Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

 

Bill Hodges is a recently retired policeman.  He hasn't had a very successful retirement so far as he never developed any hobbies.  He basically sits in his recliner and watches daytime television while brooding over the case he couldn't solve before he retired.  His only friend is the teenage boy who mows his lawn and helps him with errands.

The case that he broods over is the Mercedes murder.  While a line of people waited for a job fair to open, out of the early morning fog came a Mercedes, plowing into the crowd.  Eight people were killed, including a mother and baby, and many more injured.  The driver calmly drove away afterwards.

Then something unimaginable happens.  The man who drove the Mercedes that day contacts Hodges.  He starts a cat and mouse game with him, daring him to catch him before he kills again.  Bill doesn't want to turn this over to his ex-partner but is determined to catch the killer himself.  His only allies are Jerome, the teenage boy, Jenny, the sister of the woman who owned the Mercedes and Holly, her niece who is on the spectrum but a computer whiz.  Can this ragtag mix of people stop the killer before he strikes again?

This book is the first in the Bill Hodges trilogy.  It also introduces Holly, who got her own book this past summer.  Mr. Mercedes won the Edgar Award for Best Novel.  Hodges is a sympathetic character as are the people who help him.  The killer is clearly beyond saving as his entire life has been full of psychopathy.  The reader will cheer for Hodges and his team in a race against time and the book is recommended for thriller readers.