Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Holly by Stephen King

14 reviews

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Lesbophobia

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

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

asourceoffiction's review

challenging dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.5

I have found one constant with Stephen King; you know if you pick up one of his books, you're going to be immersed in something. Story, character, world-building. Whatever it is, he draws you in. With this book, it's Holly Gibney.

The Covid times makes everything in Holly's timeline feel a little quieter and more isolated. It's clever, really adds to the creepiness. And it might be weird reading about quarantines, lockdowns and Trump, but I like how King grounds things in real events and this is no different. Recent history will still be history. Perhaps it's a little on the nose, but actually that felt pretty accurate to me (and King addresses it in his Author's Note, which are always worth reading).

What I absolutely love in all of King's books is not just the guaranteed creepiness and tension (the Harrises are brilliant villains!), but the incredible character development outside the horror part of the story. Holly, Jerome and Barbara are all fantastic, almost in spite of the awful crimes they are investigating. They're what gives these stories heart and what had me unable to put it down. I hope there's more Holly in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism