In Room 217 of the Lakes Region Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, something has awakened. Something evil. Brady Hartsfield, perpetrator of the Mercedes Massacre, where eight people were killed and many more were badly injured, has been in the clinic for five years, in a vegetative state. According to his doctors, anything approaching a complete recovery is unlikely. But behind the drool and stare, Brady is awake, and in possession of deadly new powers that allow him to wreak unimaginable havoc without ever leaving his hospital room.

Retired police detective Bill Hodges, the unlikely hero of Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers, now runs an investigation agency with his partner, Holly Gibney—the woman who delivered the blow to Hartsfield’s head that put him on the brain injury ward. When Bill and Holly are called to a suicide scene with ties to the Mercedes Massacre, they find themselves pulled into their most dangerous case yet, one that will put their lives at risk, as well as those of Bill’s heroic young friend Jerome Robinson and his teenage sister, Barbara. Brady Hartsfield is back, and planning revenge not just on Hodges and his friends, but on an entire city.

DON’T READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ FINDERS KEEPERS!

And so ends the Bill Hodges trilogy. Oof.

End of Watch is a tricky one for me…it’s not my favorite of the three. And it’s possibly my least favorite. But I still enjoyed it a whole lot, and found it to be the most emotionally impactful of the trilogy. By this point, these characters have kind of embedded themselves into me, and their relationships, particularly between Bill & Holly, are just really fucking special.

So, as was hinted at near the very end of Finders Keepers, things take a bit of a turn towards the supernatural. Brady Heartsfield continues to appear in a somewhat vegetative state, but we learn early on that behind his vacant gaze, there is so much more going on. In addition to his typically malicious & evil way of thinking, Brady has developed certain…abilities. Abilities he’ll use throughout the book in vile ways, in a complex scheme to get revenge against Bill Hodges.

I think Brady Hartsfield is a super creepy villain, for sure. And of course I knew he would factor into this book. I guess what I was hoping for was that Bill & Holly would be working on something in addition to Brady. Something tangential to the Mercedes Massacre maybe, like in Finders Keepers. I mean, after all, they’ve started a private eye business…they’ve probably got rent to pay!!

The introduction of the supernatural element this late in the game also felt just a bit off for me…but it seemed like that was really the only way to have Brady resume his role as the Big Bad. Otherwise he’s just stuck in the chair, staring out the window.

But really, overall, this worked well for me as the ending to the trilogy. The pacing of all three of these books is pretty fucking intense, and I’ve read them all pretty quickly. End of Watch has some *especially* violent & disturbing scenes, and deals a lot with suicide (as does the whole trilogy, but this one in particular). It’s a story about obsession, revenge, vindication. And it’s a great exploration of friendship, as we see Bill & Holly’s bond continue to strengthen. However unlikely a duo they were to begin with, these are two characters that complement one another in the weirdest & most wonderful ways. They grew on me as they grew on each other, and it was clear throughout the trilogy that these characters are pretty dear to Stephen King.

What it comes down to is, regardless of any quibbles I might have, I really love all Stephen King’s books (yes, even that one). I mean… goddamn, we are just so lucky to have him telling stories.