Finders Keepers

Finders Keepers is the second novel in what has become known as the Bill Hodges trilogy, preceded by Mr. Mercedes (2014) and followed by End of Watch (2016). Unlike the vast majority of King’s work, which focuses on horror, this trilogy focuses on crime and detective work. In Mr. Mercedes, Bill Hodges is a retired detective who becomes obsessed with an unsolved murderer known as the Mercedes Killer, who murdered 16 people when he drove a Mercedes into a group of people. He eventually teams up with Holly Gibney to find the murderer, Brady Hartsfield, who is in a coma at the conclusion of the novel. Holly appears throughout the trilogy as Hodges’s partner, as well as in the books The Outsider (2018), If It Bleeds (2020), and Holly (2023). Although Mr. Mercedes lacks the supernatural elements which have become typical of King’s works, the ending of Finders Keepers implies that something supernatural is at play as he uses his mind to turn the faucet on and off and flip over his mother’s picture. In End of Watch, King takes the trilogy fully into the supernatural, as Hartsfield—from his comatose state in the hospital—controls a video game that encourages suicidal ideation and behavior in teenagers. Hodges and Holly try to uncover the truth behind the deaths.

Although each of the novels stands alone as a complete story, they do work in tandem thematically and through the development and arc of the characters of Hodges, Holly, and Hartsfield. For example, though Hartsfield is in a comatose state and not directly involved in the events of Finders Keepers, Hodges visits him frequently throughout the novel, revealing his continued obsession with the case. Further, Pete’s father’s injury at the hands of Hartsfield in Mr. Mercedes inspires Pete to use the found money to help his family instead of turning it in. Additionally, at the novel’s climax, before Hodges enters the house, he thinks of how he needs to save Pete and Tina because he failed to save another character from Hartsfield in the previous novel.

Mr. Mercedes explores Holly’s obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and discomfort with human interaction. Throughout Finders Keepers, she has a close relationship with Hodges that borders on romantic as they see a movie together, joke with each other, and touch. Through her character development in Mr. Mercedes, however, it is clear that they have a friendship wherein Hodges attempts to help Holly break out of her shell and become more social. Holly’s “intuitions,” stemming from her ability to better analyze and pick up clues than those around her, also carry through all the novels that feature her.