A review by catherine_t
Holly by Stephen King

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is a real corker! Positively edge-of-your-seat reading! Holly Gibney, owner of Finders Keepers Investigations, is hired by Penny Dahl to find her missing daughter. Bonnie disappeared three weeks ago. Penny is adamant that Bonnie didn't just leave of her own accord: she had a job she loved, plenty of friends, and her own apartment. True, she'd just broken up with her boyfriend, but he was a loser, so it was all good. Penny admits that she and Bonnie had argued before the girl's disappearance, but it was nothing.

As Holly begins to look into Bonnie's disappearance, she discovers other people have gone missing: 11-year-old Peter "Stinky" Steinman, three years earlier; Cary Dressler, stoner but all-around good guy, three years before that; and Ellen Craslow, a few months before Peter Steinman. It doesn't look like a serial killer--the victims, if that's what they are, are too different, for one thing--but Holly begins to think that the missing persons are connected. As she digs deeper, she'll uncover a horror unlike anything she's ever faced.

I'm a die-hard Stephen King fan, but on top of that, I love Holly Gibney. She started, as King says, as a walk-on character in Mr. Mercedes, but she grew to be so much more. I think she's one of the best characters King has ever written; she's definitely in my top five. If you've read any of the previous books with Holly in them, you have to read this one. Even if you haven't, read this book.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings