Holly

I’m not a big fan of the Bill Hodges Trilogy (Mr Mercedes, Finders Keepers and End of Watch). They were good reads, with some great passages, but I found them all a little loose and baggy and often ended up skimming pages when the action was too drawn out. That is NOT the case with Holly.

Right from the start, when an elderly couple begin kidnapping people and locking them in a cage in their cellar – no, this isn’t a spoiler; it happens in the opening pages – we know who the villains are. And they are, as all Stephen King fans know, drawn with all his skill and attention to detail.

But what I love about this story is the way in which we follow Holly, the lead, in a parallel narrative and watch her as she gradually discovers what’s going on in that cellar. The tension comes from wondering when she’ll finally connect all the dots and what will happen when she does.

I didn’t skip a single page of this. The plot and the narrative are tight and there aren’t any wasted words – even at 430 pages. Anyone who might follow this blog will know I’m a big Stephen King fan – although with reservations – but I don’t have any of those with this book.

Holly is a great read.