Finders Keepers by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Perhaps you have heard of Stephen King. He’s had a few books published.

Finders Keepers is the second book in his Bill Hodges trilogy, a thriller in which a high school senior unwittingly faces off against a quite-mad man freshly released after a long sting in prison.

Hodges doesn’t actually appear until about a quarter of the way into the story. Instead the reader is taken back to 1978 where a young Irish man with unusually red lips leads a home invasion of a reclusive author, making off with a load of cash and a collection of notebooks containing work the author has been writing since his alleged retirement years earlier. The young man, Morris Bellamy, is a fan and as King himself once pointed out, fan is short for fanatic and Bellamy is very much a fanatic about the characters the author John Rothstein has created, to the point where he perhaps finds them more real than, well, real people.

When the story jumps forward to the present, Bellamy is just being released from prison, having served 30+ years for a rape conviction. He has spent his incarceration patiently waiting for his release, knowing the stash of loot form Rothstein’s home–cash, but more importantly, dozens of notebooks filled with writing the author has worked on since his alleged retirement–is safely stored in a trunk buried in the woods near his old house. Unfortunately for Bellamy, Peter Saubers, the aforementioned high school senior, has discovered the trunk, used the money to help his family and taken the notebooks, planning to sell them.

The remainder of the story is a series of unfortunate events for Saubers, as Bellamy closes in on the teen, willing to do anything it takes to get back the notebooks he sees as rightfully his. Hodges, along with Holly and Jerome from Mr. Mercedes, enter into the story to aid Saubers before it’s too late.

King effortlessly ratchets up the tension after spending a good while drawing the reader in and while characters sometimes connect the dots a little too easily (I wish I was half as good at making connections as these people), he never cheats. There is no sleight of hand here, just expert play with the cards that have been dealt.

King also sets up the third and final book of the trilogy by having Hodges make regular visits to the hospital where Brady Hartsfield, the Mr. Mercedes killer of the first novel, now resides. It seems that Brady may not be quite as incapacitated as his brain trauma would suggest. Here King broadly hints at more familiar territory, suggesting abilities that go beyond the merely normal.

While the book ends with a set-up for the final volume, the story of Finders Keepers is self-contained and can be enjoyed without having read Mr. Mercedes. It’s a terrific tale of suspense filled with characters that King brings alive with his usual expertise.

Recommended.

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This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a brief but solid overview on the basics of putting together a first novel. Mosley doesn’t go into great detail, he just lays down some rules, some less-strict guidelines, offers suggestions, often gives the writer the thumbs-up to do something however best it works for him and really, really believes in the idea of rewriting.

His advice comes down to a few essentials, most of which will be familiar to anyone who has read any how-to’s on writing:

•  set up a daily routine:
  • write every day (no exceptions)
  • devote 90 minutes per day to writing (this can include editing or reading drafts)
  • target daily output of 600-1200 words
•  show, don’t tell
• characters should grow and transform, not remain static
• write without restraint
• take about three months for the first draft
• take a week to read the first draft (this counts as the second draft)
• read and if possible, record the entire novel in your own voice to hear how it sounds
• focus on every sentence in rewrites. Every sentence!
• writers write too much. Edit without mercy.
• don’t write things you aren’t sure of; do follow-up research after the first draft as needed
• you can write from a first person, third person or omniscient perspective; third person is recommended for first-time novelists
• you never mention second person perspective because it’s weird and makes you look funny
• to find an agent, write to the publisher of a book whose style you like and get the agent’s info; send a query letter and vitae to the agent
• don’t ever take an agent that demands to be paid directly

And that’s pretty much it. Mosley provides examples of plot, sentence structure and other part of a novel, and the whole thing can be digested in a single sitting if you’re so inclined–all the better to get started on that great novel lurking within.

I can’t really quibble with any of the suggestions, though ninety minutes per day may be tough to manage for a lot of people. But where’s the fun if you’re not suffering for your art?

Given the endless tide of writing advice on the internet, a book like this is probably going to be a tough sell, especially at full price. On sale, it’s a tidy little volume that says what it wants to say simply and clearly. A first-time novelist will find value here, but more experienced (if unpublished) writers may find most of the lessons to be familiar.

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