End of Watch (novel)

Last updated
End of Watch
End of Watch cover.jpg
First edition cover.
Author Stephen King
LanguageEnglish
SeriesBill Hodges Trilogy
Genre Crime fiction
PublishedJune 7, 2016 (Scribner)
Publication placeU.S.
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages432
ISBN 978-1-5011-2974-2
Preceded by Finders Keepers  
Followed by The Outsider  

End of Watch is a crime novel by American writer Stephen King, the third volume of a trilogy focusing on Detective Bill Hodges, following Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers . [1] The book was first announced at an event at St. Francis College on April 21, 2015, under the title The Suicide Prince. On June 10, the new title End of Watch was announced. [2] At the 2015 Edgar Awards, while accepting the award for Best Novel for Mr. Mercedes, King announced that the novel's antagonist, Brady Hartsfield, would be making a return in this book. [3]

Contents

The novel was released on June 7, 2016. A spin-off featuring Holly, The Outsider , was also released in 2018 and made into a miniseries in 2020, with another spin-off, Holly , following in 2023.

Plot

Retired detective Bill Hodges, along with his sidekick Holly Gibney, runs the private investigation agency Finders Keepers. Hodges is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Given only months to live, he finds himself drawn into a recent spree of suicides. All the dead are connected by a common thread: each of them has, in the past, been in contact with mass murderer Brady Hartsfield, the notorious Mr. Mercedes who, six years ago, plotted to blow up a rock concert venue packed with teenagers. Hodges and Holly thwarted Brady's plans and left the killer in a vegetative state from which he never regained consciousness. However, many of the staff in the hospital where Brady now resides believe that he is recovering at an impossible rate, and that he may be faking his injuries to avoid facing charges for his crimes. Meanwhile, all those who have gotten too close to proving this suspicion seem to have died by suicide.

After his head injury, Brady found himself gaining new abilities, including the power to move small objects with his mind and the ability to enter the bodies of certain people susceptible to his mental domination. Still confined to his hospital bed, Brady has used his power to finish his murderous work by creating a hypnotic video game app that heightens the user's susceptibility. Once the users are in Brady's control, he uses the app to dominate their minds and persuade them to kill themselves. The targets are the very teenagers who escaped death when Brady's plan to destroy the concert venue failed. Brady's ultimate goal, however, is to lure Hodges into the game and exact revenge. Brady uses the bodies of both a corrupt neurosurgeon and a hospital librarian as puppets and red herrings to do his dirty work and to misdirect the police while he makes his final move to destroy Hodges, all the while unaware that Hodges is already racing the clock against his own death.

Reception

The book received generally positive reviews. The review aggregator website Book Marks reported that 38% of critics gave the book a "rave" review, and 54% of the critics expressed "positive" impressions, based on a sample of 13 reviews. [4]

Television adaptation

On October 10, 2017, Audience announced that the TV series based on the first Bill Hodges novel, Mr. Mercedes , was renewed for season 2, based on the original Mr. Mercedes novel, Finders Keepers and End of Watch. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen King</span> American writer (born 1947)

Stephen Edwin King is an American author. Widely known for his horror novels, he has been crowned the "King of Horror". He has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy and mystery. Though known primarily for his novels, he has written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections.

Jennifer June Rowe,, is an Australian author. Her crime fiction for adults is published under her own name, while her children's fiction is published under the pseudonyms Emily Rodda and Mary-Anne Dickinson.

<i>Liseys Story</i> Novel by Stephen King

Lisey's Story is a psychological horror romance novel by American writer Stephen King. The novel was released on October 24, 2006. It won the 2006 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award in 2007. An early excerpt from the novel, a short story titled "Lisey and the Madman", was published in McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories (2004), and was nominated for the 2004 Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction. King has stated that this is his favorite of the novels he has written.

<i>Cover Her Face</i> 1962 Dalgliesh novel by P. D. James

Cover Her Face is the debut 1962 crime novel of P. D. James. It details the investigations into the death of a young, ambitious maid, surrounded by a family which has reasons to want her gone – or dead. The title is taken from a passage from John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi: "Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle; she died young," which is quoted by one of the characters in the novel.

Finders Keepers may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Treadaway</span> English actor (born 1984)

Harry John Newman Treadaway is an English actor. His credits include Control (2007), City of Ember (2008), Fish Tank (2009), Pelican Blood (2010), Flight of the Storks (2012), Mr. Mercedes (2017-2018), The Crown (2019), Star Trek: Picard (2020), Deceit (2021), and The Chemistry of Death (2023).

<i>The Good Husband of Zebra Drive</i> Novel by Alexander McCall Smith

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive is the eighth in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, set in Gaborone, Botswana, and featuring the Motswana protagonist Precious Ramotswe.

<i>11/22/63</i> 2011 novel by Stephen King

11/22/63 is a novel by American author Stephen King about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963. It is the 60th book published by Stephen King, his 49th novel and the 42nd under his own name. The novel required considerable research to accurately portray the late 1950s and early 1960s. King commented on the amount of research it required, saying "I've never tried to write anything like this before. It was really strange at first, like breaking in a new pair of shoes."

<i>Joyland</i> (King novel) 2013 novel by Stephen King

Joyland is a novel by American writer Stephen King, published in 2013 by Hard Case Crime. It is King's second book for the imprint, following The Colorado Kid (2005). The first edition was released only in paperback, with cover art created by Robert McGinnis and Glen Orbik. A limited hardcover edition followed a week later. The novel was nominated for the 2014 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original.

<i>Mr. Mercedes</i> Book by Stephen King

Mr. Mercedes is a crime novel by American writer Stephen King. He calls it his first hard-boiled detective book. It was published on June 3, 2014. It is the first volume in a trilogy, followed in 2015 by Finders Keepers, the first draft of which was finished around the time Mr. Mercedes was published, and End of Watch in 2016.

<i>Finders Keepers</i> (King novel) Novel by Stephen King

Finders Keepers is a crime novel by American writer Stephen King, published on June 2, 2015. It is the second volume in a trilogy focusing on Detective Bill Hodges, following Mr. Mercedes. The book is about the murder of reclusive writer John Rothstein, his missing notebooks, and the release of his killer from prison after 35 years. The book's cover was revealed on King's official site on January 30, 2015. An excerpt was published in the May 15, 2015 issue of Entertainment Weekly.

<i>Three Times Lucky</i> 2013 novel by Sheila Turnage

Three Times Lucky is a 2013 New York Times Best Seller adolescent novel by author Sheila Turnage. Three Times Lucky was a Newbery Medal Honor Book in 2013.

<i>The Bazaar of Bad Dreams</i> Short story collection by Stephen King

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams is a short fiction collection by Stephen King, published on November 3, 2015. This is King's sixth collection of short stories and his tenth collection overall. One of the stories, "Obits", won the 2016 Edgar Award for best short story, and the collection itself won the 2015 Shirley Jackson Award for best collection. The paperback edition, released on October 18, 2016, includes a bonus short story, "Cookie Jar", which was published in 2016 in VQR.

<i>Mr. Mercedes</i> (TV series) 2017 American crime drama television series

Mr. Mercedes is an American crime drama television series based on the Bill Hodges novel trilogy by Stephen King, which consists of Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch. The series premiered on Audience on August 9, 2017. It was developed by David E. Kelley, and stars Brendan Gleeson and Harry Treadaway. In November 2018, it was announced that Audience had renewed the series for a ten-episode third season, which premiered on September 10, 2019. In May 2020, the show was discontinued, with no indication of whether the show had been officially canceled or that it would return for a fourth season. Its existing three seasons were later picked up in September 2020 by streaming service Peacock.

<i>Meddling Kids</i> Book by Edgar Cantero

Meddling Kids is a 2017 horror-comedy novel by Catalan author Edgar Cantero, published by Doubleday and Blumhouse Books. It deals with a former gang of children detectives, in the vein of Enid Blyton's Famous Five or Scooby-Doo, who reunite in their mid-twenties to reopen a case that traumatized them as kids and expose a plot of Lovecraftian horror.

<i>The Outsider</i> (King novel) 2018 horror novel by Stephen King

The Outsider (2018) is a horror novel by the American author Stephen King. The novel was published by Scribner.

<i>The Outsider</i> (miniseries) 2020 American television series

The Outsider is an American psychological thriller-horror crime drama television series based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Stephen King, adapted for television by Richard Price. It was ordered to series on December 3, 2018, after being optioned as a miniseries by MRC in June 2018. It premiered on HBO on January 12, 2020. It stars Ben Mendelsohn, Cynthia Erivo, Bill Camp, Paddy Considine, Julianne Nicholson, and Jason Bateman.

<i>If It Bleeds</i> 2020 collection of four novellas by Stephen King

If It Bleeds is a collection of four previously unpublished novellas by American writer Stephen King. The stories in the collection are titled "Mr. Harrigan's Phone", "The Life of Chuck", "If It Bleeds", and "Rat". It was released on April 28, 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Gibney</span> Fictional character

Holly Rachel Gibney is a fictional character created by American author Stephen King. Originally appearing in the Bill Hodges trilogy of novels, she later appears as a major supporting character in The Outsider and as the main character in If It Bleeds, a novella included in the collection of the same name, and the novel Holly.

<i>Holly</i> (novel) 2023 novel by Stephen King

Holly is a 2023 crime novel by American author Stephen King. It was published on September 5, 2023, by Scribner. The novel follows Holly Gibney, who made her first appearance in Mr. Mercedes (2014). She also appeared in Finders Keepers (2015) and End of Watch (2016), and later was a major supporting character in The Outsider. She was also the central character in If It Bleeds, a novella in the 2020 collection of the same name. An excerpt from Holly was published in Entertainment Weekly on January 23, 2023. King has confirmed plans for another novel featuring Holly Gibney, titled We Think Not.

References

  1. "StephenKing.com - End of Watch". Archived from the original on 27 January 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  2. McClurg, Jocelyn (2015-06-10). "Stephen King Rules at No. 1." USAToday.com. USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  3. Mystery Writers of America (13 May 2015). "2015 Edgar Awards Best Novel" . Retrieved 20 January 2017 via YouTube.
  4. "End of Watch". Book Marks . Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  5. Erik, Pedersen (October 10, 2017). "'Mr. Mercedes' Renewed For Season 2 On Audience Network". Deadline. Retrieved November 6, 2017.