General Fiction | Book Chatter

End of Watch
By Stephen King
Simon & Schuster Audio | ISBN 9781508211365 | June 2016

The Short of It:

A solid conclusion to the Bill Hodges trilogy.

The Rest of It:

*No Spoilers*

These days, I am not a fan of trilogies. When I read Mr. Mercedes, it had not been announced yet that it was the first book in a trilogy but it’s King so what do you do? You read all of them. When Finders Keepers came out, I ran right out to get it. It was pretty good but the story strayed a little from the main bad guy which made it less interesting to me.

However, with End of Watch, retired detective Bill Hodges is once again forced to deal with bad guy Brady Hartsfield which made my heart sing. He’s a real “baddie” and in this book, he’s taken it to a whole new level.

King has always been good at developing awesome characters and he built a good one in Bill Hodges. I always worry about the last book in a trilogy because it has to do so many things. It has to tie-up all the loose ends. It has to give the reader a sense of finality without bashing them over the head with some trite ending. It should be good…and this one is.

As you can see, I didn’t go into the story because I’d inadvertently give something away but as a trilogy this series is pretty solid and enjoyable to read and/or listen to.

Audio Note:

I listened to this book on audio and then alternated between it and print due to a technical glitch with my device. If you’ve not listened to a King book on audio then you are missing out.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Fireman
By Joe Hill
William Morrow & Company, Hardcover, 9780062200631, May 2016, 768pp.

The Short of It:

Find a cool, shady spot, grab a cold drink, and kick back because The Fireman is the hot read of the summer.

The Rest of It:

Draco Incendia Trychophyton is a plague which causes people to spontaneously combust. As people across the country become infected with “Dragonscale”, the hospitals in each big city try their best to contain it but there is no cure.

Harper Grayson, a nurse who took special care not to become infected, finds herself covered in “scale” and when her husband Jakob finds out, he doesn’t react the way she expects him to. Instead, she ends up with a group of people who have come together for survival. This group has figured out a way to live with the scale. Led by an unlikely hero in a bright yellow coat and fireman’s hat, they create a world where survival is possible.

I love read-alongs and this book was perfect to read as a group. It’s long (700+ pages) but I read it in under a week and never once felt its length. It’s got plenty of good storytelling, lots of action and some likable characters for you to cheer for. There is also one really bad seed. There’s one in every bunch.

What stood out:

Lots of name dropping and pop culture references
Hill is Stephen King’s son and I felt it in the writing (a plus!)
Reads like a movie and Fox has taken it on for development.
Definitely not horror even though it’s marketed that way.
We all felt that it should have been called, The Nurse.
Despicable characters are great fun to bash on Twitter.

I received a review copy of this book so imagine my surprise when another blogger pointed out material that was not in my review copy. Yes!! A slightly different ending given the additional material she provided. So if you have the review copy, seek out a finished copy so you can read that very last bit.

I was hoping for a good chunkster to read this summer and this was it. It’s a lot of fun and reading it with a group just made it that much better. I highly recommend it.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…