Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Holly

I! Just! Love! Her! So! Much!
“Holly has come a long way from the shy introvert Bill Hodges met lurking outside a funeral home all those years ago, but that woman still lives inside her and always will. That woman is terrified of being wrong and still believes she is wrong as often as she’s right. It’s a quantum advance from the woman who thought she was always wrong, but the insecurity remains.” ❤️

Yes, the Covid stuff was laid on thick, and it was strange that

Emily introduces Barbara to Olivia

but I could look past all that. Holly and Barbara are really strong, likable characters, and they kept the story going.

I liked the pacing, and how the timelines came together. The book went on a lot of different paths, but they all came together so nicely.

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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

3.75

I was eagerly anticipating listening to this after establishing my appreciation for Holly as a character in the Bill Hodges trilogy, and then the first two books in Holly's trilogy. I am no covid denier or anti-vaxxer, in fact quite the opposite a someone who still routinely masks in 2024, but unfortunately the c o n s t a n t "are ya vaxxed?" "Double!" had even me rolling my eyes hard. That's probably because one of the reasons I read is escapism. I'm already worried enough about covid irl. I'm not worried about elderly cannibal neighbors though - that's the story I'm here for!

It's not that the book was ruined by the frequent mentions of vaxxing, masking, and covid. It was just laid on so thick. The story would have been better served by briefer mentions or letting the reader assume continuity in the characters' behavior. I also felt kinda off about the very black and white, "this person got covid so they died and probably deserved it because they didn't get vaxxed."

Primarily regarding Holly's mother.

Or how the bad guys were staunchly anti-vaxx. Unfortunately(?) reality is much more complicated than that.

An earlier-in-the-pandemic version of myself honestly would probably have appreciated all that, because there was a long chunk of time where it felt uncanny to read or watch anything fictional that didn't mention covid. But this was too much. I also felt like I didn't get enough "oofs" from Holly. She didn't quite seem like herself, but maybe I was just distracted by yet another character encouraging her to unmask because they'd "gotten the jab!"

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rferronetti's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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kfanucchi's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

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rcy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark

3.0

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annieisawesome's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I did not expect this book to be so intense. Ive read a few other King novels in the past, but its been a while so the writing was unexpected.

The plot line was so interesting and kept me going. I didn’t read any of the other books that were adjacent to this one. I’m sure I missed some things, but I didn’t mind much. That doesn’t bother me generally as long as I can still follow the plot. One thing I do have to note is that the over focusing on covid really took me out of the plot. I understand why he wrote covid in, but every time there’d be a part with covid I’d be knocked out of the book and I’d have to put it aside for awhile. Also using covid for the slight amount of plot device felt sloppy.

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Holly is one of my favorite ever King characters, and I hope to see her again. I’ve loved watching her character progression, and while I was crushed when Bill was taken out of the narrative, I can now understand why that was necessary for Holly to become who she is in this book. I’m also relieved she got to where she was with her out of control family. I also love her friendships with Jerome and Barbara, but I feel like they are written with less depth. I would love to see a spinoff just for Barbara, or let’s give them more prominence in the next Holly installment as more than standby supporting characters. Actually, they were fairly active in this one, but I have a begging feeling that they were underutilized.

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occultmorning's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

5.0

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