Most seeming coincidences can be traced back to origins in specific earlier moments the conjunction of two apparently unrelated or unbelievable events can thus be seen as having an interconnected genesis. Coincidence, however, is not always a matter of mere chance.

This suggests that coincidence, rather than divine intervention, populates King’s tales as a sort of narrative compromise. King himself has noted that he finds it worthless to plan detailed outlines for his novels in advance - the story has to be organic, and any problems that his characters encounter cannot simply be resolved through some sort of deus-ex-machina intervention that would drive the Constant Reader (or, say, Annie Wilkes of Misery) insane. Finally, time takes center stage because coincidence and serendipity combine with metatextual repetition to provide a narrative that gestures beyond cause and effect toward something more strange, elusive, and inexplicable. Time and memory are also vital because this book (and the entire trilogy) relies upon references to King’s earlier writing.

Time is a crucial element here: there is a race against the clock that propels readers to find out if the hero, Bill Hodges, will be able to defeat his nemesis, Brady Hartsfield, before the latter sets off a dangerous chain of events. For instance, the old truism “timing is everything” seems appropriate to End of Watch, not just because it offers a play on the title of the novel, but also because this particular cliché captures the essence of King’s newest book. STEPHEN KING’S newest novel, End of Watch (the last book in the Bill Hodges trilogy), opens with a cliché - “It’s always darkest before the dawn” - and although this might be seen as a tired gesture made by a hack writer who possesses little creativity, clichés do, sometimes, have their place.

Stephen king bill hodges