As a character, I love Holly Gibney. She is one of King’s best characters. I just wish King would stop putting her through so many tragic events.
Holly is a pandemic era novel about something truly terrifying. An elderly couple who had been kidnapping people near the college they work at and cannibalizing them. That’s right. They believe that consuming human liver and brain and flesh have so many positive effects that it cures Alzheimers. A mother of the latest victim hires Holly to investigate her disappearance.
As Holly investigates, her partner is in the hospital with Covid and her mother has just died of it. Through her grief, she manages to uncovers several connected missing persons and manages to do what the cops couldn’t. Find the link between seemingly unconnected disappearances and get herself trapped in a cage in the basement of two serial killers’ home.
What this book has going for it are all of the things that King does well. Gore. Horrific villains. Claustrophobic scenes. Unsettling occurrences. In this way, this is very much an old school King novel.
Where this book began to lose me was how it followed too many characters. And, as the burnout from being an essential worker during the entire pandemic, I found all the mentions of masks and vaccines and elbow knocks and differing opinions about the whole thing to be off putting in a way. Perhaps it’s because the pandemic hits too close to home. Perhaps it’s my personal burnout. But I would have loved this novel a whole lot more if it weren’t for the constant reminder of how horrible life was for a while.
That said, this book is still very much worth reading. The old school feel of the novel outweighed the rest and it showed King in top form. The man hasn’t missed a beat. Maybe I’ll give it a reread in ten years and find my like for it has grown to love when time has healed recent wounds.
End note – I always enjoy seeing my fellow MCAD friends and grads when their work pops up. Designer Will Staehle designed the cover art for this book and many other. Kudos on a great job.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
As a character, I love Holly Gibney. She is one of King’s best characters. I just wish King would stop putting her through so many tragic events.
Holly is a pandemic era novel about something truly terrifying. An elderly couple who had been kidnapping people near the college they work at and cannibalizing them. That’s right. They believe that consuming human liver and brain and flesh have so many positive effects that it cures Alzheimers. A mother of the latest victim hires Holly to investigate her disappearance.
As Holly investigates, her partner is in the hospital with Covid and her mother has just died of it. Through her grief, she manages to uncovers several connected missing persons and manages to do what the cops couldn’t. Find the link between seemingly unconnected disappearances and get herself trapped in a cage in the basement of two serial killers’ home.
What this book has going for it are all of the things that King does well. Gore. Horrific villains. Claustrophobic scenes. Unsettling occurrences. In this way, this is very much an old school King novel.
Where this book began to lose me was how it followed too many characters. And, as the burnout from being an essential worker during the entire pandemic, I found all the mentions of masks and vaccines and elbow knocks and differing opinions about the whole thing to be off putting in a way. Perhaps it’s because the pandemic hits too close to home. Perhaps it’s my personal burnout. But I would have loved this novel a whole lot more if it weren’t for the constant reminder of how horrible life was for a while.
That said, this book is still very much worth reading. The old school feel of the novel outweighed the rest and it showed King in top form. The man hasn’t missed a beat. Maybe I’ll give it a reread in ten years and find my like for it has grown to love when time has healed recent wounds.
End note – I always enjoy seeing my fellow MCAD friends and grads when their work pops up. Designer Will Staehle designed the cover art for this book and many other. Kudos on a great job.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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