Friday Face-Off is an idea originally thought up by Books By Proxy which I stole from the fantastic The Tattooed Book Geek. The idea originally was to compare UK and US covers based on an assigned theme each week and choose the winning cover. I will be twisting it slightly: not specifically US and UK covers, just different editions.
This weeks’ theme is a cover featuring an umbrella: “The umbrella won’t stop the rain, but it will help you to get out during rainfall.”
I’ve gone for another book from one of my favourite authors that I have yet to read: Mr Mercedes by Stephen King.
Cover A:
Cover B:
Cover C:
Cover D:
Cover E:
And the winner is… COVER A!
Simple and effective in my opinion. The cold blue of the umbrella combined with the vivid red of the bloody rain is ominous and dark. Covers B and D get honourable mentions this time round, running cover A pretty close to the line!
What are your thoughts? Do you agree with my winner, or does one of the others work better for you? Let me know in the comments!
I have managed to run out of themes right now, so unless I come up with something new, I will look at some of last years’ themes to reuse – with all-new covers of course!
Books and Beyond Reviews 
Cover D for me – its subtle and makes me question what, who, how – all things to make me turn over and read the blurb! The others I wouldn’t even give a second look – really interesting the way we are all so different.
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Cover B – what is the significance of the one blue umbrella,? what is the story behind it etc. etc.
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Hi Lynn, I’ve read Mr Mercedes – the blue umbrella is to signify The Blue Umbrella chat site that detective Bill Hodges uses to lure out the Mercedes Killer / the Mercedes Killer contacts Bill Hodges on to taunt him. 🙂
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When I first read Mr Mercedes, it was a library hardback with Cover B – I love how the blue pops with the rest of the monochrome background. However, since buying my own copy, it has Cover C and I think this amplifies the ominous look, not only with the blue / black combination but the fact King’s name is written in blood red definitely makes the cover look more dramatic!
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I prefer Cover B. Ominous and I like that “one thing is not like the others” with the one blue umbrella.
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