Mr. Mercedes

This is Stephen King's first hard-boiled detective novel, with no supernatural elements. The opening chapter describes the attack, and King then moves to Hodges, depressed and aimless after retirement. The killer, Brady Hartsfield, works selling ice cream from a truck and fixing computers, and he hopes his letter will push Hodges toward despair. Instead, it gives the old detective a new reason to live, and he begins investigating on his own, without telling the police.

Hodges contacts Janey, the sister of the woman who owned the stolen car, and they grow close. He is helped by Jerome, a bright teenager who mows his lawn, and later by Holly Gibney, a fragile, anxious woman who turns out to be fearless and brilliant. Brady, meanwhile, plans an even bigger attack at a crowded concert for young fans. King alternates between hunter and hunted, building tension toward a nail-biting finale. Some scenes are violent and disturbing, handled with restraint, and the humor of the characters keeps it from feeling grim.

Tense, fast and very entertaining, the first of a trilogy that continues with Finders Keepers. About 560 pages in the Pocket Books paperback.