Mr. Mercedes Summary
Stephen King

Mr. Mercedes Overview

In the thriller novel Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King, an unlikely trio identifies a mass murderer and stops a tragedy in progress. Brady Hartsfield, the man responsible for the Mercedes killings, hopes to goad retired detective Bill Hodges into killing himself because he did not catch him. Instead of killing himself, Hodges gets fresh inspiration to catch the killer after his new girlfriend, Janey, is killed by a bomb Brady put in Hodges' car. Themes in this hard-boiled detective novel include the prevalence and ease of computer crimes, the downfalls of making rash judgments about people, and the many faces of mental illness.