Bill Hodges Trilogy Books in Order
Stephen King's crime thriller trilogy follows retired detective Bill Hodges as he pursues a serial killer who uses a car as a weapon. Across Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch, Hodges teams up with a teenager and a concerned citizen to track down Brady Hartsfield and uncover dark secrets in their ordinary American town. King trades supernatural horror for psychological tension, creating a gritty police procedural with his trademark character depth.
Mr. Mercedes
Retired detective Bill Hodges is haunted by an unsolved case: a masked killer who drove a stolen Mercedes into a crowd of job seekers, killing eight people. When the killer begins taunting Hodges with letters, the retired cop comes out of retirement for one last pursuit. Winner of the 2015 Edgar Award for Best Novel.
Published: 2014
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Finders Keepers
A deranged fan murders a reclusive literary icon and steals his unpublished manuscripts. Decades later, a teenager discovers the hidden notebooks and becomes the target of the original killer, now released from prison. Bill Hodges and his partners Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson race to save the boy.
Published: 2015
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End of Watch
Bill Hodges and Holly Gibney are investigating a series of suicides when evidence points to Brady Hartsfield, the Mercedes Killer, who has been in a vegetative state for years. But Brady has developed terrifying new powers that allow him to strike from beyond the hospital bed. The final confrontation between Hodges and his nemesis begins.
Published: 2016
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Bill Hodges Trilogy Reading Guide
Recommended order
Read Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, then End of Watch. The trilogy follows one continuous character arc for retired detective Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, Jerome Robinson, and Brady Hartsfield. Finders Keepers introduces a new central case, but its ending and the final novel depend on the first book.
What comes after the trilogy?
The Bill Hodges story concludes in End of Watch. Holly Gibney continues in other Stephen King books, but those belong to a separate sequence. After this trilogy, use the Holly Gibney reading order rather than treating those books as volumes four onward.
Editorial note reviewed July 2026.