You may think of Stephen King as a horror author, but that’s only part of his repertoire. In reality, he’s dabbled in more than just one genre, having written fantasy (Fairy Tale, Eyes of the Dragon) and detective novels (The Bill Hodges Trilogy), not to mention non-fiction about writing and the Boston Red Sox. That’s in addition to many scary stories and novels.
With his latest novel, which is simply titled Holly, Mr. King has returned to the characters he created in the Bill Hodges books, which include Mr. Mercedes, Finder’s Keepers and End of Watch. This story focuses on Holly Gibney — a private detective — who featured within those books, as well as both The Outsider and If It Bleeds. That said, it also includes her living peers and colleagues, including the Robinson siblings and ally Pete Huntley.
Mixing creepiness with real world normality, Holly begins with a bang, as a writer named Jorge Castro is kidnapped during his evening jog. This is done by two senior citizens, who use a non-functioning wheelchair and an equipped van as part of their ruse. Why do they want to abduct people? That, I can’t tell you. I promise it’s well worth finding out, though!
Fast forward to the present day (since Jorge was kidnapped in 2012), and Holly Gibney finds herself caught up in the case of a missing young woman named Bonnie Rae Dahl. Ms. Dahl was last seen at a convenience store not far from a respected college, in the Ohio-based city in which this story takes place. Hired by Bonnie’s mother, Holly is in charge of trying to do what the cops couldn’t, meaning finding the young lady.
Holly is a character study and a missing person story, but it’s also injected with a nice dose of horror. It kept me reading long into the early morning hours, and was something I devoured in 3-4 days. That’s pretty good for me, given that it’s around 450 pages. I’d love to talk more about it, but do not want to risk spoiling anything about this very good book.
I’ll admit: I haven’t read the Bill Hodges Trilogy. I borrowed Mr. Mercedes from the library when it was new, but couldn’t get into it. I hope to read through it soon, though, as I now own two different copies. I did, however, review The Outsider without knowing Holly would be a major player, or that her past would be detailed within. If those books are anywhere close to as good as this one, I’m sure I’ll love them now.
Like all Stephen King books, Holly is very well written, and full of interesting terms, not to mention homages to IT and other books. It’s normal to find errors in first editions of books, but I didn’t notice a single one this time around. It was very well written and edited.
To conclude, while Holly may not be what you’d think of as being a typical Stephen King book, it’s a testament to how talented he is. Nobody can pigeon hole the King of horror, and he’s proven that once again with another fantastic non-horror book. You won’t regret checking this one out!
I was provided with an early retail copy of this book.