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King’s work spans many genres, and Mr. Mercedes is his first work of “hard-boiled” detective fiction, which features a down-and-out detective loner protagonist who has had a tough life and needs to get back his sense of self through solving a crime. The detective, Bill Hodges, became the main character in a trilogy that includes Finders Keepers (2015) and End of Watch (2016). A spin-off novel The Outsider (2018), features Holly Gibney, a character who aids Hodges in Mr. Mercedes. The Outsider is more a traditional detective story that also contains supernatural elements. To date, King has written three books for the Hard Case Crime imprint, which specializes in hard-boiled fiction: The Colorado Kid (2005), Joyland (2013), and Later (2021). These books blend traditional hard-boiled detective and mystery tropes with supernatural elements.
The hard-boiled crime genre focuses on human corruption rather than grand themes of good and evil. That, in itself, is something of a departure for King, who often pits protagonists against evil on a cosmic scale. However, even in his stories of cosmic evil, King always exposes the dark side of human nature. Brady Hartsfield, the killer in Mr.
By Stephen King
11.22.63
Stephen King
1408
Stephen King
Bag of Bones
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Billy Summers
Stephen King
Carrie
Stephen King
Children of the Corn
Stephen King
Cujo
Stephen King
Different Seasons
Stephen King
Doctor Sleep
Stephen King
Dolores Claiborne
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Duma Key
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Elevation: A Novel
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End of Watch
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Fairy Tale
Stephen King
Finders Keepers
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Firestarter
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From a Buick 8
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Full Dark, No Stars
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Gerald's Game
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Gwendy's Button Box
Stephen King, Richard Chizmar