Stephen King’s Finders Keepers is a suspenseful tale of obsession

In 1987, author Stephen King released Misery, his classic tale of obsession. Now, 28 years later, the author revisits this dark theme with his latest, Finders Keepers.

Finders Keepers is the second of a planned trilogy of stories following retired Detective Bill Hodges. 2014’s well-received Mr. Mercedes was the first in the series, which pitted Hodges against Brady Hartsfield, the homicidal title character.

Finders Keepers revolves around an acclaimed but reclusive writer and his unpublished manuscripts, the writer’s killer, Morris Bellamy, and Peter Saunders, a young boy who finds the unpublished manuscripts years later.

However, there is more going on in King’s latest book than the dust jacket would lead you to believe. King wants us to mull over the lengths we go to satisfy our obsessions.

Bellamy spends most of his adult life locked away in prison obsessing over the unpublished manuscripts he stole but never got to read, while Saunders is driven by his own fixation on helping his family financially with the manuscripts buried by Bellamy years earlier.

As with most Stephen King tales, things take a turn for the macabre when Bellamy gets released from prison with only one thing in mind: retrieving his stolen goods. He leaves of path of death and destruction (gruesome hatchet murder included) in his wake as he attempts to locate the manuscripts. Meanwhile, a scared Saunders scrambles to sell them, leading Bellamy right to his front door. Written in King’s signature tight prose; as Bellamy hunts Peter, Hodges races to stop Bellamy before he kills again.

Finders Keepers is a suspenseful tale from a master storyteller that doesn’t stop to catch its breath, however, **SPOILER ALERT**, the real fun of the story is the tantalizing teaser at the end of the book.

Originally diagnosed catatonic in the aftermath of Mr. Mercedes, it appears the brain injuries Hartsfield sustained from his encounter with Hodges in Mr. Mercedes have left him with some kind of sinister power.

I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough when King publishes the last book in series, but in the meantime, I can’t stop obsessing on what that might be.