WINNER of Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Horror (2023)
Stephen King’s most recent book, Holly, centres on Holly Gibney, one of his most well-known and fascinating characters. She encounters two terrible new adversaries in this book: two elderly serial killers who kidnap and torture their victims in their basement.
“Old age is a time of casting away, which is bad enough, but it’s also a time of escalating indignities.”
Although King is best recognised for his mastery of the horror genre, this book also demonstrates his talent as a crime writer. He crafts an engrossing and compelling storyline that switches between Holly’s inquiry and the murderers’ and their prisoners’ points of view.
“Holly knows this is how addicts think and behave: they rearrange the furniture of their lives to make room for their bad habits.”
Everyone who follows Stephen King on social media is very aware of his opinion about (President) Donald Trump and the current state of “Red” America.
“And booster vaccines are coming. First for people with bad immune systems and people over sixty-five, but I’m hearing at school that by fall it’ll be everyone.’ ‘That sounds right,’ Holly says. ‘And bonus! Trump’s gone.’ Leaving behind a country at war with itself, Holly thinks. And who’s to say he won’t reappear in 2024? She thinks of Arnie’s promise from The Terminator: ‘I’ll be back.”
Reading this book makes it even more obvious; consistent mention is made of Trump and COVID-19, with not-so-thinly-veiled criticism.
“Here is another relationship chilled by the fast-talking man in the red tie. It’s not fate and not coincidence”
Is it all too much? Is Mr. King using this book as another platform to air his personal views and frustrations? Maybe. Does it bother me personally? Not at all. Along with the social and political concerns of the pandemic era, he also delves into the themes of justice, mourning, loyalty, and courage.
A fascinating and multifaceted character, Holly battles both the evil she comes into contact with at work and her own inner issues. She is resourceful, ethical, brilliant, and driven, yet she’s also awkward, lonely, and vulnerable. Because she endures unspeakable tragedies and puts her life in danger to save others, readers can relate to and root for her.
The book is not for the weak of heart since it includes gory details of torture and violence along with unsettling psychological insights into the perpetrators’ thoughts.
“They watch TV and have their dessert, spooning up a mixture of raspberry sorbet and Peter Steinman’s brains.”
While King does not hold back when exposing the twisted and horrific side of human wickedness, he also provides brief moments of redemption and hope.
“…there’s no more exquisite torture than hope.”
And humour:
“No Miss America, but she was a prom queen back in high school. And nobody dumped a bucket of blood on her, either.”
The book Holly will have you gripped from start to finish and will teach you the value of good triumphing over evil. As mentioned previously, although Holly appears in two of Mr. King’s previous books, first reading those will give you a bit more of Holly’s backstory, but it didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of this book!
Thank you to Exclusive Books for this review copy.
