Holly by Stephen King is a dark, mind-bending mystery that had me from the very first page. Another addition to the Holly Gibney story, Holly is grounded and psychologically disturbing, weaving a tale that feels eerily real as it deals heavily with the global pandemic we all were touched by.
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.
While I should up for another mystery solved by Gibney, I was enthralled by the story crafted by Stephen King. Holly sets itself apart not only from other stories in the Holly Gibney series, but apart from other novels with how it embraces the COVID-19 pandemic not as a passing reference, but as an integral part of the narrative. Like in real life, King doesn’t shy away from the realities of lockdown, grief, denial, and the social discourse that bubbled to the surface during that time. It made the novel have a real authentic to it–even raw at times.
Holly’s experience with the pandemic in the novel mostly mirrors so much of what we all endured over the years we spent masking, locked down, social distancing, and even dealing with death. Seeing these familiar anxieties and situations played out in fiction added a powerful layer of impact and even horror to the story. While there are some readers who may baulk at King’s handing of pandemic-era politics and opinions, it truly adds to the overall story at hand as King weaves these elements in a deliberate and effective way.
Of course the pandemic only plays a part in this next chapter of the Holly Gibney story, at the heart of the novel is Gibney herself. King continues to grow her character with each passing tale with a sense of nuance and care. She has grown from the quirky character we first meet in Mr. Mercedes to her own novel and we have been along for this journey. In this novel we witness more courage, intellect, and emotional depth in new ways. This book is truly a rewarding next installment in the private investigator’s journey and if you weren’t a fan of hers before reading this book, you should be now.
Holly is outstanding return to the character for Stephen King. It’s an unsettling, mysterious, thought-provoking, and timely thriller that blends real-world horrors with a trademark King character that strikes a cord. King has done it again.
Holly is available at bookstores everywhere from Scribner. The audiobook, narrated by Justine Lupe, is available at Libro.fm!
