'End of Watch' by Stephen King novel review

This book was a victim of bad timing.  I got around to it just as it seemed like 15,000 other things came about.  It forced me to constantly put it on the back burner.

It's a shame, because when I did pick it up, I enjoyed it.  I went in skeptical about this one too.  The third part of any trilogy is usually cited as being the weakest (though I think "Return of the Jedi" deserves more credit than it gets.)  On top of that, I wasn't too keen on Brady once again taking the role of lead antagonist.  He was OK in the first book, but even "Finders Keepers" gave us a stronger villain.  It just seemed like a step backwards.

Here, though, he gets a much better showing.  His oft talked about cunning is put on better display and his modus operandi is much more unsettling.  It's true, trying to coax people into suicide was something he did back in the first book. It makes the book consistent with what we had seen before, but now that he has the ability to get into people's heads (courtesy of experimental drugs and some outdated electronic gadgets) and directly manipulate them into doing it, he comes off as much creepier.  You see why the book was originally called "The Suicide Prince".  Not only does it fit his M.O. but characters actually do refer to him by that title more than once.

His status gives him a nice alibi as he is, for all intents and purposes, comatose and in a hospital room under constant surveillance.  The heroes still figure it out pretty easily, but it still makes for a more subtle villain.

He also has a more concrete objective this time around.  Sure, revenge for what happened to him in the first book is simple, but it works.  It gives him more drive than he had before.

From a meta-perspective, having him return made for a nice bookend to the whole franchise.  The events of "Finders Keepers" are alluded to, but have no real bearing on the plot, barring Brady's new abilities.  As such, this is more of a true sequel to "Mr. Mercedes" than its predecessor.  In any event, it does tie up the loose ends and brings the overall story to a conclusion.  "Satisfying" might not be the right word given what happens, but this does fit and it does do the job of effectively closing the book on the series.

Much like "Finders Keepers", the plot is kicked off due to an incident related to one of the victims of Brady's initial attack at that job expo.  It was a small detail, but I thought it was a nice touch.

Where the second book relegated Hodges and crew to secondary character status, this brings them back to the forefront.  Even with the diminished role before, you're still connected enough to these characters at this point that the emotional moments still resonate.  It's kind of important given what some of the characters go through.  I think the book is strong enough where it could work as a stand alone, there were lengthy gaps between my reading of each book, but reading it as the intended conclusion to the trilogy gives it more of a punch.

I could have done without the whole "Dr. Z" "Z-Boy" schtick.  It's used to indicate that Brady has taken over two specific characters (his doctor and a janitor respectively,) but it seems like the prose could have just said that.  Having the narration refer to characters as such comes off clunky, as does having other characters refer to them in that manner.  Even when identities are revealed, people still refer to them by these pointless nicknames, it's a little bizarre.

All in all, though, this was a solid yarn.  It's well paced and appropriately tense.  It also has some emotional weight behind it and manages to wrap up a series about as well as one could hope.  I'd recommend giving it a read.

               













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