History Literature / MrMercedes

A miniseries adaptation, starring Creator/BrendanGleeson and Creator/HarryTreadaway as detective and killer respectively, premiered on AT&T's Audience Network on August 9, 2017. It's now airing the second season.

A miniseries adaptation, starring Creator/BrendanGleeson and Creator/HarryTreadaway as detective and killer respectively, premiered on AT&T's Audience Network on August 9, 2017.

* NeverMyFault: Brady blames his actions on the universe, because if it was truly a good world with a good God and all, he surely wouldn't have done those horrible things. More specifically, [[spoiler: when [[ItMakesSenseInContext Brady's attempt to poison some hamburger to kill a dog instead kills his mother, hamburger and poison he specifically bought to bring pain to his current nemesis]].]] Brady blamed Detective Hodges.

* SequelHook : The ending. Given there are two upcoming sequels, it's not surprising.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Countering Show!Brady's less-psychopathic personality, the TV series gives him a ''much'' higher body count (eighteen at City Center as opposed to eight, plus his onscreen murder of [[spoiler: Ryan Springhill and Anthony Frobisher]]). He also [[spoiler: deliberately kills Janey, rather than doing it by accident, as another means to drive Bill toward suicide]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: Countering Show!Brady's less-psychopathic personality, the TV series gives him a ''much'' higher body count (eighteen at City Center as opposed to eight, plus his onscreen murder of [[spoiler: Ryan Springhill]]). He also [[spoiler: deliberately kills Janey, rather than doing it by accident, as another means to drive Bill toward suicide]].

* AgeLift: Holly is considerably younger in the TV series, likely as a means to emphasize her eventual role as a surrogate daughter figure to Hodges and to remove the books' ambiguity as to the nature of their relationship.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Mostly minor ones, but still present. The TV series presents Bill as being both grumpier and more psychologically damaged in the aftermath of Brady's killing spree and his own failure to bring Brady to justice. In addition - and perhaps mercifully - the show completely adapts out Jerome's "Tyrone" persona. However, some of the most prominent changes can be seen in Brady himself. In the book, King establishes him as a dead-set, [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain bigoted]] sociopath, whereas Show!Brady is more classically ''insane,'' displaying the tiniest flashes of compassion in his madness and apparently possessing legitimate affection for his coworker Lou (Freddi in the books).

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Minor ones, but still present. The TV series presents Bill as being both grumpier and more psychologically damaged in the aftermath of Brady's killing spree and his own failure to bring Brady to justice. In addition - and perhaps mercifully - the show completely adapts out Jerome's "Tyrone" persona.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Brady takes issue with biracial relationships and black people in general.

* HollywoodAutism: Amazingly enough, King almost totally [[{{Averted}} averts]] this with Holly, though it's somewhat difficult to tell given her myriad of concurrent mental health issues. On top of being a middle-aged woman, two groups rarely associated with autism in any form of media, Holly ticks several of the classic clinical boxes - difficulty with strong emotions, extreme social awkwardness, a strong aversion to being touched, and self-stimulatory behavior like smoking and self-hugging - and although Holly's life is abjectly terrible at the start, the narrative makes it plainly clear that [[AbusiveParents her]] [[MyBelovedSmother mother]] is to blame, not her own neurological quirks. By the end of the book, and especially come the [[Literature/FindersKeepers two]] [[Literature/EndOfWatch sequels]], Holly's lot improves dramatically minus her parents' influence and she ends up getting to live a pretty good life.

''Mr. Mercedes'' is the first installment in a planned trilogy. The second volume, ''Literature/FindersKeepers'', was released in 2015, and the third, ''Literature/EndOfWatch'', was released in 2016.

* EvilSoundsDeep: Creator/HarryTreadaway as Brady in the TV series. It's considerably less pronounced and dramatic than most examples, but his voice is still a low, unnervingly calm baritone.

** Brady also counts, though more as a PsychopathicManchild due to being a murderer. Like Holly, he is a grown adult who lives with his abusive and controlling mother who still treats him as a child in her own way, and he is so slavishly dependant on her that [[spoiler: he suffers a complete VillanousBreakdown after she dies (albeit, partly because ''he'' is the one who killed her, but also because he no longer has anyone to depend upon)]].

* HollywoodAutism: Amazingly enough, King almost totally [[{{Averted}} averts]] this with Holly, though it's somewhat difficult to tell given her myriad of concurrent mental health issues. On top of being a middle-aged woman, two groups rarely associated with autism in any form of media, Holly ticks several of the classic clinical boxes - difficulty with strong emotions, extreme social awkwardness, a strong aversion to being touched, and self-stimulatory behavior like smoking and self-hugging - and although her life is abjectly terrible at the start, the narrative makes it plainly clear that Holly's AbusiveParents are to blame, not her own neurological quirks. By the end of the book, and especially come the [[Literature/FindersKeepers two]] [[Literature/EndOfWatch sequels]], Holly's lot improves dramatically minus her parents' influence and she ends up getting to live a pretty good life.

** The boy band 'Round Here is also mentioned in ''Literature/DoctorSleep'', which may put this in the same universe as ''Literature/TheShining''. Given the [[GenreShift events]] of Literature/EndOfWatch, this would actually make an unsettling amount of sense.

** The 'Round Here boy band is also mentioned in ''Literature/DoctorSleep'', which may put this in the same universe as ''Literature/TheShining''.

* TheParanoiac: While not spelt out in the book, this is the condition Brady most likely suffers from. (1) He is [[NeverMyFault unable to accept responsibility for anything]] and blames all of his failures on other people and circumstances beyond his control- it is implied his murderous rage stems from guilt and confusion over his role in [[spoiler: the death of his brother and his mother blaming him for it]]; (3) he thinks that [[JadeColoredGlasses the world is a cruel and harsh place]] as evident by [[InsaneTrollLogic the fact that he could kill all those people without repercussions in the first place]]; he wants to commit another big crime but his failure to act is less out of conscience and more [[DirtyCoward out of fear of getting caught]]; (4) he pretends to be a nice guy [[BitchInSheepsClothing but is secretly filled with contempt for everyone around him]]; (5) he is CrazyPrepared and a ControlFreak when it comes to covering his tracks and hiding his various [[EvilPlan evil plans]] even though almost none of them amount to anything; (6) he is secretly [[{{Narcissist}} grandiose]] and utterly self-centred, yet by his own standards he has amounted to nothing and is afraid of having to survive on his own with his mother, whom he hates but is neurotically dependant upon; and his final act of attempted mass murder is prompted by [[spoiler: accidentally killing his mother]], the police catching up to him, and feeling both that the jig is up and that he has nobody to depend on anymore.