End of Watch

“The old lady goes back to her paperback (it's Fifty Shades of Grey, and not her first trip through it, from the battered look of the thing.)”

King is known for his detailed characterization and settings. Here, he uses the woman with the paperback to enrich his setting and his fictional world. He employs a strategy of combining unexpected or contradictory traits (old lady/erotic novel) to create a notable character. Hodges’s interaction with the woman also establishes Hodges’s acceptance and appreciation of people and their unexpected quirks. He makes no judgment even to note the unexpectedness of the woman’s choice of reading.

“The text is from Pete Huntley, his old partner when Hodges was on the cops. Pete is now on the verge of pulling the pin himself, hard to believe but true. End of watch is what they call it, but Hodges himself has found it impossible to give up watching.”

This passage introduces and explains the term “End of Watch.” It also foreshadows Hodges’s death. Hodges is unable to lay down his role as a police detective. His own “end of watch” comes only with death.

“[Martine Stover] used to say that being alone after someone you love passes on was the worst kind of paralysis.”

This passage again foreshadows Hodges’s death, which will leave Holly alone. Holly will have to overcome the paralysis that threatens to freeze her when Hodges is gone. Fortunately, Holly has grown enough that she will be able to step into her role as an adult.