Book Review: Holly Has Someone to Find And Has To Play For Keeps

Stephen King continues his literary reign of terror in Holly, which was first published in 2023. King revisits a character who was first introduced in what is known as the Bill Hodges trilogy which began with Mr. Mercedes.

Holly Gibney has inherited the Finders Keepers Detective Agency from her friend and mentor, Bill Hodges. She is coping with her mother’s death from COVID and learns some troubling secrets that were kept from her. A desperate mother has shown up at her office and wants to hire her to locate her missing daughter. The investigation places Holly on a collision course with two very old, very strange professors with horrific appetites. Rodney and Emily Harris are trying to stave off the consequences and ravages of old age and are testing out some troubling theories to do just that. Holly has already faced down some monstrous killers, but the Harrises may indeed the most horrific of the bunch.

King has indicated a deep affection for this character and is featuring her in an upcoming novel. I am, not quite as enamored with this one at first, but as the confrontation with the Harrises comes to a head, King still has me rooting for her. I had some trouble staying interested in this one for a while, however I got a bit more engage when Holly picks up their trail, and it was becoming clearer as to what the Harrises were actually doing.

King does make some of his political leanings a bit more obvious than I remember him doing in previous works, so that was also a little distracting. I, of course, know he and I would disagree sharply on many issues including decisions made during the COVID lockdowns, but I do believe him to be a talented and interesting writer.

King is good enough to keep me from actually hating his novels, and Holly herself shows some grit that I ended up ultimately respecting.

I don’t consider this to be one of King’s greatest efforts, but the climax of the story was just exciting enough to keep me from hating it. There is even some hope that I will end up liking Holly Gibney a bit more if I decide to read her next adventure.

So, the unending literary journey continues with a more recent voice as I return to the imagination of Freida McFadden through the pages of Never Lie.