Disclaimer...I am a huge Stephen King fan and also love Brendan Gleeson so this is a slam dunk really. The book & TV series are a delight and should be near the top of your pile to experience. This is a review combining both the book and TV series (Although I have only watched episode 1-4)
We have the perfect pairing of writer and main character,
Stephen King, who turned 70 a couple of weeks ago and Brendan Gleeson, a little
younger at 62. Two veterans of their
art. Brendan Gleeson is the perfect
actor to fill the role of the vexatious retired detective who won’t leave that
one unsolved case alone and Stephen King, has written a fantastic tale of
intrigue with a little bit of reality and of course his trademark violence (but
not too much).
The TV series reunites producer David E. Kelley with Brendan
Gleeson, they previously worked together on Lake Placid, another great film
with the delight of Gleeson’s sarcastic humour probably baffling some audiences
but genius to Irish viewers. I loved the
part when they were looking for Gleeson’s deputy and found a toe. When Gleeson was asked “is this the man that
was killed?” Gleeson’s sarky answer was “He seemed...taller”.
Mr Mercedes is a departure for King (I will blog later in
the month on the evolution of King’s work) but still remains true to his style
of lovingly developing characters (whether they live or die) with a slathering
of ugly reality. The violence is
portrayed brilliantly in small sharp bursts, it’s chilling and realistic, not
like the boring “blood n guts” disgusting journey one takes with the likes of
Saw & Hostel. King’s use of violence
is measured and dealing with the aftermath is as important as the act
itself. The reason I have always loved
King’s work is that the psychological thrillers/horrors like Cugo, Misery &
Dolores Claiborne are realistic; you can imagine these things actually
happening.
The book is well balanced, developing the different
storylines of the characters and then drawing them together with ease. This is another characteristic of King’s
writing, a well crafted plot that intertwines beautiful, and yet, is never
predictable. I also love the play on
words, for example when the killer is contacting Bill Hodges he uses the name
“merckiller”. This can be read in two
ways...Mercedes Killer or the more literal Mer...C...Killer, i.e.
mercy-killer. Little things like this
are not accidental and to me are moments of genius.
A trademark style of King at the beginning of a novel is to
introduce and develop characters, but as a veteran reader of King I know not to
get too attached as I expect some of them will die...and Mr Mercedes does not
disappoint – pigs in blankets anyone!
Most other authors only spend time developing characters that will
remain, those characters who will die (or are the mass murderer) are looked
over and only covered in a cursory manner.
For those who have read/watched the Stand you know what I mean...When
Harold sets of the bomb you never expected Nick to die (Oops, spoiler alert).
The TV series has been adapted really well. This is aided with a simple story by King and
the skills of the director David E. Kelley who has worked on some awesome
series like LA Law, Chicago Hope & Ally McBeal to mention a few of his
award winning hits. The only criticism I
have is the casting of Mary Louise Parker in the role of Janey Paterson. Parker is a confident brash actor, fantastic
in Weeds & one of my favourite series – The West Wing - but, in my opinion
not a good match for the character of Janey Paterson. Maybe that’s a problem only in my mind or
maybe she is a little typecast in the role of a strong and confident lady,
whichever is the case, she doesn’t work for me in this role.
In the last couple of years we see TV series taking over the
entertainment industry. Simply put, if
this wasn’t the case so many top actors wouldn’t be moving into TV rather than
the big screen. This evolution has only
been good for writers of the longer novel that lovingly develop their
characters and plots for our enjoyment.
King has already had the adaptation of Under The Dome and 11.22.63 and
you can clearly see the input he has had into these 2 productions and Mr.
Mercedes. Gone is the day where
Hollywood buys the rights to the book and can then run off and do what they
want. (Unfortunately Under the Dome had
one huge flaw...both in the book and the TV series, the ending was dreadful)
Anyway to summarise, the book is awesome, the TV adaptation
is true to the book and really well crafted.
With only one negative of the casting of Mary Louise Parker, I give Mr.
Mercedes a rating of 9 out of 10 planets.
John "The Captain" Ryan
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