Before I review Holly, I must address two essential details, Tigger Warners and whether it is a standalone. Tigger Warners for Holly contain the usual King tropes of murder, death, cruelty, and violence. Holly though has a particularly serious warning. Without giving away a major plot point, I would class this, after a discussion with a trusted friend, as body horror. If you do not do well with slasher type horror, be careful with Holly. I think you can still get the gist of the story by skipping every time it gets very messy. Or get a friend to read it first and tell you witch chapters to skip. Standalone or not. Holly's origin story is found in Mr. Mercedes (2014), the first book of the Bill Hodges Trilogy. Many of Stephen King's Constant Readers grew to love Holly as much as he did. The Outsider (2018) was the first book where Holy was front and center. Next is If It Bleeds (2020) which is the title story in a new collection. The collection has amazing stories that are not frightening as much as they are thought provoking. If It Bleeds takes place following the events of The Outsider. Holly follows closely on from the events of If It Bleeds. You could read Holly without reading the preceding books but I think you would miss so much. Holly is one of the most dynamic characters King has ever written. Do yourself a favor and get to know her before jumping into Holly. Now on to my review. I enjoyed Holly. She has continued to grow as an individual and overcome the abuse she suffered at the hands of her family. The abuse did not stop when she was an adult. It continued to the day her abuser died. Holly deals with that death in this book and it is an important event in Holly's decisions that follow. While Holly has the support of her found family, she faces much of this horror by herself. Each outing with Holly, Kind discovers new strength in her. If you enjoyed the preceding Holly stories, you will enjoy this book, keeping in mind the earlier Trigger Warning. Definitely listen (or read if you have the written word) the Author's Note by King. It is an eye opening to trip into his choices for this novel. I adore that he gives credit to his researcher. Robin, his Goddess of Research, certainly deserves the accolades. Justine Lupe did a very good job. Her voices fit the characters. I especially liked her voice for Holly. She nails her determination. She also does a good job of changing Holly's voice based on who she talks to. I will definitely seek out another book narrated by her. I received a copy of Holly by Stephen King narrated by Justine Lupe from Simon & Schuster. After listening to the audiobook, I wrote an honest review. @SimonAudio @StephenKing #JustineLupe #Holly
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