Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Holly by Stephen King

40 reviews

elsebeok's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Torture, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Gore, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rferronetti's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pandemic/Epidemic

viks0_0's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I’m always here for any Stephen King book and especially a Holly book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Racism, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

abbysingh's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Vomit, and Pandemic/Epidemic

camischroeder's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Torture, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Stalking

annieisawesome's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Police brutality, Dementia, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Lesbophobia

fkshg8465's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mainereading's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

Holly is one of my favorite Stephen King characters, and I’m so glad he wrote a book with her as the main character. I really missed reading about her and Jerome. This was a fun read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Abortion, and Alcohol

trinammorris's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense fast-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? No

4.25

This is traditional Stephen King. Horrible & Wonderful all at the same time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

joyce_porter's review against another edition

adventurous 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

I love Holly Gibney so much. She is one of my favorite literary characters. I can't thank Stephen King enough for her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Pandemic/Epidemic