review
So I came to the Bill Hodges trilogy with an open mind.
What shook me up most was that I had tears in my eyes in the final pages of End of Watch.
That's not supposed to happen when I read SK, is it?
Forgetting to breathe? Check.
Plain ol' spooked? Check.
Too close to home? Check.
Overwhelmed? Check.
So why the tears?
Perhaps it was because H loves Ker so very very much.
And this is a novel about the triumph of love over hate.
And the triumph of hate over love.
Both fight over the same space in the world.
Both get their chance to shine over us.
Or suffocate us.
The darkness of hate gives makes us appreciate love (however it presents itself) like rain after a drought.
And the dazzling light of love gives us the strength to deal with the darkness.
The supernatural element doesn't prevent me enjoying End of Watch (remember From a Buick Eight?).
Or "perfect Jerome".
Weird how few people comment that a character is "too imperfect".
Not just in SK's novels, but any writer's work.
But that's a thought for another thread.
But hey, this is how it rolls for me.
We read the same story, but it's actually millions of different stories.
Because no two readers hear the same voices
Or create the same pictures in their heads.
Reading End of Watch distracted me from the the pain monster for a weekend.
SK - thanks again.
Don't slam the door on your way out, pain.
(Yeah, yeah, I know you'll be back. . )
And it works for me.
I knew Jack Ess about the stories.
I hadn't read a review
So I came to the Bill Hodges trilogy with an open mind.
What shook me up most was that I had tears in my eyes in the final pages of End of Watch.
That's not supposed to happen when I read SK, is it?
Forgetting to breathe? Check.
Plain ol' spooked? Check.
Too close to home? Check.
Overwhelmed? Check.
So why the tears?
Perhaps it was because H loves Ker so very very much.
And this is a novel about the triumph of love over hate.
And the triumph of hate over love.
Both fight over the same space in the world.
Both get their chance to shine over us.
Or suffocate us.
The darkness of hate gives makes us appreciate love (however it presents itself) like rain after a drought.
And the dazzling light of love gives us the strength to deal with the darkness.
The supernatural element doesn't prevent me enjoying End of Watch (remember From a Buick Eight?).
Or "perfect Jerome".
Weird how few people comment that a character is "too imperfect".
Not just in SK's novels, but any writer's work.
But that's a thought for another thread.
But hey, this is how it rolls for me.
We read the same story, but it's actually millions of different stories.
Because no two readers hear the same voices
Or create the same pictures in their heads.
Reading End of Watch distracted me from the the pain monster for a weekend.
SK - thanks again.
Don't slam the door on your way out, pain.
(Yeah, yeah, I know you'll be back. . )
...very well done darlin'....love the thought that went into this....Yep. SK took another leap of faith and good for him.
And it works for me.
I knew Jack Ess about the stories.
I hadn't read a review
So I came to the Bill Hodges trilogy with an open mind.
What shook me up most was that I had tears in my eyes in the final pages of End of Watch.
That's not supposed to happen when I read SK, is it?
Forgetting to breathe? Check.
Plain ol' spooked? Check.
Too close to home? Check.
Overwhelmed? Check.
So why the tears?
Perhaps it was because H loves Ker so very very much.
And this is a novel about the triumph of love over hate.
And the triumph of hate over love.
Both fight over the same space in the world.
Both get their chance to shine over us.
Or suffocate us.
The darkness of hate gives makes us appreciate love (however it presents itself) like rain after a drought.
And the dazzling light of love gives us the strength to deal with the darkness.
The supernatural element doesn't prevent me enjoying End of Watch (remember From a Buick Eight?).
Or "perfect Jerome".
Weird how few people comment that a character is "too imperfect".
Not just in SK's novels, but any writer's work.
But that's a thought for another thread.
But hey, this is how it rolls for me.
We read the same story, but it's actually millions of different stories.
Because no two readers hear the same voices
Or create the same pictures in their heads.
Reading End of Watch distracted me from the the pain monster for a weekend.
SK - thanks again.
Don't slam the door on your way out, pain.
(Yeah, yeah, I know you'll be back. . )
Yep. SK took another leap of faith and good for him.
And it works for me.
I knew Jack Ess about the stories.
I hadn't read a review
So I came to the Bill Hodges trilogy with an open mind.
What shook me up most was that I had tears in my eyes in the final pages of End of Watch.
That's not supposed to happen when I read SK, is it?
Forgetting to breathe? Check.
Plain ol' spooked? Check.
Too close to home? Check.
Overwhelmed? Check.
So why the tears?
Perhaps it was because H loves Ker so very very much.
And this is a novel about the triumph of love over hate.
And the triumph of hate over love.
Both fight over the same space in the world.
Both get their chance to shine over us.
Or suffocate us.
The darkness of hate gives makes us appreciate love (however it presents itself) like rain after a drought.
And the dazzling light of love gives us the strength to deal with the darkness.
The supernatural element doesn't prevent me enjoying End of Watch (remember From a Buick Eight?).
Or "perfect Jerome".
Weird how few people comment that a character is "too imperfect".
Not just in SK's novels, but any writer's work.
But that's a thought for another thread.
But hey, this is how it rolls for me.
We read the same story, but it's actually millions of different stories.
Because no two readers hear the same voices
Or create the same pictures in their heads.
Reading End of Watch distracted me from the the pain monster for a weekend.
SK - thanks again.
Don't slam the door on your way out, pain.
(Yeah, yeah, I know you'll be back. . )
Yep. SK took another leap of faith and good for him.
And it works for me.
I knew Jack Ess about the stories.
I hadn't read a review
So I came to the Bill Hodges trilogy with an open mind.
What shook me up most was that I had tears in my eyes in the final pages of End of Watch.
That's not supposed to happen when I read SK, is it?
Forgetting to breathe? Check.
Plain ol' spooked? Check.
Too close to home? Check.
Overwhelmed? Check.
So why the tears?
Perhaps it was because H loves Ker so very very much.
And this is a novel about the triumph of love over hate.
And the triumph of hate over love.
Both fight over the same space in the world.
Both get their chance to shine over us.
Or suffocate us.
The darkness of hate gives makes us appreciate love (however it presents itself) like rain after a drought.
And the dazzling light of love gives us the strength to deal with the darkness.
The supernatural element doesn't prevent me enjoying End of Watch (remember From a Buick Eight?).
Or "perfect Jerome".
Weird how few people comment that a character is "too imperfect".
Not just in SK's novels, but any writer's work.
But that's a thought for another thread.
But hey, this is how it rolls for me.
We read the same story, but it's actually millions of different stories.
Because no two readers hear the same voices
Or create the same pictures in their heads.
Reading End of Watch distracted me from the the pain monster for a weekend.
SK - thanks again.
Don't slam the door on your way out, pain.
(Yeah, yeah, I know you'll be back. . )
Yeah, the ending made me cry too. I was making dinner, my husband walks in and finds me bawling while I'm stirring the spaghetti sauce. He asked... "What's wrong?" I told him...and he shook his head. He's used to it.
As for Jerome being too perfect....I don't get the complaining. There are kids that are good kids, that are too perfect. Besides, didn't he get a fake ID and try to get into a dance club? Didn't he admit to viewing online porn in the original Mr. Mercedes? Add those to his "Tyrone FeelGood" routine and he's not that perfect, is he?
What a lovely compliment - just what I needed to hear today ( but I didn't know until I heard it).
If I write about what I care about, the words just fly out of me.
I just started reading End of Watch so I can't comment on the ending just yet, but soon. I read the first two books in this series a couple years ago but never got around to End of Watch until now. I'm only on page 100 and have struggled a bit to get here. This surprised me as I devoured Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers. In End of Watch, I've had to keep going back and re-reading. Then I figured out I was stumbling over present tense verbs. I was so used to past tense, it was as if my mind couldn't decide what to do with the present tense. I'd loose my place and have to back up. I only noticed this in the first 50 or so pages. Maybe beyond that I got used to it. Did any one else notice this?
Last night, I finished reading End of Watch. SK is pretty much my favorite author, and this is the SK forum, so I really want to write about how much I loved this book and what a great adventure it was, but my comment would be as much fiction as the story itself. First off, I never could get past the present tense verbs. I tried to get used to them, but they were just plain awkward. It's probably just me. I've been an avid reader for almost sixty years and have read hundreds, no thousands of books and all of them, well, at least all that I can remember, were written in the past tense. Reading the narrative voice in the present tense kept yanking me out of the story. (If there's any authors reading this, pay attention!)
I liked that Brady learned to leap bodies. That was a good plot device. And I liked that SK brought Brady back after we all thought he was a veggie for life. That renewed all the old Hodges/Brady conflict. Seeing Holly and Jerome all grown up was cool, and seeing how Freddi matured really showed her character developing. I liked all that stuff.
Since I'm an IT guru in my day job, I noticed where technology was stretched a bit to make the Zappit idea work, but no hard feelings toward SK especially after he admitted as much in his author's note.
But all told, I didn't feel that End of Watch stood up to its predecessor Mr. Mercedes.
Now...if Hodges crawls out of his grave and moves to Castle Rock to chase down another killer, well then, now we're talkin'!
After all, what did Arthur C. Clarke say about trilogies? He said, "No respectable trilogy ever has more than four volumes."
Lookin' forward to seeing what the old Det-Ret does next.
I liked that Brady learned to leap bodies. That was a good plot device. And I liked that SK brought Brady back after we all thought he was a veggie for life. That renewed all the old Hodges/Brady conflict. Seeing Holly and Jerome all grown up was cool, and seeing how Freddi matured really showed her character developing. I liked all that stuff.
Since I'm an IT guru in my day job, I noticed where technology was stretched a bit to make the Zappit idea work, but no hard feelings toward SK especially after he admitted as much in his author's note.
But all told, I didn't feel that End of Watch stood up to its predecessor Mr. Mercedes.
Now...if Hodges crawls out of his grave and moves to Castle Rock to chase down another killer, well then, now we're talkin'!
After all, what did Arthur C. Clarke say about trilogies? He said, "No respectable trilogy ever has more than four volumes."
Lookin' forward to seeing what the old Det-Ret does next.
Just finished End of Watch. I liked it very much. Now I can finally finish the Outsider.