The first adult novel I really enjoyed was Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot when I was a grade 9 or grade 10 student. 40 years later I still occasionally read a Stephen King novel and his latest, “Holly” was good, but not great. He has written over 70 novels and collections of short stories so not all of them are going to be incredible. It was a solid horror/detective story that helped me fall asleep.
Holly is a detective crime story featuring Holly Gibney, who was featured in the book and HBO television series, The Outsider, which I loved watching. This time she is investigating the disappearance of a young girl. I don’t want to spoil the book too much, but it is the story of a couple of elderly cannibals and Gibney puts together a series of missing persons to track them down. King always tells a good story but I found myself scrolling through parts of the story that I found boring. One major side story was a character’s relationship with an acclaimed elderly poet that I felt didn’t really go anywhere. The book was criticized by some for its many references to masks, anti-vaxxers, and the habits we developed during the pandemic. It felt like King included them to publicize his strong views instead of having them be part of the story. He was really affected by the COVID pandemic as I listened to interviews he gave. The references don’t distract from the story, but they don’t add to it.
The book made me think about the biology behind cannibalism. I read over 1,500 species of animals practice cannibalism. Research is showing that Neanderthals practice cannibalism and may have eaten Homo sapiens as well. Human cannibals make good horror stories and I think there would be some good historical novels set in places like Papua New Guinea or in other cultures that practiced cannibalism.
One line I liked from the book, “Sometimes the universe throws you a rope. If it does, climb it. See what’s at the top.” That encapsulates the role of luck in one’s life. You must seize opportunities when they are presented and the more you are searching or just being open to possibility, the more lucky breaks you will get.
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