{Audiobook}Review: Mr Mercedes

Mr Mercedes
by Stephen King
 
Genre: Crime fiction
Date Read:  13 June 2014
Reading with my ears
Narrator:  Will Patton   
Unabridged audio - Length: 14 hours 21 minutes

A cat-and-mouse suspense thriller featuring a retired homicide detective who's haunted by the few cases he left open, and by one in particular - the pre-dawn slaughter of eight people among hundreds gathered in line for the opening of a jobs fair when the economy was guttering out. Without warning, a lone driver ploughed through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes.

The plot is kicked into gear when Bill Hodges receives a letter in the mail, from a man claiming to be the perpetrator. He taunts Hodges with the notion that he will strike again. Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing that from happening. Brady Hartfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. And he's preparing to kill again. Only Hodges, with a couple of misfit friends, can apprehend the killer in this high-stakes race against time. Because Brady's next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim hundreds, even thousands.

My thoughts:
Mr Mercedes is the journey of Bill Hodges, a police detective, with nothing to live for after his retirement from the force.   He puts away his father’s gun (and thoughts of using it) as he begins to tract the one crazy killer he was never able to catch. 

Brady Hartfield is very sick.  It is scary to think that he lives in real life too.  People blending nicely into society but with grandiose thoughts of being famous as the greatest killer. 

I loved how King revealed only little bits of the support characters at a time.  We never really got to know the the other characters in the book, just enough to give us glimpses into the reasons for Brady’s psychosis. 

One of these characters is Freddy, Brady’s younger brother.  He is only mentioned a few times in this book but I felt such empathy for him.  A poor little lost soul, born into a family that ultimately killed him.  Freddy was always slow and suffered brain damage during his short life which made caring for him a huge burden on the family.  I understand the frustrations that the family must have felt but poor little Freddy did not deserve his life.  Thankfully he would not have understood all that went on.

If you are looking for a scary horror by the great master, then you will be disappointed.  Mr Mercedes is only scary in the way that an insane person can be scary.   And Brady is scary . . .
This is instead a great detective story, defining the phrase “cat and mouse games”. 

Will Patton once again showed why he is such a beloved narrator.  He did an excellent job and the story flowed beautifully from scene to scene.  He is a true professional.  Love him!

{TV series}Review: Helix

A team of scientists are thrust into a potentially life-or-death situation in this thriller, which begins with the group being deployed to the Arctic to secretly investigate what could be a disease outbreak.

This is a roller-coaster ride of a series.  I loved it!  Each episode had you believing another version of what the truth might be!  The whole series is played out in a “secret” arctic science lab where more that just lawful experimentation might be going on.    A group of CDC scientists are up against a decease that not even the director of the lab can (or want to) fully explain.  The first season ended on a cliffhanger of sorts and I am very happy that a second season will follow in 2015.

{Movie} Review: The Last Seven

The Last Seven (2010)
Starring:  Tamer Hassan, Simon Phillips, Danny Dyer, Ronan Vibert, Sebastian Street, Daisy Head, Rita Ramnani, John Mawson

A man awakes to find the streets eerily silent and all trace of life completely removed. He has no recollection of what has happened but he will soon discover that he is one of only seven people left alive. He will also discover that he can trust none of his fellow survivors.

My thoughts:
I found another independent film that is worth watching.  This film had me guessing until the surprise ending.  It is difficult to say much without spoiling your enjoyment of the movie, so I will just say if you like post apocalyptic dark stories, this one is for you.  You will not know who to trust until your socks are blown off with the ending.  I really enjoyed this movie.  It is amazing what talent can do with a shoe-string budget.

{Movie} Review: Unthinkable

Unthinkable (2010)
Starring:  Samuel L. Jackson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Michael Sheen

A psychological thriller centered around a black-ops interrogator and an FBI agent who press a suspect terrorist into divulging the location of three nuclear weapons set to detonate in the U.S.

My thoughts:
Unthinkable is literally about the unthinkable.  Samuel L. Jackson is an interrogator that has no limits.  He will not stop until the terrorist reveals his secrets.  Agent Helen Brody has more of a moral dilemma with his integration methods.  But can she stand idly by when so many (including themselves) could die in the next few days.

This movie is about what is morally right.  Is torture only wrong if is not done for your own noble reasons.  How about if it is to save millions of lives?  What if you could prevent three nuclear bombs from detonating.  What would you allow to be done to the one man that knows the locations of these bombs?

I found this movie very entertaining but be warned it has a few gruesome torture scenes.

{Movie}Review: Exam

Exam (2009)
Starring: Colin Salmon, Chris Carey, Jimi Mistry, Luke Mably, Gemma Chan, Chuk Iwuji, John Lloyd Fillingham, Pollyanna McIntosh, Adar Beck and Nathalie Cox.

Eight talented candidates have reached the final stage of selection to join the ranks of a mysterious and powerful corporation. Entering a windowless room, an Invigilator gives them eighty minutes to answer one simple question.

My thoughts:
I am enjoying a good run with “indie”low budget movies.  Exam was recommended to me a while ago but I only got to watching it yesterday. At first when I saw the exam room (the one scene of the whole movie), I expected a horror-type movie but this was all psychological thriller.  Eight candidates are in the final stages of a job interview in a dystopian world run almost entirely by pharmaceutical company.  They have to answer only one question but no-one can figure out what the question is.  And the tension starts running high.   

Unfortunately the ending did not quite live up to the tension of the movie.  For an hour and half we debated the good and the bad and then in the last few moments everything is resolved . . . it almost felt like they ran out of movie.  But don’t let the abrupt ending keep you from enjoying the build up.   This was a good movie!