SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!Seriously, dude. If you have not read and of these books and have any intentions of doing so, this is not the post for you, because I am going to give shit away.
Last night, I finished the last book in the series, End of Watch. Actually I read the last twenty or so pages aloud to G Money as he curled up in my bed. Inappropriate to read to a three year old? Probably. However, I reworded the curses, and totally skipped the questionable material. Since his mind is running on all cylinders all the time, and he has an extremely active imagination, I couldn't go in to too much detail with this boy, he'd have the horrors all night long. He did particularly enjoy one of the final scenes where they (Bill and Holly) were trekking through a snow storm to get the bad guy (Brady.) This kid is all about snow.
I'll be totally honest with y'all. I don't remember the finer details of the series. It's a terrible thing, I'll read a book, and by time I get to the end, if it's a longer book, I have no recollection of what happened in the beginning. Why bother reading at all? You might ask. Well, when I'm in the moment, it's great, that's why. In any case, the first book, Mr. Mercedes, came out in 2014. I don't remember much of the details other than, the hero, Bill Hodges, a soon to be retired detective is chasing down a crazy person, Brady Hartsfield who steals a woman's... Mercedes to plow through a crowd at a job fair. To preface Brady's behavior, he's entranced with getting people to off themselves. He convinced the owner of the Mercedes, through letters and other forms of communications to take a long walk off a short pier. He then used her car for the heinous crime. In the loss of Olivia, the owner of the Mercedes, Bill meets her niece, Holly who is pretty much a middle aged basket case who lives with her parents for various reasons. Bill meets a woman who he gets into a relationship with and it seems like he's headed for the aisle again, that's when Brady swoops in and plants a car bomb on her car that was meant for Bill. It was pretty much heartbreaking for ol' Bill. Since this book came out two years ago, I don't remember much else, other than, Bill retires from the force by the end of the book, Holly decides to try to help Bill track down Brady because he's responsible for her aunt's death, and so it goes, Brady gets away.
In Finders Keepers, which came out in 2015, Bill and Holly have started their own private eye service, "Finders Keepers." Brady is up to his old tricks again, trying to off a bunch of people at once. One of which is one of Bill's neighbors, Jerome and his sister, whose name escapes me. Jerome is off to college by now, but his sister is going to a concert for some sappy little boy band that all the kids love, sound familiar? Brady's big plan is to bomb the place, and everyone will go out in a blaze of glory, himself included. Naturally, we go through the book to realize what Brady's plans are and it's up to Bill and Holly to stop him. They show up at the concert to deter Brady, eventually finding him in the crowd, and just as they're about to pounce, Bill drops to the floor, suffering a heart attack. Holly takes the reigns and smacks the shit out of Brady with Bill's secret weapon, a sack of ball bearings, rendering Brady nothing more than a breathing vegetable.
In End of Watch, out this year, we pick back up with Bill and Holly doing their thing at Finders Keepers. Bill has recovered from his heart attack, but is plagued with a new "unknown" illness, that sounds suspiciously like cancer. Eventually, about a quarter way through the book, our suspicions are confirmed. Between the second and third books, Bill has been visiting Brady in "The Bucket" which is the brain damage unit at the hospital. Brady is catatonic, doesn't respond to or acknowledge Bill, but every once in a while, Bill will notice something moving around Brady's room, whether it's a sway of the curtains, or a door closing over. We come to find out that one of the doctors caring for Brady, Dr. Babineau has been administering experimental drugs to Brady, drugs which miraculously give him telekinetic powers and the ability to manipulate the minds of other people. In fact, he's able to enter their conscious and become them. Scary shit, right? Brady is introduced to a little tablet called a Zappit by Library Al, who just wanted to get Brady to interact with something. Of course, Brady finds a way to use the Zappit and one app in particular, The Fishin' Hole to hypnotize unsuspecting victims, enter their conscious, and control them. Ultimately, he gets them to off themselves as he controls them and he conveniently hops back out and into his own catatonic self.
Shit gets real when Brady targets Jerome's sister again. Jerome comes back from helping out at Habitat for Humanity and teams up with Bill and Holly to end Brady once and for all. Brady partners up with one of his old co-workers at an electronics store, Freddi to get her to start up a website convincing people to end it. Jerome's sister is hit by a car, but only suffers a broken leg, so she escapes easily again. Eventually, Brady realizes his own body is going to serve no purpose to him, so it permanently jumps into the body of Dr. Babineau as masquerades as him. In the meantime, Bill is putting off treatment until he's able to stop Brady. Holly gives him two days to do so.
We get to a point where Brady, as Dr. Babineau has headed up to a remote cabin that the doctor shares with a handful of other doctors. Bill and Holly tail him, leaving Jerome behind because he's got to be the back up in case something happens to them. They tramp through the snow storm, and sneak around the cabin, thinking they're undetected with all the weather. Of course, Brady has installed a camera on the outline of the property so he knows when they arrive. Brady sneaks out, gives Holly a good rap on the head with a rifle and shoots Bill in the shoulder. They herd into the cabin, Bill carrying Holly where Brady then forces Bill to get online with a Zappit. Through the Fishin' Hole game, Brady is able to tap into Bill's consciousness, but not able to fully take him over. While Bill is in la la land, Holly wakes up and takes a shot at Brady with the pistol she had stashed in her coat. She wings him, and takes another shot. In the meantime, Bill is able to toss the Zappit into the fire, preventing Brady from body snatching further. Brady runs off into the night like a crazy person leaving Bill and Holly to collect themselves. They hear a growling outside that sounds suspiciously like a snow cat or something of the like. Sure enough, it's Jerome, not listening to anyone and showing up to be the hero. Jerome finds Brady easily in the dark with the bright search lights and mows his ass over, shredding him. Bill and Holly are there to see it and Brady asks Bill to help him or kill him. Bill tells him to do it himself since he's so obsessed with suicide. Brady is unable to move very much, so Bill places Brady's arm well enough so he can pop himself off. It's ended by Brady blowing his own head off. Bill, Holly, and Jerome pile into the snow cat and head back toward town, Bill is passed out by time they get there.
We finish with Bill in the hospital getting treatments for his pancreatic cancer. Though, it's too far advanced. There's a small party for his 70th birthday he lies to everyone there saying treatments are going well and everything is fine. Fast forward to eight months later, and we're at Bill's funeral. Bill has left Finders Keepers to Holly who will run it with Bill's old partner, Pete. It's a sad end to the trilogy, but I suppose it's fitting.
Overall, despite not being able to remember some of the finer points, I enjoyed the series and eagerly waited for each one to come out, but that's pretty standard for any new release. Tonight, I'm going to start on the Dark Tower series since the movie is supposed to come out in February. If I can burn through right books in six months, it might still be fresh enough to compare the books to the movies.
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