Spoilers ahead
For those who, like me, were drawn in by the enticing summary and cover of Stephen King’s Holly expecting a riveting mystery whodunnit, prepare for disappointment — the element of mystery was noticeably lacking. Instead, King delves into the life of Holly, the main protagonist.
Holly, who first appears in Mr. Mercedes, also shows up in Finders Keepers and The Outsider*, a few of King’s earlier novels. In Holly, she runs a detective agency, using her skills to tackle tricky cases. Holly Gibney is a determined character who confronts challenges fearlessly and is driven by the strong desire to protect the vulnerable. Her journey reveals both her intelligence and emotional depth as she navigates her insecurities and traumas. During an investigation, Holly’s friend and co-worker Bonnie goes missing, leaving Holly to set aside other work to search for her. Really, Holly uses her search for Bonnie as a way to cope with her mother’s death. But what starts as a distraction quickly spirals into an all-consuming obsession, leading Holly down a dark path where the lines between right and wrong become increasingly blurred.
As the investigation advances, it’s clear that the case is more complicated than Holly expected, making things truly tough for her. The investigation was complex and all the clues put forth seemed to lead Holly into different directions. Then all the shocking revelations and finding out the true motives of our antagonists made this even more hard to digest. Holly also struggles with her mental health and carries heavy emotional baggage, which clouds her judgement and aids to the complexity. Toward the end, Holly encounters unexpected twists, including the revelation of the true motives behind the crimes, which complicate the case further, while deepening the stakes for Holly to find Bonnie as soon as possible.
As Holly navigates these challenges, the nature of the antagonists comes into play, affecting the overall tension of the story. The antagonists, Rody and Emily, are unveiled too early on as cannibals, which should have been a shock, but felt almost cartoonish. Their justification for their horrific actions — kidnapping and consuming others — was all in the name of a twisted logic to keep themselves young. Which was a bit too far-fetched for my taste, and lacked the complexity often found in King’s usual villains. There wasn’t any grounding, and felt like it was added to the book for shock value, but ultimately failed to keep readers intrigued.
I wasn’t particularly drawn to the slow unravelling of the mystery; it caused me to start losing interest. A book like this should be fast-paced, leaving the readers on the edge of their seats. A more lively plot would’ve helped make Holly a more gripping read.
King’s work has evolved over the years, with his earlier books often providing an escape into supernatural horror. Now King tries to incorporate more realistic settings and characters, which, for me at least, reduces the escapism factor. Holly, being one of his newer books, blends real-world issues with horror, making the suspense feel more immediate. But for me, this defeats the purpose of reading a book; I read books so I can escape reality and be able to think freely and creatively. When there’s that intense suspense, it pulls me in and makes it hard to relax or let my imagination wander. Instead of escaping, I find myself stuck in this tension, which takes away from the joy of losing myself in a story and reducing the chance to live those thousand lives that reading is meant to offer.
A line from Holly that has stuck with me is: “There’s no more exquisite torture than hope.” This line holds so much weight to me; it’s almost like the heart is too broken to beat but is still responsive to the bittersweet sound of hope. I have had many dreams, and I’ve had dreams taken away from me; what made it more painful is having that glimmer of hope, that one “what if” that kept me going. In the end, that hope turned into a constant reminder of what could have been. It is torture because it’s so intimately connected within me. It’s the lover who whispers sweet sayings and awakens love in someone with no intention of loving them. It’s the belief that time heals all wounds — but what happens to the scars left behind by hope? It’s like the second chance everyone longs for but doesn’t realize is just another dead end.
If you’re after a classic whodunnit, this isn’t it. But if you’re interested in diving into the psychological mess of the main character, you’ll find a dark and twisted journey in Holly.
