The holiday season is upon us. It’s time for giving and receiving, and what better way to get into the spirit than with gifting some good books. And this year, there’s plenty of selections to choose from for fans of properties like Star Wars, Star Trek, Labyrinth, and the movies of Guillermo del Toro, as well as titles by authors like Stephen King, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, Roger Zelazny, and Greg Cox.
Check out here below our Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2016 for Books, eBooks, and Audiobooks for our favorite holiday gift picks for this year for the reader in your life.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for the Bill Hodges Trilogy – Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch.
In 2009, a suicide obsessed killer drove a Mercedes-Benz through a crowd of unemployed, waiting for a job fair to open up, murdering and maiming as many as he could. Retired cop Bill Hodges obsessed about catching “Mr. Mercedes,” cannot stop the chase. With the help of a young boy and a a woman with “graying hair and the face of a neurotic teenager,” the trio managed to put the killer, Brady Hartsfield, down and in a coma. Mr. Mercedes was riveting excitement on every page. Finders Keepers, puts Hartsfield’s story on hold as Hodges, Jerome, and Holly reunite to save a boy from an author-obsessed lunatic killer. Although it strayed from the first novel, the connecting tendrils satisfied that basic reader need. Now, in End of Watch, Brady Hartsfield is awake and plotting, and it’s up to Hodges and the gang to stop him.
A few spoilers from End of Watch by Stephen King below.
End Of Watch Netflix | Amazon | Hitbliss | iTunes | SEN | Vudu | Xbox DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by David Ayer
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Natalie Martinez
Open Road Films
Originally Released: September 8, 2012
Essentially a "brothers-in-arms" tale, End of Watch tells a mesmerizing story that examines a period in the life of two LAPD cops that holds no punches and brings forth a solid reflection of contemporary issues. Coupled with some unique filming combinations and crisp appearance, the movie is gritty and compelling and will become a benchmark for cop movies in years to come.
Two LAPD partners, beat cops in cruisers, work the streets of the urban landscape of Los Angeles. The story follows the policing and personal lives of Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Peña), as they begin documenting their own work through personal cameras while enforcing the law.
If Training Day, Dark Blue, and The Shield have taught us anything, it’s that every city has its dark pockets or places you just don’t go to. So with David Ayer‘s End of Watch, we get to see how dark and gritty these pockets can be. The filming style resembles a documentary of sorts, with the shaky cam being a constant presence during chase scenes and with the way that actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena address the camera. Check out the red band trailer below.
The violent tone shouldn’t be new to anyone who has watched the aforementioned films or television shows. Plus, Ayer directed both Training Day and Dark Blue, but the documentary style film shoot brings an exciting new element to these cop dramas. Think of it as the raw uncut footage from COPS.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press