End of Watch by Stephen King is a follow-up to his prior related suspense novels, Mr. Mercedes and Finders, Keepers. Continuing characters in all three novels are retired police detective Bill Hodges, his mentally fragile assistant Holly Gibney, and sociopathic mass murderer Brady Hartsfield.
Hartsfield is now a vegetative coma patient after suffering a brain trauma injury when Hodges and Holly stopped his mass casualty bombing attempt. But Brady's mind has been secretly recovering, and in the process, has developed paranormal mental powers. He uses those powers to incite an epidemic of suicides, aided by a hypnotic game player tablet called a Zappit.
As the sudden suicide deaths mount, Bill Hodges uncovers Hartsfield's monstrous plot. Hodges and Holly race against time to shut down the malevolent Zappits before the suicide infection can spread even further.
End of Watch contains some familiar King themes: paranormal mental powers, sinister technological devices, and a team of friends coming together to fight an evil threat. The novel is notable for the characters of Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney, two of the most admirable people Stephen King has created.
The novel is overlong by at least fifty pages, as King's renown "Big Mac and Fries" style tends to overwrite too often. The author is actually at his best in shorter, tighter works such as The Night Flyer and The Mist.
That said, End of Watch is a colorful, fast-reading work that long time King fans should find satisfying.
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