Finders Keepers: A Novel

After reading just about everything Stephen King ever wrote, I took a break from him around 2016. The reason being is that, although many of his books are great, many were downright awful. In November 2018, I picked back up where I left off, and since King writes frequently, I found myself about 5 or 6 novels “in the hole”. Finders Keepers is part 2 of the “Bill Hodges Trilogy”. I enjoyed this one much better than the first one, Mr. Mercedes, despite the fact that the plot for this caper seemed a tad implausible.The plot of this book could only be dreamed up by an author who has written a bazillion books over the course of half a century. The story starts off about 40 years prior to present day. A young 20-something man breaks into an elderly, retired author’s home to steal manuscripts of the author’s never released books. This kid really must love to read. Apparently this author had a ‘series’ of books focusing on one particular character, and when the author stopped writing and ‘retired’, the diehard fans were rather distraught. This is something that does happen from time to time, but breaking into a man’s house and robbing him at gunpoint? Well, let’s just say things go very wrong during and after the robbery, and the thief ends up rotting away in prison before he gets a chance to enjoy his ill-gotten booty. Fortunately, he does have the manuscripts (in the form of notebooks) hidden, so when (if) he ever gets released, he’ll make a b-line for his buried treasure and bask in the glory of his loot!Well, when we fast-forward to present day, it seems as though there’s another kid, who’s another avid reader who accidentally stumbles across the treasure. Just like the thief 40 years prior, this kid is in awe of the finding as well as he’s a lover of serious literature. You would think he discovered the Ark of the Covenant or something. Again, only a serious writer of books like Stephen King could fathom such devotion. When the thief finally gets out of prison, he wants his property back, and has no problem doing whatever it takes to reclaim what he stole.We’re well into about one-third of the story before Bill Hodges (a retired detective) and his cronies Jerome and Holly appear on the scene. Sadly, the interaction between these three is the most annoying aspect of the whole story. Their dialogue with each other seems forced and silly as is many of their personality traits. We’re told umpteen times that Bill is on a strict diet since he had a heart attack several years ago, and we’re constantly reading about him avoiding temptations like McDonalds as he’s forced to eat gross stuff like salads. And on and on and on.So the Bill Hodges characters really aren’t necessary to the story, but overall, I still found this book a good read. Sure, as I mentioned, the plot is a bit silly, but when the story and action moves at the right pace, one can easily overlook such things. I should also point out that, unlike many of King’s books, this is a straight-forward mystery that has no connections to horror, the supernatural, nor the bizarre. That’s not really a good thing, nor a bad thing, it’s just that it’s a bit unfair when King always seems to be stereotyped as a ‘horror’ writer. He’s capable of so much more.Not one of his best, but far from his worst. This one falls into the “overall, pretty good” category.

Typical King book. Very engaging easy to read great characters. Not much else to really say about other than read it. It is worth your time.

Good story line, about a man Morris who is absolutely obsessed with John Rothstein novels- especially his Jimmy Gold trilogy!! But Morris absolutely HATES the way he ended the trilogy…. With Jimmy selling out!This author has since retired and lives with his wife, writing in his journals.. But in these journals are actually sequels to this trilogy, unpublished and for HIS eyes only! What would have been books 4 and 5 of the series, along with about $20,000 cash is stolen from Mr. Rothstein in a home burglary, which turns deadly for him. Who killed him? you guessed it, Morris! So now he has his money, but that $20,000 is nothing compared to what these hidden journals are worth (to the right man willing to buy them on the black market). A friend of his, Andy, tells him that when things die down after this man’s death, then he surely can find someone to purchase these gems!! Only problem is, Morris is now going away for many years, due to convicted rape! So now he must hide his trunk full of journals (and cash ) under a near dead tree behind his old house!Hoping that it’s still there when he gets out…Enter Peter Saubers, teenager in high school, main character of the story. He moves into Morrises old house, and guess what he stumbled upon? You guessed it, The trunk! And he has actually heard of Rothstein, is a huge fan of his work, and happened to love the trilogy! But when he reads these last 2 books, he’s even more amazed ! He now realizes what literal GOLD he has on his hands!Also during all of this his parents are having financial (even some marital) problems, and so Pete starts anonymously sending random letters to his house addressed to his father, with mystery money in it, and does so for almost 2 years… until, one day…… it runs out and he sends his last envelope!Well it certainly did help his parents get back on their feet, and almost certainly saved their marriage! Which is good, but what kind of sucks, is now Morris is out of prison, and will be looking for all his things, but Peter doesn’t know this…… yet..Now he is looking for more money (not so much for his parents now) but for his younger sister he wants to be able to help put her into this nice school, but it’s a bit expensive. So he decides to do the unthinkable- part with some of his journals- and he KNOWS what he has, could potentially be looking at a million dollars!So he goes to the shadiest Rare Books Dealer in town, Andy Halliday! (Yep, Morrises old pal from right after the heist, who most certainly knows people who can afford so buy these VERY RARE finds). Peter knows he cannot go to just anyone- most people who knows what he has is Stolen property from a murder case, and will think Peter had something to do with it! So no police! So it’s Andy, or nobody!Except Andy was wandering where these journals went after Morris went into prison, and now he knows where they are! He attempts to blackmail Pete into either lowballing him EXTREMELY, or getting the police on the phone!But before he can continue with his plan, Morris comes in to save the day- and KILL Andy. Hey, what are friends for, right? So now all Morris has to do is rid himself of Peter, but not a second before he knows where these journals are ! Will he eventually come back into possession of these last 2 Jimmy Gold Novels? Or will he die trying?Tune in next week, for the conclusion of :FINDERS KEEPERS!…he dies…. Peter burns the books while Morris stands aflame burning together with his one true love: Jimmy Gold at last !Great storyline, a bit of a jump from the Brady Hartsfield from the First book, but Brady certainly doesn’t disappoint in the third!9.5/10 stars for me!

All I will say is WOW! I don’t want to write a long review because I’ll spoil things and I hate that so much. So if you liked Mr. Mercedes you’ll double love this one. I can’t wait to read End Of Watch!

Book is brand new, looks great

Loved this book, characters are believable and story had me hooked from the start. King can weave a wonderful tale

Not as thrilling as the first book, but absolutely worth reading and highly entertaining. I’m looking forward to End of watch

fait partie d'une très bonne mini-série de 3 livres, qui peuvent se lire séparément. Mais c'est toujours mieux dans l'ordre : mr Mercedes, finders keepers, End of Watch.