King's 'Finders' is a definite keeper

With Finders Keepers (**** out of four), Stephen King introduces another literature-loving nutball to rival the uber-fandom of Misery's Annie Wilkes.

Two book lovers are at the center of the iconic novelist's newest foray into detective fiction, which also acts as the second tome in a planned trilogy kicked off with last year's masterpiece Mr. Mercedes. But Midwestern private eye Bill Hodges and his returning sidekicks stay offstage until the second act — a good 150 pages in, which is a novel concept for a sequel — so King can focus on adding fresh personalities and kicking everything up a notch in this sprawling suburban noir.

Morris Bellamy and Pete Saubers are males of different generations who grow up on the works of John Rothstein, a reclusive American author mentioned in the same sentence as Salinger and Hemingway. Yet a shared passion for the writer's work is where the commonalities end.

In the 1970s-set opening chapter, a young Morris murders Rothstein in his house and makes off with the author's life savings plus several works of unpublished material worth a fortune. Morris hides the loot and stacks of Rothstein's personal notebooks packed in a trunk in a forest, but his grand plans are stalled when a drunken night leads to years in prison.

Decades later, teenage Pete finds Morris' treasure just outside his backyard. Pete's father was crippled when madman Brady Hartsfield ran a Mercedes through a crowd of job seekers — the main villain and case of Mr. Mercedes — so the teenager uses the cash to anonymously help his struggling family.

The money dries up and Pete turns to selling Rothstein's prose, which puts him on Morris' radar after he's paroled. Now an older man, Morris is dementedly determined to get the stolen goods back and will kill anyone who stands in his way.

Obsession is a major thematic tool used in the King catalog, none more than in this series. Annie, for example, held noted writer Paul Sheldon captive to make him write a new book. Finders Keepers focuses on characters preoccupied with not the writer they idolize but his words.

Morris blames Rothstein for his troubled lot in life — the crusty writer even tells him, "It's guys like you who give reading a bad name" before he gets a bullet to the head. Yet the proposition of finally reading what happens to the author's Holden Caulfield-esque fictional character of Jimmy Gold makes years of jail time worth it for Morris.

For Pete, a Gold aficionado as well whose life took a more positive route after reading Rothstein, having more than 150 important notebooks in his possession weighs on him in a negative fashion, so much so he has to reach out to detective Hodges for help.

Then there's the PI, who's bettered himself physically – more salads, fewer doughnuts — but is haunted by the legacy of Hartsfield. That worries his closest friends: quirky Holly Gibney and loyal college kid Jerome Robinson, both sleuthing whizzes in their own right this time around.

King continues to tweak the hard-boiled genre in spectacular ways in Finders Keepers, hints at a bit of the supernatural — he's pretty good at that if you hadn't heard — and touches on his own place as an American literary celebrity.

King's had his share of diehard fanatics over the years, but the new book is so good, being at least mildly obsessed with it is understandable. The finest thing about it, however, is that the author has another story to tell before the finale of this excellent series.

Finders Keepers

By Stephen King

Scribner, 448 pp

4 stars out of four