Ratings163
Average rating3.9
Mixed feelings about this book. I like the titular character as it's great to have leading PI's who are neuro-diverse (see the great "IQ" series of novels for another engaging character.) I like her backstory which I learned from the three Bill Hodges novels. I'd not read the other, more recent, series in which Holly and Barbara Robinson appear. And I don't think I will read it now as there's quite a few references which apparently spoil the climax in at least one of those novels. On the negative side, I don't like mysteries where the identity of the villain(s) is immediately known by the reader. While this gave intense insight in to their heads in this instance, I feel much more suspense could have been built. And then there's the cannibalism - which doesn't remain a mystery for long either. I think it was handled mostly tastefully (pun intended) - except for one scene late in the book which involves lines drawn by a sharpie - which was jaw-dropping for me. Lastly, the "twist" which leads to the climax was telegraphed a mile away. NOTE- I was disappointed in the audio version of this novel. I'd listened to the outstanding reader for the three Bill Hodges novels. Although Holly was a secondary character, he gave her a voice which illuminated her uniqueness. While having a female reader for "Holly" makes sense, I thought she gave Holly a flat, uninteresting and often tough to listen to voice. Overall, a good, mostly engaging story, but lacking in a few key areas.
Qualifying note: I did listen to this instead of reading it. Not that I think that makes any real difference in this case but alas.
This book is AWFUL. There are a gazillion mentions of masks and covid and two seconds spent on plot. There are somehow no meaningful storylines going on and too many storylines going on. It is an absolute mess and holly is a terrible detective. She is consistently infuriating and hypocritical. I never read the previous books so I didn't have any real background on her before but my god she was insufferable. She would never shut up about covid yet was seemingly perfectly fine staying in motel after motel without any stress. The ending of this book really encapsulates all of her problems with the fact that she repeatedly claims to know better and to not “hide behind the chainsaws” yet she does so the moment the opportunity presents itself. Even if you were concerned about not telling anybody before hand in case you were wrong and looked stupid set up a god damn scheduled send email in case something goes wrong and even you are wrong you can still stop the send before it goes out. She is just incredibly stupid and incredibly lucky and the book tries to paint her as some kind of genius detective. I wont even get into the whole shit with barbara and her stupid poetry side plot. Literally only in the book so she can somehow piece the story together and go save holly when holly is dumb enough to get herself caught. If holly had any brain cells she would not have been caught and barbaras story would not be needed which takes up an insane amount of the ending of the book. Now for actual plot the story starts off exciting and mysterious but reveals WAY too early what the harrises were up to with their whole cannibal shit. Which just made the rest of the book dragggggg not to mention the whole notion of eating the young to regain youth is not particularly original or clever. I could not recommend this book less. Never read it. Ever.
DNF for now. I will come back to this, but might start with the beginning of the arc (picked it at random without realizing it's a continuation) or at least save it for summer. Too dark for winter reading.
Another Holly Gibney adventure... Very different in terms of vibes when compared to Mr. Mercedes & The Outsider. This book is more campy and humorous. Sometimes the covid and vaccine references were really odd, but King has always had an “ADHD” style of writing, so I didn't really care.
Holly Gibney returns to solve another compelling crime. Holly is a remarkable character but just doesn’t carry the book for me. The main plot point is far fetched for a crime novel. The horror aspects are unsettling at times but aren’t very haunting.
A decent book but not one of King’s best.
Best one yet. Okay this is by FAR my favorite story that Holly has been a part of. I've read the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, The Outsider and If It Bleeds, and everything about this one made me love Holly even more. My favorite storyline thus far. HUGE downfall that ended up kicking my rating down—all the Trump bashing and COVID bullshit. I get what he was trying to do and how he was trying to portray for Holly but I personally feel he let his own beliefs slip through the cracks a little bit and it was just distasteful in my opinion. Had there been less of that, it would have been an easy 5⭐️ for me and probably my favorite book of the year so far. Will still highly recommend.
The worst of the Holly series. The storyline was long and drawn out with useless filler. Thoroughly disappointed. Lets also talk about how much COVID crap is in it. So tired of people discussing which vaccine they got, if and when they got vaccinated and talking about wearing a mask. Nothing but filler that doesn't add to the story. Same goes for all of the political talk about Trump, trumpers, the so called “insurrection” and more! This is one of the slowest SK story I've ever read. I really enjoyed all of the prior novels that included Holly. This one? Just don't.
Probably the most political book that had little to do with politics I've ever read from King. Mired in Covid and recovering from Trump, the time period here was depressing. But the story itself was tense and full of near misses. I was glad we weren't going to read about another Outsider.
I was generous with my 3rd star because it's my fault for not realizing this was the end of a trilogy even if they're also “stand alone books”
I hated the pandering wokeness, the story wasn't nearly focused enough on the horror aspect for my taste
Holly was a pleasant yet weird experience, to say the least.
I define it as weird because I lack a better word for describing how engaged and immersed I felt while reading this book. I usually can’t remember most characters of a book by the time I finish it because most simply don’t matter or aren’t explored well enough for me to care but during Holly I felt strongly for their pains, celebrations and even sadness. In terms of character development this is probably one of the best books I’ve read and I’ll definitely read the other books.
I saw lots of complains about too many mentions of COVID and politics but that felt more like additional context and insight on their personalities.
Overall a very good read and possibly a good (soft) introduction to Stephen King.
Mijn laatste boek van 2023. Eigenlijk komt het er op neer dat ik onwijs kan genieten van de boeken van Stephen King. Wetende dat hij al 76 jaar is en daarmee al ruim 50 jaar schrijft is ongekend. Holly is een ware horror/thriller dat vakkundig in elkaar is gezet. Thema's als racisme, kannibalisme, covid, ouderdomskwalen. Het zit er in en wordt goed met elkaar verbonden. Soms heb ik wel de typische King-Spanning wat gemist. Maar als je bekijkt hoe King dit boek verbind met de andere boeken gerelateerd aan Holly (het karakter), dan is dat gewoon subliem. Ik hoop dat mr. King nog lang ons mag voorzien ik goede verhalen.
2.5/5 stars
I made a mistake of reading this book before any of the other books in the series. Not sure how much it affected my reading experience but I'm not sure if I am motivated enough to pick it up the other books.
This was an okay book at the start. I thought that it was nice to include more current matters and how it affected families. That soon got gating as it was consistently getting mentioned. This book has an unusual format in which the dates are given. I'm not good at remembering dates so I have to kept checking what date I was currently at and try to piece together the timeline. This may just be a me thing because the person who recommended this book liked it due to he format.
The ending was ok but it wasn't enough for me to give it three stars.there parts I loved but for the majority of the book I felt bored or felt thatbi could've skipoed it.
This books follows Holly Gibney who has made appearances in several of Kings other books. Don't hold me to this but I think she first appeared in the Bill Hodges trilogy which I have yet to read but I have read the other books that she's in. I do enjoy her character overall but this book was just ok to me.
I don't really have a whole lot to say about this book. I liked Holly as well as the majority of the characters that make appearances except for the ones you aren't meant to like of course. I don't know if I am just getting burnt out on King or what but while I was intrigued enough to want to finish it it also didn't have me gripped the whole way through and it got to the point for me where I was just wanting it to hurry up and be over with.
If you are interested in this book I highly recommend you take my review with a grain of salt and maybe read others reviews because I seem to be in the minority I also always recommend you read something you are interested in even if it didn't work for me completely.
Interesting story that was drug out way to long in order to include all of Mr. King's “woke” talking points. Driving while black, abortion, cops not caring about blacks, COVID, vaccines, Trump, etc...
Stephen King, a literary maestro in the horror genre, has once again woven a tale that leaves readers with mixed feelings in his latest novel, ‘Holly.' Finishing the book a week ago, I hesitated to rush my opinion, hoping that my initial distaste would evolve into appreciation. Upon reflection, I acknowledge its merits, yet I find myself categorizing it in the bottom tier of King's extensive bibliography.
Clocking in at 449 pages, ‘Holly' is a mosaic of words, a literary hodgepodge that, for me, elicits both enjoyment and dissatisfaction. The surprising number of enthusiasts, both readers and critics, caught me off guard, as I struggle to place this novel among King's best works. However, I recognize the subjective nature of reading preferences; what doesn't resonate with me might strike a chord with others.
The central character, Holly, fails to capture my sympathy. While I can navigate narratives with unconventional protagonists, Holly feels more like a writer's creation than an authentic individual. Her perceived quirkiness comes off as contrived, and her judgmental demeanor proves off-putting. Unfortunately, the artificial suspense King builds by withholding crucial information from Holly's knowledge circle becomes a major stumbling block for me, leading to genuine frustration.
Despite my reservations, I remain a devoted Stephen King reader, having devoured every piece of his extensive body of work. ‘Fairy Tale' stands out as a personal favorite, a testament to King's unparalleled storytelling prowess. However, ‘Holly' doesn't join the ranks of my cherished reads, and the prospect of a revisit seems unlikely. Still, the loyalty to King's craft compels me to anticipate and explore any future works, even if Holly returns as the lead.
In essence, ‘Holly' disappoints, reminiscent of a puppet show where the strings are too conspicuous to ignore. King's attempt at cleverly building suspense comes across as contrived and manipulative, overshadowing any potential enjoyment. Despite my reservations, I encourage readers to form their own opinions by delving into the narrative, as taste in literature is inherently personal. Click the link below to explore ‘Holly' and decide for yourself, for the beauty of literature lies in its subjectivity.
Holly is one of the prominent recurring characters in King's books. Hollyberry is neurotic and inventive. She now takes center stage with a book that bears her name as the title. By the way, do not read this book if you don't want spoilers for the Bill Hodges trilogy, The Outsider, and If It Bleeds.
Stephen King actually employs the same setup as in Mr. Mercedes; the reader delves into the minds of both the ‘perpetrators' and the detective. It is absolutely not a who-dunnit. Everything is known from the first page. The cat-and-mouse game in Mr. Mercedes is better developed than in this book, but the right pace keeps your attention. The bad guys are an elderly couple. Both academics, which is a refreshing dynamic. And for the first time in a long while, I felt slightly nauseous reading certain passages. It's not true horror, but sometimes you just have to switch off your imagination...
This book is set in 2021, during the COVID period. King has a clear opinion on COVID, political policies, especially Trump, and vaccinations. Some readers may find this bothersome. Not me. If Stephen King wants to express his opinion (and to some, he may come off as preachy), he's entitled to do so in his own books. The theme is clearly present but, for me, doesn't overshadow the story. King is engaged, and I can only appreciate that.
Outside of the COVID theme, this is a fairly typical King book in terms of tension, pace, and size. In that regard, he doesn't surpass himself with this book, but the question is whether he needs to when he has published more than 75 books and still produces a bestseller every year. King's writing style is smooth, and it reads like a train.
4 stars
Finally had some time to come back and leave some thoughts. I absolutely love Holly Gibney as a character. She's one of the best characters Mr. King has created in recent memory. You can tell he thinks so too, since she has evolved from a supporting character in the Bill Hodges Trilogy and the [b:The Outsider 36124936 The Outsider Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524596540l/36124936.SY75.jpg 57566471] to being the protagonist in first a novella ([b:If It Bleeds 46015758 If It Bleeds Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571399830l/46015758.SY75.jpg 70552618]) and now a full novel.I found this book uneven. There were parts where I was really engaged and wanted to keep listening, but there were others where my attention started to wander.This is also set during covid. That's somewhat important to the plot, but not really that important in my opinion. Mr. King has an author note about how If It Bleeds should have covid in it too, but doesn't because he wrote it before we knew about covid. Personally I think that's part of why I liked that novella better.I read as recreation/an escape. I prefer not to have to be reminded of that stuff. For me that impacted my overall enjoyment of the book.Overall I'd give this 3.5 stars. I liked it, but not as much as past stories with her. I found it slow at times, and the case/mystery just wasn't as interesting to me as some of the others.I hope we get another Holly Gibney story though, because I really love her and the supporting characters (the Robinsons mainly) and I've enjoyed having some mystery/thriller books to consume in between all the fantasy and sci-fi I typically read.With regards to the audio. As strange as it sounds, I missed Will Patton. He was a great fit for the other novels. I got used to his Holly voice. He's narrated all the previous Holly Gibney stories, including the novella, so the change of narrator caught me off guard. That said, if you're going to replace him with a more appropriate female narrator, picking one of the two actresses to portray her on TV is a good choice.I think Justine Lupe does a good job, although it's been a few years since I watched the Mr. Mercedes TV show, so I didn't really recall her portrayal of the character very well. Once I got used to the narration swap, I enjoyed it. I hope that they keep her for any future Holly stories for consistency, because I really hate when narrators change for series/characters.
I really enjoyed this book and I wasn't disappointed with his ending. I think it is a must read for King fans.
Loved this, the narration was chef's kiss! Without it I'd prob rate the story at 4 stars. This was great for King though, amazing well conceived characters, a plot that at the best of time was inconceivable and at the worst stomach churning. Kept me wanting more, so what more could I ask for? Next please!
I enjoyed this book! The mystery aspect was interesting and King creates such fleshed out characters. It isn't at the top of my Stephen King list, but it was a good read.
I wish I could give it 3.5. It was good I enjoyed it. I love Holly in all previous books. I don't really know if this one stayed true to her exactly. There was an overwhelming amount of COVID related content, which I think fits in her personality, but it also got old. Definitely worth the read. Not the same level as the Mr. Mercedes Trilogy, but a worthwhile read, nonetheless.
I wouldn't describe myself as Stephen King's number one fan, but I have certainly enjoyed his books since the spotty, teenaged me picked up Carrie for the first time, and discovered a whole other level to PMS.
I first made the acquaintance of Holly in King's Mr. Mercedes. She didn't make a huge impression on me, but she wasn't really a central character then.
I came to know her a little better in subsequent books, and I came to like her.
Holly finally got her own book, unsurprisingly called Holly, and this is where her character finally fleshed out. (Anyone who has read the book, please excuse the almost pun.)
Holly is not the best King book I have read to date, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It engaged me, and I was annoyed every time I had to put it down and join the real world. That's the mark of a good book for me.
There's a lot of politics going on in the background, not to mention Covid. Maybe a bit too much, but I don't see this as soapboxing, as some have done. This was the political climate at the time the story was set, and there was a pandemic going on. I think the book would have lost something if Mr. King had decided these things had never happened.
Politics and Covid aside, Holly is a pretty good read.