Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King

Mr. Mercedes is a new foray into the detective genre for King, and I hope it continues. His excellent characterization and style are on display in this book, and the mystery plot hangs together well enough to keep it interesting throughout.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is that King lets us inside the head of the killer, which is a dark and horrible place, but also logical and sometimes humorous. The best parts of the book were where the hero and the killer were battling each other with words and psychology in a private on-line forum. Unfortunately, the hero got the upper hand about half-way through the book and, as a result, the second half of the book wasn't nearly as good as the first half. It's much more interesting to have two characters trying to out-smart each other than to have one just trying to stop the other from doing evil deeds.

Overall, Mr. Mercedes was well worth reading. I look forward to seeing more from King in this genre.

Sphere, by Michael Crichton

Crichton is so frustrating. He has awesome concepts--What if the navy found an alien spacecraft buried on the ocean floor?--but he just can't follow through on them. His plots always seem to devolve into a theme about how humans can't handle their own technology. And his characters never really come alive. They run around trying to solve the mystery and fight each other like grade-school children, but they remain cardboard cut-outs.

But his concepts keep sucking me back in! At least his books are quick, easy reads. I have a feeling I'll be back for more.