Stephen King, the author of a massive and bestselling work (for many, even deserving of the Nobel Prize) and the creator of many (quite a few) literary terrors that have been added to the collective imagination in the last 50 years, is back to loading the Western reader. He does this on this occasion with a novel called Holly (Plaza&Janes) (the author’s 65th novel), which confirms his doctrine of developing one of the oppressive plans of evil, which find their most terrible point in the fact that they are usually limited to everyday life. reality, almost habitual. In this case, it is the Harrises, an elderly couple who are retired college professors, who open the door to horror with a basement hiding infamous secrets. All under the guise of a crime novel (which has been used more in recent years, as opposed to King’s classic devotion to supernatural elements).
No matter how much the Maine genius continues to leave traces of his talent in every new line he writes, the most unforgettable stories that the fertile mind of King, who has just turned 76, can come up with are probably; He’s become a bit distant over time, but that’s understandable considering the bar has been set surprisingly high since his inception. How can we overcome the impact of novels such as The Shining, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Dead Zone, It or Misery, which has become even stronger with successful film or television adaptations? In any case, the American writer has maintained a remarkably steady career (for the sake of the vast majority of his oeuvre) with wonderfully mature works such as 11/22/63, about a time travel attempt to avoid Kennedy’s assassination.
For her new novel, Christine, author of The Animal Graveyard or the Dark Tower Saga, wanted to give absolute prominence (even the title) to the character Holly Gibney, who already appears as a secondary character in many novels. The author’s latest stories. King really likes to intertwine plots and characters in his books, and Holly is undoubtedly a clear representative of this, as there are many references to what is called the Bill Hodges Trilogy (Mr. Mercedes, Losers of Pays and End of the Watch). ). This does not prevent you from enjoying Holly as a standalone work, but undoubtedly recommends reading these works in advance to fully share the psychology of the characters, given that many of them come from previous books.
Holly’s approach is not a mystery book approach, but a detective novel approach. From the first chapters, King reveals to the reader that the Harrises are the authors of the disappearances of many people in the sleepy town of Red Banks, as well as their sinister motivations for carrying out these kidnappings (which is why we omit them here). (To avoid disturbing the reader). The plot therefore focuses on following the adventures of detective Holly Gibney, hired by the mother of one of the missing women, as she seeks to reveal the truth. It has to be said that the character of Holly Gibney, with her constant internal monologue in which she reviews her life and explores the complicated relationship with her late mother (who died in the Covid pandemic), is by far the book’s greatest achievement. and the King leaves the greatest examples of the great narrator wherever he is. Personally, I also highlight passages where the author captures the pain the Harris victims’ absence leaves on those close to them, such as the visit of a friend of Holly’s to the home of an alcoholic mother during the investigation. The person who suffered for years after the sudden disappearance of his son.
It should also be noted that Holly’s scenario takes place in the summer of 2021, and makes time jumps to the past, where the Harrises’ successive kidnappings are described. Stephen King, who always pays attention to current political and social events in the United States, expresses his thoughts on the bloody cases of police brutality that gave birth to the Black Lives Matter movement, and on the other hand, he criticizes deniers harshly. theories about vaccines and Trump’s presidency.
In this last case, it gives the impression that King has spent too much time (and pages) repeatedly, perhaps overly tiresomely, warning the reader about Trump’s flawed approaches, without sharing Trumpism’s insane positions. the president and his followers. Pursuing this aim, the author takes care to draw all the obtuse, stupid or evil characters in the novel as vaccine deniers or Trump voters; which (despite King’s insistence in the notes) becomes a bit frustrating by the end of the book. not wanting to preach to the reader).