Holly

You may recall that I randomly picked up Stephen King's The Outsider to read last winter, unaware that Holly Gibney, one of my favorite King protagonists of recent years, was part of the story. Even better, once I reviewed the novel, I was told that Holly would star in her own book later this year.

Well, that time is now and I was looking forward to finding out what the author had in store for her. You may have heard some of the noise caused by Trump's supporters and anti-vaxxers, most of them giving Holly 1-star ratings on Goodreads and elsewhere. Given that the plot takes place during the pandemic and that her mother just died of Covid, it's no surprise that Holly, anxious and hypochondriac to boot, would wear a mask, wash and/or disinfect her hands often, greet you with an elbow, and have little love for the anti-vaccination movement. Apparently, some readers had a problem with that. Even though it fits perfectly with Holly's character.

Here's the blurb:

Stephen King’s Holly marks the triumphant return of beloved King character Holly Gibney. Readers have witnessed Holly’s gradual transformation from a shy (but also brave and ethical) recluse in Mr. Mercedes to Bill Hodges’s partner in Finders Keepers to a full-fledged, smart, and occasionally tough private detective in The Outsider. In King’s new novel, Holly is on her own, and up against a pair of unimaginably depraved and brilliantly disguised adversaries.

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors in this chilling new masterwork from Stephen King.

While The Outsider worked well as a standalone, the same cannot be said of Holly. Events featured in the novella If It Bleeds are referred to, yet it's not necessary to have read it. But you must read the Bill Hodges trilogy to fully understand what's going on. Not just for knowing more about Holly's background, which in turn gives you more insight into her character. No, it's important to have witnessed Holly's evolution to appreciate how far along she's come since we were first introduced to her in that series. It's also important to understand the relationships between Holly and the supporting cast for the plot to make sense. Hence, even though you might be temped to give Holly a shot, please refrain from doing so unless you're up to date with her back story.

For the most part, Holly reads like a murder mystery/police procedural. There are no paranormal elements underpinning this tale, which was also the case with Mr. Mercedes. But since the supernatural invited itself later in the trilogy, as well as in The Outsider and If It Bleeds, I was expecting something along those lines to occur in this book too. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Professors Rodney and Emily Harris are just messed-up nutjobs experimenting with cannibalism.

I particularly enjoyed how Holly takes center stage in this novel. With her strengths, and especially with her weaknesses, Holly remains an incredibly endearing main protagonist. Her mother's death and what she bequeathed to her daughter in her will affect Holly as she investigates Bonnie Dahl's disappearance. She's forced to do this alone, for her partner Pete came down with Covid. Even as she connects the dot, Holly is reticent to involve Izzy on the case and wants to wait till she knows more. Jerome is in New York City signing a book deal and Barbara is now writing poems. Investigating on her own will put Holly in grave danger, and this time there might be no coming back. I must admit that I kept wondering about Barbara's storyline, which seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the plot until almost the very end, but King wrapped everything up in unexpected fashion.

Even if Holly was in the spotlight, I feel that too much limelight was given to both Jerome and Barbara. I'm aware that they've been part of everything that occurred thus far, but at some point they need to somewhat fade in the background and Holly must stand on her own. Given the ending of the novel, the door is left open for more Finders-Keepers investigations. So here's to hoping that we'll see more of Holly in the near future.

Because as Holly has come to realize: Just when you think you’ve seen the worst human beings have to offer, there’s no end to evil.

The final verdict: 8/10

For more info about this title, follow this Amazon Associate link.