Two quick years after concluding his Bill Hodges trilogy of mystery novels with End of Watch (2016), King returns to the genre (and even brings back a character) with a book that showcases his best and worst instincts. The first half, a police procedural, is absolutely riveting. Oklahoma detective Ralph Anderson relishes arresting local little-league coach Terry Maitland for the brutal murder of an 11-year-old boy. Multiple witnesses saw him, his DNA is all over the scene it's open and shut. But is it? King makes you feel Ralph's drowning panic as evidence, just as irrefutable, places Terry in another town. The impossibility of the mystery is intoxicating, and readers will get dizzy from their shifting sympathies. And then . . . well, King loyalists will see this coming. Seemingly written into a corner, the story goes supernatural, with a Salem's Lot-style gang of reluctant heroes taking up arms against a foe who has something to do with a Mexican monster legend and women-wrestler films. Still, the amazingly strong start should be enough to fuel most readers through the end.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Along with Revival (2014), Mr. Mercedes (2014), and Full Dark, No Stars (2010), this is another shockingly dark book perfect for longtime fans, of whom there are, well, zillions.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2018 Booklist

Reader Patton's steady, realistic narration adds a strong element of credibility to King's supernatural police procedural, in which a small-town detective is faced with an apparently impossible crime. The worst day in the life of Flint City, Okla., detective Ralph Anderson is when he arrests popular Little League baseball coach Terry Maitland for the murder of a young boy. The coach's fingerprints and DNA are all over the crime scene, but he has an ironclad alibi: he was at a convention in another city and has witnesses and even video footage to prove it. Subsequent events suggest the presence of an otherworldly serial killer whom Anderson and his associates set out to find and destroy. Joining them is Holly Gibney, a fascinating character from the author's Bill Hodges crime trilogy. Brilliantly deductive, neurotic, and obsessively determined, she quickly takes over the novel, and Patton provides her with an edgy, breathless, and impatient voice that, at times, is an almost crooning stream-of-consciousness. Patton's approach for Anderson and his other associates is more conventional: they speak in fittingly tough, hardboiled tones. As for the voice of the monstrous outsider, it is surprisingly conversational and educated, with just a hint of chilling playfulness. This audiobook demonstrates King's ability to make even the most fantastic story believable and poignant, and Patton's unswerving talent for making fiction feel real. A Scribner hardcover. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

The skillfully rendered accents of Will Patton bring this dark whodunit to life with dramatic skill that nicely conveys mood and tone. King (Mr. Mercedes) combines a police procedural with elements of the super-natural. A young child has been brutally assaulted and murdered in Flint City, OK, and Det. Ralph Anderson is certain that the perpetrator is popular Little League coach and high school English teacher Terry -Maitland. Anderson and several colleagues publicly arrest Maitland during a hotly contested baseball game. Then things start to unravel as Anderson learns that there is quite a bit of conflicting evidence. Several of Mait-land's teacher colleagues can vouch that he was with them attending a convention at the time of the murder, which is further confirmed by video from a local news channel. -VERDICT Recommended for King's myriad fans and for those wanting a mystery that's a bit outside the ordinary. ["King's fans may be dispirited by this latest dis-appointing thriller; however, his name alone will ensure it flies off the shelves": LJ 4/1/18 review of the Scribner hc.]-David Faucheux, Lafayette, LA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.