Book Review: "End of Watch" by Stephen King (2016)

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“End of Watch” concludes the Mercedes killer trilogy beginning with “Mr. Mercedes” and continuing in “Finders keepers.” What began as Stephen King’s foray into straight crime fiction ends as modern tech supernatural. Weak endings have become King’s forte. He even apologized for the lame conclusion to “The Dark Tower” series. The days of “Carrie” are long gone as King has been past his prime for several decades though seemingly knocking out a new book every other week. In recent years, King is possessed in injecting (or inflicting) his extreme liberal politics and “End of Watch” is the worst example yet. In short order, King slams the left’s favorite fast food whipping boy McDonald’s, belittles Christians, mocks George Bush and Donald Trump, promotes electric automobiles and Habitat for Humanity, has a 10-year-old gay male character and presents a lecture that all whites are racists assaulting African Americans 24/7. How does this enhance and progress story? In absolutely no form. It serves solely to promote a political ideology. Who wants political diatribe of any viewpoint, right or left, intruding upon escapist entertainment. And that is all King is: a populist mainstream author who will never be confused with Hemingway. “Mr. Mercedes” introduced computer whiz mass murderer Brady Hartsfield who plows down a bunch of people with a Mercedes and ends up a hospitalized vegetable. Naturally he still lurks inside the shell. “Finders Keepers” was an interlude having little to do with him. “End of Watch” is the final confrontation between Brady and nemesis retired cop Bill Hodges. Thanks to vague mumbo jumbo of experimental drugs and tech devices, Brady gains the power of entering bodies and driving people to suicide. Brady has hatched a diabolical plane of causing the suicides of 100s of teenagers via a game. It is all tedium only becoming mildly interesting during the Brady sequences. The rest is political expounding and Hodges having terminal cancer. The finale is obvious and mundane. Is this really the same author of “The Shining,” “It” and “The Stand”?