Rick Kohut

An astounding book which was made more engaging and exciting by the outstanding audiobook narrator. This non-fictional historical tale is written like the best adventure novel imaginable. The author begins by noting that not one, but two different groups of castaways made it back to England after being shipwrecked in South America. This point sets the stage for how the facts are now able to be told-from the journals of the surving seamen. A great adventure and the telling is vivid and exciting. Hard to belief that the main figures were able to survive ridiculous levels of hardship and therefore able to return safely home so their tales could be told. Highly recommended!

Mixed feelings about this book. I like the titular character as it's great to have leading PI's who are neuro-diverse (see the great "IQ" series of novels for another engaging character.) I like her backstory which I learned from the three Bill Hodges novels. I'd not read the other, more recent, series in which Holly and Barbara Robinson appear. And I don't think I will read it now as there's quite a few references which apparently spoil the climax in at least one of those novels. On the negative side, I don't like mysteries where the identity of the villain(s) is immediately known by the reader. While this gave intense insight in to their heads in this instance, I feel much more suspense could have been built. And then there's the cannibalism - which doesn't remain a mystery for long either. I think it was handled mostly tastefully (pun intended) - except for one scene late in the book which involves lines drawn by a sharpie - which was jaw-dropping for me. Lastly, the "twist" which leads to the climax was telegraphed a mile away. NOTE- I was disappointed in the audio version of this novel. I'd listened to the outstanding reader for the three Bill Hodges novels. Although Holly was a secondary character, he gave her a voice which illuminated her uniqueness. While having a female reader for "Holly" makes sense, I thought she gave Holly a flat, uninteresting and often tough to listen to voice. Overall, a good, mostly engaging story, but lacking in a few key areas.

As soon as I finished listening to the audio-book of "Mr. Mercedes," I immediately put this audio-book right into my ears. I was eager to hear what these endearing characters - Bill, Holly and Jerome were up to in this 2nd installment. I liked the focus on unpublished journals containing the fourth and fifth novels in one of the greatest character arcs ever published in the world of this book (and reminiscent of the Rabbit books by John Updike in our own world.) And, as a dedicated reader myself, I could relate to the (obsessive) desire multiple characters have to "know what comes next" for a fictional character who has inspired them as much as a real person might. I feel the build up to the conclusion was too slow and I didn't connect much with the two main characters who drove the plot (and weren't in Mr. Mercedes.) While this second novel in a trilogy wasn't a masterpiece like "The Empire Strikes Back" was it it's trilogy, it was still an enjoyable listen. And a valuable one before diving into the amazing third book "End of Watch."

Wow - what an end to a great trilogy! I've been reading Stephen King for more than three decades now. While I enjoyed his more recent non-supernaturally focused ones ("Fairy Tale," and the first two books in this series,) it was great to be back in a well-spun story with an evil, supernaturally powered plot. I liked how the villain in the first book makes an encore appearance with a far more malicious, fantastical and entertaining plan. The relationship among the core trio of Bill, Holly and Jerome is deepened in surprisingly emotional ways. While the technology which drives the suspense is far-fetched and the origin of the "superpowers" isn't fully explained, overlooking these details in the service of enjoying a fast-moving plot isn't hard to do. The ending was thrilling and satisfying. And once I finished this audio-book (read by the outstanding journeyman actor Will Patton) I was ready and eager to put "Holly" into my ears (although I was disappointed that a far less engaging narrator than Patton reads it.)