"Holly" by Stephen King

Holly by Stephen King
FIVE STARS!
FEB. 2024

I am always thrilled and equally skittish about diving into a Stephen King novel. Why? Because there is always a fair amount of darkness and macabre. What gets me through those rough patches is King’s characters and story telling. I respect the craft so much, I tolerate parts of a storyline to enjoy the author’s undisputed talent. Character Holly Gibney, was featured in two earlier novels but is center stage as the protagonist of King’s newest publication. Confidence and self-love is a long time coming for Holly, after growing up with a mother who manipulated and abused her trust. The ripple effect of her mother’s influence bleeds into everything that Holly thinks she isn’t. When Holly becomes part of the Finders Keepers detective agency she gradually is able to break from her restrictive existence. Holly is a smart detective and accepts a case to find a missing young woman in a Midwestern college town. Holly is surprised when the investigation leads her to the doorstep of a retired college professor couple. As a reader I always enjoy the seamless and intriguing style of King’s story weaving. Holly’s search for answers follows a masterful flow reaching the crescendo in a satisfying way. Every chapter brings the reader closer to Holly as she grapples with her insecurities but perseveres despite of them. I found myself cheering for Holly and holding my breath as she walks directly into danger to solve the crime. ~Kim Luke

Book Blurb~
Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

“Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.” — BILL HODGES

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.

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