Finders Keepers

It seems only logical that King's new crime novel, which is linked to the Edgar Award%E2%80%93winning success of 2014's Mr. Mercedes, should reemploy the talents of that thriller's reader, Patton. Here, the actor's deceptively mellow, vaguely Southern delivery helps spin a thrilling yarn that shuffles two tales separated by 35 years. The earlier sections follow Morris Bellamy, a young sociopath so obsessed by the work of long-silent reclusive novelist John Rothstein that he kills him and steals the author's money, along with notebooks containing at least one unpublished novel. The other sections, set in the Midwest in 2010, focus on Pete Stauber, who finds the cash and notes where Morris hid them before his lengthy incarceration for another crime. Both stories converge when Morris is released from prison and arrives in town expecting to find his cache. Though the novel unfolds in third-person narration, King slants each chapter toward its featured player, and Patton adds an appropriate attitude. For example, he reads the chapters focused on Morris with a sort of grim determination laced with anger. The Pete chapters have a halting quality that reflects the teen's suspicious nature and lack of self-confidence. The chapters devoted to Drew Halliday, a crooked book dealer, are given a smarmy air of extreme self-satisfaction. The bottom line is that King has added another superb novel of suspense to his ever-increasing list, and Patton's inventive interpretations make it a must-hear audio. A Scribner hardcover. (June)