Finders Keepers is the second book in Stephen King’s Bill Hodges Trilogy, all of which are about the titular retired detective. The antagonist in the first book fueled my excitement to read the second. His name is Brady Hartsfield, and he’s possibly the most formidable and terrifying opponent King has created. I looked forward to his appearance in Finders Keepers, but was disappointed- he has a fairly insignificant role for most of the book. Instead, readers are left subject to King’s experiments with time as we jump back and forth between critical points in the life of eventual ex-convict Morris Bellamy, while also seeing Hodge’s point of view.

King does a superb job of portraying America's incarceration system, and he has no reservations about telling the truth of the brutal industry. I personally found Bellamy’s journey through prison and his experiences as a parolee one of the more fascinating aspects of the book. Bellamy, who serves as the antagonist of Finders Keepers, has an obsession with John Rothstein, the author of a series of novels starring the fictional Jimmy Gold. Gold is a protagonist Bellamy seems to identify with and idolize; thus leading to his acute passion. This is undoubtedly why he chooses to steal several unpublished writings from Rothstein himself. He becomes incarcerated for a separate offense before he can read them. When he finally gets out, he’s almost sixty years old, and desperate to finish what he started. However, he doesn’t account for a young man named Peter Saubers, who literally stumbles upon Rothstein’s writings quite by chance.

Something that disappointed me about this book was the weakness of Morris Bellamy. As he acknowledges several times himself, he doesn’t have the strength he once did. After reading several of King’s novels, I expected a more formidable antagonist, not a fifty five year old ex convict who just wants to read some books by his favorite author. I would be able to classify him most as an incredibly inferior Annie Wilkes. Nevertheless, what’s striking about Bellamy’s character is that he truly has nothing to lose anymore. This becomes evident progressively throughout the novel as he slowly descends into madness in pursuit of Rothstein’s unpublished writings.

To conclude, Finders Keepers was mildly disappointing, if not entertaining. It was certainly pleasant to see old characters and catch references from Mr. Mercedes, but it truly just feels like intermission before the second act, which of course is End of Watch (the final book in the trilogy). Still, I don’t regret reading and would recommend to anyone who was a fan of the first book.