I don’t think anybody who first encountered Holly Gibney back in Stephen King’s 2014 novel Mr. Mercedes could have anticipated just how enamoured the author would become with the character. However, with all of her quirks, both subtle and obvious, over the ensuing decade, King has found himself returning to Holly again and again; in Finders Keepers and End of Watch, the concluding books in what’s now known as The Bill Hodges Trilogy; in King’s 2020 novel The Outsider and in the novella ‘If It Bleeds’ from the book of the same name, released the same year; and now, as the star of her own self-titled novel.
In Holly, the titular character investigates the disappearance of a missing woman and unravels what appears to be the work of a serial killer. We soon find out that it’s actually killers, who have developed quite a taste for their misdeeds.
The book is set during the pandemic, which depending on your mentality may either be too fresh and not escapist enough, or right on the money and in the moment. King’s lefty politics are well on display, and his narrative voice takes jabs at those that have passed on taking the jab, along with the all the MAGA-hat wearing Trump supporters out there. Some have suggested this tone takes away Holly, and that reading it often feels like the book is Stephen King’s Twitter feed taken narrative shape; I can absolutely see the point. While I was reading, the author’s politics were unmissable, but because they also tie in with the system of beliefs that belong to Holly Gibney, I wasn’t bothered by the blatant liberal slant (it probably helps that I lean left as well.)
That observation aside, I found myself thoroughly enjoying Holly as I read it, and eager to see how she would solve the crime(s) she was uncovering. Though there’s a solid supporting cast, including familiar faces in Jerome and Barbara Robinson, who both have their own journeys throughout the novel.
If you’re not enamoured with the character of Holly Gibney, you may not necessarily want to jump into a story focused entirely on her, and if you’re unfamiliar with the character and her past, you’ll likely not get nearly as much out of Holly as I did. However, as a longtime Constant Reader, I found myself immediately and consistently engaged with the book. Perhaps because it felt different from King’s last book, the massive Fairy Tale, which was the fantasy side of the author come out to play. Holly is far closer to the first two books in The Bill Hodges Trilogy, in that it’s far more a piece of detective fiction than anything supernatural.
Holly is available now from Simon & Schuster.
