Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Holly by Stephen King

30 reviews

lukerik's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Set during Covid and after the January 6th insurrection.  There’s a fair bit of social commentary on the cultural split America having at the moment.  It’s not a horror novel, there’s no magic in the plot, rather very much Silence-of-the-Lambs-esque, but it is about magic, the little magical things people do.

The baddies are particularly funny.  They have a plan to cheat age involving a bizarre diet that satirizes the supplements industry and this idea that everything will be ok if you just consume more.

King actually says in the afterword that he hopes he’s been fair.  I believe he votes Democrat.  I think he has been fair.  He doesn’t spare Holly.  So it’s the height of Covid, but she’s travelling around meeting people but thinks she’s going to be ok because she’s wearing a mask.

This is the best of the Holly novels so far.  I probably would have 4 starred it, but have just read Rowling’s latest.  These two writers should be served in the opposite order from wine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Police brutality, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, and Classism

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

King has historically been bad at writing female characters and good endings. I’m pleased that this book is a delightful change! 

I just love Holly Gibney and I’m glad King finally realized he could give a female character a full life and her own story. This is Holly’s 6th appearance and finally one where she’s the star 

King’s storytelling skills are on display here— his crime fiction is always a favorite style for me. This is intense and dark and gnarly (seem out CW for specifics because this has a lot of wild content) 

Know going in that this is a DEEPLY pandemic focused book. Covid is hugely a part of the plot and characters and King’s politics are also deeply embedded in the story. Not everyone will like that. I got past it and his author’s note helped. 

One thing that nagged at me (that I eventually worked through while reading) was how King characterizes the villains by having them use slurs. This is not new for him, but it comes off heavy handed for me personally. But I know his writing is read by a broad mass of folks so maybe that’s ok in the long run. At least he’s moved on from “the bad guys are all fat” so “the villains are super racist”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Abortion

asifsyed's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Death

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Terminal illness, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

cannibalism

honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual content

aceofknaves88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Racial slurs, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, and Death of parent

nicole_cob_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

doglady_reads's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

winterlee's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jemmabrown's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I learned a valuable lesson reading this book - read the blurb.

I loved the Mr Mercedes series and really liked the first 2 books in the Finders Keepers series so when I saw this book I probably read the first line of the blurb and that was it. 

As a result I went on a fascinating, dark, mystery ride across American Politics, Literature and attitudes to the pandemic. 

Stephen King winds together so many threads to create a book that leaves you guessing just what will happen next whilst also creating debate on serious social issues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Please be aware there are very graphic descriptions of things that appear in the content warnings. Particularly racism/racial slurs, homophobia/lesaphobia and graphic violence.