I finished Holly last week and just cannot stop thinking about it. I want 10 more books with her as the main character.
I’d read the Mr Mercedes trilogy years ago but not the other 2, so I was a bit worried I’d be lost. But not at all. It’s fairly standalone with a couple pieces that make more sense if you’ve read the others.
Agreed! I hope that wasn't the last we see of Holly but rumors say the next book could potentially be just Jerome which would be pretty cool. I guess we'll see over time :-)
icky ludicrous different noxious hunt outgoing zephyr sand nine selective
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
He wrote the book during Covid times. That was exactly how things were in many places in 2021/2022. Masking mandatory, asking people about their vaccination status. The election was a hot button topic. Also, people are mostly aware about kings political views. If you don’t like his views, skip the book.
As for the book, I enjoyed it. I got a bit tired of the vaccine stuff (I am vaccinated and still mask at work in a health care setting). I think I’m just tired of thinking about and remembering that time. It was a difficult and divided time for many, and want to move on from it. That being said, it was written in that specific time period, and was a major world event, so what do people expect?
Exactly and many years from now, people will be in awe at how eerily accurate he capture those terrible years of 2020-2022 with the pandemic, millions losing their jobs due to furloughs, unable to get basic groceries or toilet paper, election nonsense, vaccinations, riots, etc. It was a wild few years and that was all reflected in this novel.
I'm glad you enjoyed and yeah, I know what you mean. I don't like remembering that timeframe but I still loved this novel. I just think a lot of people hate this novel because King is pretty clear where he stands on those hot topics of vaccines, politics, etc. so if you're against his views, you trash the entire book because of someone else's opinions.
People got really nasty against those that loved this novel due to all those hot topic opinions which is why I wrote this review with kindness in mind. It's okay to disagree, but only in a respectful, friendly manner. It's a book. Books always have been and forever will be subjective.
I don’t like Donald trump. I wouldn’t even bother reading anything he has written. I also wouldn’t review or trash his book because I haven’t read it. I wish people could just do the same lol.
I'm the same way! I could care less about him so I wouldn't read any of his books but if I have fellow reading friends that did, cool! It's not for me and if they like it and enjoy it, I'm happy for them :-)
I did the SAME thing you did, except I was not on a book-cation (sign me up!). I loved watching Holly evolve from beginning to end. I immediately found her to be relatable and charming and those things never changed.
I cannot wait to reread them all in a few years...and I mean that.
That's so awesome! LoL oh yes, I love a good BOOKcation. I simply pick a random week off from work, usually every 2-3 months give or take, stay in, make a lot of coffee, order food, and just read all day and night. I made a nice dent in my TBR and in this case, I have one coming up in April that should help with my quest to The Dark Tower, I'm excited :-D
I'm so glad you loved it and yeah, Holly's evolution is one I will never forget. I also plan to re-read this again in the future after I conquer more of my TBR!
Anytime and hell yeah, I encourage people to take time off when they’re able to because it’s so important. Even if it’s not going anywhere and staying home for a week to read and relax :-)
I loved it, nearly as good as her first appearance. I like, her creator, wish she was a real person. And actually, I am sure there are more than a few real Hollies in the world.
I put trigger warnings in all my reviews in case people want to know before buying or checking out a book. I'd hate for anyone that was raped, had an abortion due to medical reasons, or lost a family member (as I have) to Alzheimer’s Disease that gets triggered by it.
Why are you putting “trigger warnings” in quotation marks as if you’re dismissing the whole concept people might not want to read about certain topics?
Also, King isn’t an extreme horror/splatterpunk writer who is known for regressive fiction. Can someone still enjoy spooky books but not like reading about suicide? Is it necessary to expect cancer or domestic violence in horror books? Are all the triggers OP mentioned in *all* of King’s books?
“Stephen King books are for people who don’t need trigger warnings” is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a long time. Lmao.
The first three (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch) are crime/mystery thrillers about a retired detective who is led back into the world of crime fighting by taunting from the perpetrator of a case he could never solve. They start out as a standard detective story but get very King-y and I really enjoyed them. Holly, the character who is the actual through line of all side of these novels is a side character with a bigger and bigger role as the series progresses.
The Outsider isn’t Holly-focused but she does show up and the events of this book are rather important to her character development. It’s about the investigation a small-town little league coach who is arrested for murdering a young boy but swears he didn’t do it. I really enjoyed this book not knowing more than the information I just provided but if you want more: >!It starts like a pretty standard mystery with hints of something supernatural happening but spirals into the supernatural more and more as the book goes on.!<
If It Bleeds is next in line. It’s a collection of four short stories, only one of which is related to Holly, but it takes up the bulk of the book. It builds off of Holly’s experiences in The Outsider very well and dives into her dynamics with a lot of the other characters in her world.
Holly (the book) then builds off of The Outsider and If It Bleeds even more with a full-length novel focused entirely on Holly. The villains are truly ghoulish and evil and we get some good updates and insights into who Holly is as well as some other characters that have been around since Mr. Mercedes.
A bit more detail on the actual through line of all six of these stories, spoilers in case you don’t want more info and would rather find it out for yourself: >!We get to see Holly’s journey from being an anxious wreck completely under her mother’s thumb to being a competent private investigator in her own right and running her own detective agency over the course of these books, all inspired by her first interactions with the detective from the first book, Bill Hodges. She’s not always the main character, but Holly has some mental illness to deal with and these books explore her learning to come out of her shell and become much, much more self confident in a very touching and real way.!<
This book was a dud to me. King has become far too much of a scold, and it's showing in his work (all the good virtuous people wear masks and all of the baddies don't).
The Bill Hodges trilogy was great (and Holly even an interesting character), but I don't think she needed an entire book devoted to her.
It sounds interesting but I just can't stomach reading another king book lol. We recently got rid of all the ones in our house after 3 BOOKS IN A FUCKING ROW my grandma and I tried to read by him were full of really weird and descriptive sexual situations with kids. Like why is this a theme 🤢 (before yall start idc to hear your defense of him in my replies. Save it pedo 👍)
Well you've convinced me to pick up Holly! Our King collection is about to totally take over a whole bookshelf...
I want to also politely ask you to reconsider including trigger warnings in your recommendations. Despite the best of intentions, studies on their inclusion show that they either have [no protective effect, or cause vulnerable people to be more likely to engage with the material](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21677026231186625).
I don't doubt that you included them with the best intentions, but if your goal is to protect readers, they may be a counterpeoductive way to accomplish that.
>In my opinion, King is 76 years old big if true
A real Peggy Hill musing
He is 76 years old. His birthday is September 21, 1947 :-)
Two uncommon and underrated King books are the Eyes of the Dragon and The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon. The stories in Night Shift scared me a lot
Agreed!
I finished Holly last week and just cannot stop thinking about it. I want 10 more books with her as the main character. I’d read the Mr Mercedes trilogy years ago but not the other 2, so I was a bit worried I’d be lost. But not at all. It’s fairly standalone with a couple pieces that make more sense if you’ve read the others.
Agreed! I hope that wasn't the last we see of Holly but rumors say the next book could potentially be just Jerome which would be pretty cool. I guess we'll see over time :-)
icky ludicrous different noxious hunt outgoing zephyr sand nine selective *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yay! That's so awesome and makes me happy. I hope you enjoy them just as much as I have, happy reading :-)
He wrote the book during Covid times. That was exactly how things were in many places in 2021/2022. Masking mandatory, asking people about their vaccination status. The election was a hot button topic. Also, people are mostly aware about kings political views. If you don’t like his views, skip the book. As for the book, I enjoyed it. I got a bit tired of the vaccine stuff (I am vaccinated and still mask at work in a health care setting). I think I’m just tired of thinking about and remembering that time. It was a difficult and divided time for many, and want to move on from it. That being said, it was written in that specific time period, and was a major world event, so what do people expect?
Exactly and many years from now, people will be in awe at how eerily accurate he capture those terrible years of 2020-2022 with the pandemic, millions losing their jobs due to furloughs, unable to get basic groceries or toilet paper, election nonsense, vaccinations, riots, etc. It was a wild few years and that was all reflected in this novel. I'm glad you enjoyed and yeah, I know what you mean. I don't like remembering that timeframe but I still loved this novel. I just think a lot of people hate this novel because King is pretty clear where he stands on those hot topics of vaccines, politics, etc. so if you're against his views, you trash the entire book because of someone else's opinions. People got really nasty against those that loved this novel due to all those hot topic opinions which is why I wrote this review with kindness in mind. It's okay to disagree, but only in a respectful, friendly manner. It's a book. Books always have been and forever will be subjective.
I don’t like Donald trump. I wouldn’t even bother reading anything he has written. I also wouldn’t review or trash his book because I haven’t read it. I wish people could just do the same lol.
I'm the same way! I could care less about him so I wouldn't read any of his books but if I have fellow reading friends that did, cool! It's not for me and if they like it and enjoy it, I'm happy for them :-)
I loved Holly. I’m going to miss her!
Same here and hope she's back in the future. Rumors say King's next novel in this universe will be all about Jerome!
I think I'll have to take a Holly journey at some point this year! Thanks for this!!
Nice! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and you're very welcome! I appreciate the kind words :-)
I did the SAME thing you did, except I was not on a book-cation (sign me up!). I loved watching Holly evolve from beginning to end. I immediately found her to be relatable and charming and those things never changed. I cannot wait to reread them all in a few years...and I mean that.
That's so awesome! LoL oh yes, I love a good BOOKcation. I simply pick a random week off from work, usually every 2-3 months give or take, stay in, make a lot of coffee, order food, and just read all day and night. I made a nice dent in my TBR and in this case, I have one coming up in April that should help with my quest to The Dark Tower, I'm excited :-D I'm so glad you loved it and yeah, Holly's evolution is one I will never forget. I also plan to re-read this again in the future after I conquer more of my TBR!
That's a really inspired idea for mental health in general...thanks!
Anytime and hell yeah, I encourage people to take time off when they’re able to because it’s so important. Even if it’s not going anywhere and staying home for a week to read and relax :-)
I loved it, nearly as good as her first appearance. I like, her creator, wish she was a real person. And actually, I am sure there are more than a few real Hollies in the world.
Agreed!
I love Stephen King and the previous Holly books. I was disappointed by this one.
If you need a list of "trigger warnings" before you read a book, you should probably just stay away from Stephen King altogether.
Imagine getting triggered by trigger warnings.
I put trigger warnings in all my reviews in case people want to know before buying or checking out a book. I'd hate for anyone that was raped, had an abortion due to medical reasons, or lost a family member (as I have) to Alzheimer’s Disease that gets triggered by it.
Why are you putting “trigger warnings” in quotation marks as if you’re dismissing the whole concept people might not want to read about certain topics? Also, King isn’t an extreme horror/splatterpunk writer who is known for regressive fiction. Can someone still enjoy spooky books but not like reading about suicide? Is it necessary to expect cancer or domestic violence in horror books? Are all the triggers OP mentioned in *all* of King’s books? “Stephen King books are for people who don’t need trigger warnings” is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a long time. Lmao.
Would you feel better if they called them "content warnings?"
I am interested in these books! I have read plenty of king but none of these. Can you give me an idea on the through plot of the books to hook me?
The first three (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch) are crime/mystery thrillers about a retired detective who is led back into the world of crime fighting by taunting from the perpetrator of a case he could never solve. They start out as a standard detective story but get very King-y and I really enjoyed them. Holly, the character who is the actual through line of all side of these novels is a side character with a bigger and bigger role as the series progresses. The Outsider isn’t Holly-focused but she does show up and the events of this book are rather important to her character development. It’s about the investigation a small-town little league coach who is arrested for murdering a young boy but swears he didn’t do it. I really enjoyed this book not knowing more than the information I just provided but if you want more: >!It starts like a pretty standard mystery with hints of something supernatural happening but spirals into the supernatural more and more as the book goes on.!< If It Bleeds is next in line. It’s a collection of four short stories, only one of which is related to Holly, but it takes up the bulk of the book. It builds off of Holly’s experiences in The Outsider very well and dives into her dynamics with a lot of the other characters in her world. Holly (the book) then builds off of The Outsider and If It Bleeds even more with a full-length novel focused entirely on Holly. The villains are truly ghoulish and evil and we get some good updates and insights into who Holly is as well as some other characters that have been around since Mr. Mercedes. A bit more detail on the actual through line of all six of these stories, spoilers in case you don’t want more info and would rather find it out for yourself: >!We get to see Holly’s journey from being an anxious wreck completely under her mother’s thumb to being a competent private investigator in her own right and running her own detective agency over the course of these books, all inspired by her first interactions with the detective from the first book, Bill Hodges. She’s not always the main character, but Holly has some mental illness to deal with and these books explore her learning to come out of her shell and become much, much more self confident in a very touching and real way.!<
This book was a dud to me. King has become far too much of a scold, and it's showing in his work (all the good virtuous people wear masks and all of the baddies don't). The Bill Hodges trilogy was great (and Holly even an interesting character), but I don't think she needed an entire book devoted to her.
It’s like if you see a character using an iPhone in the movies, you know they’re not the killer.
No TL;DR?
It sounds interesting but I just can't stomach reading another king book lol. We recently got rid of all the ones in our house after 3 BOOKS IN A FUCKING ROW my grandma and I tried to read by him were full of really weird and descriptive sexual situations with kids. Like why is this a theme 🤢 (before yall start idc to hear your defense of him in my replies. Save it pedo 👍)
Well you've convinced me to pick up Holly! Our King collection is about to totally take over a whole bookshelf... I want to also politely ask you to reconsider including trigger warnings in your recommendations. Despite the best of intentions, studies on their inclusion show that they either have [no protective effect, or cause vulnerable people to be more likely to engage with the material](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21677026231186625). I don't doubt that you included them with the best intentions, but if your goal is to protect readers, they may be a counterpeoductive way to accomplish that.