'End of Watch' is King of Paste BN's list

Here’s a happy ending for Stephen King’s acclaimed Mr. Mercedes trilogy: the final book, End of Watch (Scribner), lands at No. 1 on Paste BN’s Best-Selling Books list.

(The full list will publish on Thursday.)

This is King’s 18th book to land at No. 1 (Paste BN’s list began in 1993).

Apparently there’s nothing like a gonzo madman — in this case a crazy man behind the wheel — to keep readers returning. As Paste BN’s Brian Truitt said in a 4 (out of four)-star review, “murderous Brady Hartsfield…(has) proven over three books to be one of the author’s creepiest weirdos this side of Pennywise and Jack Torrance.”

The second book in the series, Finders Keepers, also landed at No. 1 at year ago, and Mr. Mercedes hit the list at No. 2 in June 2014 (its highest ranking). The series sees King venturing into noir territory, with retired gumshoe Bill Hodges as its hero. In End of Watch, Brady, in a vegetative state, manages to unleash a killer tablet app.

King has been on a sold-out 12 city tour for his new book, and has been tweeting to thank fans who’ve come out for his events.

A frequent booster of other writers, King also has been recommending titles for summer reading on Twitter, including Emma Cline’s The Girls, Justin Cronin’s The Passage trilogy and “freakin’ EVERYTHING by Sarah Waters.”

And something called End of Watch.