Holly by Stephen King, Or: On COVID, Cannibals, and Justine Lupe

I finally decided to suck it up and read Holly. I had heard so many polarizing opinions about this book, mostly centered around how King placed the book in the middle of the COVID pandemic. A smaller debate among devoted audiobook fans is Where did Will Patton go?

As far as the pandemic, I worked through it as a hospital nurse haha I didn’t need to read about it any sooner than this. But I also really like the Holly Gibney character and how Will Patton narrated her throughout her prior appearances.

So here I will discuss:

• 1)My thoughts on the book itself
• 2)How King actually ticked me off, but not for the reason anyone might expect
• 3)Why we don’t switch audiobook narrators

---

My Thoughts

The book itself was a big bag of Stephen King style WTFs and I enjoyed the actual read quite a bit.

It’s hard to get into the plot without spoilers but it was truly dark and disturbing. Holly gets a call about a missing girl and ends up over her head in discovering a serial killer or two …

But is she really over her head? Holly has grown so much as a person and an investigator. She caught threads that no one else saw and started to unravel this case. She reached out for help where appropriate and made me happy, sad, and proud for her along the way.

I liked the subplot of her uncle and his dementia and discovering all the terrible things him and Holly’s mother did to her, both mentally and financially. I’m just so angry for her but also love how she came through and met each new revelation with some kind of dignity and never fell apart.

Also the villains in this one were just 🫣🧟🤦‍♀️I was cringing at their scheme and casual insanity. 80 years old and just an unholy amount of what the fuckery going on 🤣Their chapters had me equal parts terrified and rapt. King loves a bit of WTF and gross mixed in.

All these strings put together with Jerome and his sister back and both now succeeding in their writing careers made this a wonderful book. Would recommend for fans of Holly’s prior books and King’s mystery style.

So how did King tick me off?

I don’t think he did a bad job with the pandemic related things. Obviously he was pro vaccine and pro masking and I could see Holly being one of those people too. I think he showed people on all ends of the spectrum, from those dying to those being terribly cautious.

Now let’s reflect on King’s old book, Misery for a second. He has shown nurses doing some pretty weird and brutal shit before. In a book where he’s supporting pandemic workers though, is he really going to show a nurse giving someone Valium from her “personal stash”? Like yikes, come on, give us a break for once.

Why we don’t switch audiobook narrators

I have seen many conversations about Will Patton’s departure from this book after his prior narration of ALL Holly’s books, including If It Bleeds only a few years prior. Speculation ranges but the general consensus seems to be that switching to a female narrator made sense at this point.

Patton made Holly sound appropriately weird and breathy and to me it was a phenomenal portrayal. I’m gratified to see that many agree. Even though Holly grew and is more functional now, and even though Justine Lupe is playing her in some screen adaptation so it makes even more sense, Holly almost sounds TOO flippant and normal and laughing and casual.

If we all hadn’t come from Patton first, it would probably be a good performance, but maybe she should have listened to the prior audiobook and taken into consideration how Holly has been portrayed 🤷‍♀️

Minus the drastic change though I do like Lupe’s voice and delivery, but when I switched to the written page I was reading in Patton’s voice.

---

Overall, I recommend this one. I can see where King’s politics annoyed and pissed off many people but I’m not holding it against the rest of the book, which was quite good.

I went through the politics and appreciated both the bad guys and the returning characters just the same

---

Bookish Quick Facts:

• Title: Holly
• Author: Stephen King
• Published: Scribner, 2023
• Length: 464 pages
• Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ for fans of Holly Gibney

Here’s the Synopsis

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has Covid. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.

Holly must summon all her formidable talents to outthink and outmaneuver the shockingly twisted professors

_{From Am*zon}

---

Thanks for checking out my book review of Holly by Stephen King. I sampled the audiobook on Libby but own the hardcover as well. As always, all opinions are my own🖤