Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Holly by Stephen King

61 reviews

kalliente's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Definitely not for the faint of heart if you are squeamish over body gore/horror!
Cannibalism is not usually in my list of possibilities for M.O., so I was SHOCKED when reading this.

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devilavo96's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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michaelek2001's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Be warned! This is a very violent and disturbing book. Some of the most vivid body horror and grotesque scenes. Stephen King may have crossed a line with a few of the things in this book!

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thebookaddict's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

"Net wanneer je denkt dat je het allerergste waartoe de mensheid in staat is wel hebt gezien, kom je erachter dat dat niet zo is". Dit is een citaat uit het boek wat het hele boek eigenlijk samenvat.

Dit is een luguber boek (zoals we van Stephen King gewend zijn). Het verhaal heeft verassende wendingen en wordt aan het einde heel erg spannend. In het begin vond ik hem erg langdradig. Ik denk dat dit boek ook wel wat korter gekund had. Sommige dingen voegde gewoon niet zoveel toe. Het klonk af en toe gewoon alsof de woorden geschreven zijn om ruimte op te vullen. De personages zijn wel echt perfect voor dit verhaal. Ze passen allemaal zo goed in hun rol. Het plaatje is gewoon compleet. Ik denk wel dat omdat het zo uitgebreid beschreven wordt je een enorm goed beeld krijgt van de situatie die zich afspeelt. Het kost alleen zoveel moeite. Ook vond ik het gek om weer over de corona tijd te lezen. Het voelt zolang geleden, terwijl dat niet zo is. Heel raar om te beseffen dat dat ook een tijd onze realiteit geweest is. Ik vind dat hij deze tijd heel mooi verwerkt heeft in het boek. Vooral de scheiding die de corona veroorzaakte in de maatschappij! 

Al met al was ik erg bang om in dit boek te beginnen vanwege de dikte, maar ik heb totaal geen spijt. Je moet wel tegen lugubere verhalen kunnen om van dit boek te genieten, maar dit past juist goed in mijn straatje. De schrijfstijl is ook erg fijn en het leest totaal niet moeilijk weg! Holly vond ik erg leuk. Ik heb alle andere boeken niet gelezen waar Holly in voor komt, maar ik ga dit zeker nog een keer doen. Zo krijg ik net even iets meer achtergrond informatie. 

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emmmaustin's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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itsheyfay's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


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alibuhdali's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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lukel's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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kitfkat's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5


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okiecozyreader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.5

I haven’t read Stephen King in years, but I was invited to buddy read this and gave in. I also watched the first book in the series The Outsider to get to know Holly a little.

In this book, Holly gets a call from a missing college librarian’s mother that her daughter has been missing for a few weeks and she finds it all unusual. As you start the book, you watch this couple pose as needing wheelchair aid to lure unsuspecting victims into their garage at different time periods. 

Like many Stephen King books, this one is hard to read at times, just so gory and sickening. I had so much fun deciphering it with other readers, though. And it makes me interested in going back to the older Mr. Mercedes series to meet Holly there.

This does include a lot of pandemic information (in the setting) and does take a political stance. King discusses this in the author’s note.

“What went on between them was more like a stone you can’t get out of your shoe.” Ch 18

“Gifts are fragile. You must never entrust yours to people who might break it.” Ch 19

“Most cases are fragile, the way eggs are fragile. Why? Because most criminals are dopes. When it comes to doing dirt, even the ones who are smart are dopes. Otherwise they wouldn’t do dirt in the first place. So you treat a case like an egg. You crack it, you beat it, you put it in a pan with some butter. Then you make yourself a nice little omelet.” Ch 34

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