Description

Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to uncover the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a Midwestern town.

Bonnie Dahl is missing . . .

Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency is meant to be on leave. But she finds it impossible to turn down Bonnie’s mother’s desperate request for help.

Then she discovers a single earring close to the location of Bonnie’s abandoned bike.

Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability: semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harbouring a savage secret in the basement of their book-lined home.

Now Holly must summon all her formidable talents if she is to uncover the truth behind multiple disappearances in her Midwestern town.

‘I could never let Holly Gibney go. She was supposed to be a walk-on character in Mr Mercedes and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart. Holly is all her.’ STEPHEN KING

‘Holly Gibney has matured into one of [King’s] most memorable creations – a resourceful private investigator . . . Truly chilling, it aptly demonstrates King’s inimitable talent as a storyteller’ – Daily Mail

Publisher Review

Not content with being the master of horror and fantasy, in recent years Stephen King has earned a place among America’s finest crime writers * Sunday Express * Undeniably one of the greatest storytellers of the past century, Stephen King is a master at revealing the horrors that lurk beneath the surface of what looks like ordinary life * Daily Mail * King’s wonderfully awkward private detective Holly Gibney returns in this black-hearted parable of American life in the Covid era… As horrifying as anything King has written * Mail on Sunday * Stephen King’s prolific late flowering continues with a new outing for his detective Holly Gibney, chasing down serial killers in Holly * Guardian * Lavished with the kind of dialogue most mortal writers can only dream of crafting… When it comes to the four-wheeled page-turner, Stephen King is like a vintage car enthusiast… King’s portrait of Holly is sympathetic, subtle and seductive. His ability to recruit his audience to the colours is just one of his best qualities as a compulsively entertaining artist… brilliantly observed… very moving… He understands, better than almost any living writer, how to suspend disbelief… Good prose, King demonstrates, does not work in the way some writing schools pretend, by trying to crack some hidden code, master a witchy formula, or unearth the golden key to narrative magic. Fiction succeeds when it gets inside the reader’s head, and engages our secret hearts and minds. * Robert McCrum, Independent * Masterful… lyrical and horrifying * Catriona Ward, Guardian * Nail-biting and disturbing, it turns into a helter-skelter race to the finish line * Alison Flood, Observer * Chilling… Holly has appeared in King’s fiction before, but this is the first time she has taken a starring role and she is certainly worth a novel in her own right… Nail-biting crime fiction and a dystopian vision of contemporary America * Sunday Times * A chilling mystery from the thriller master * i * From a classic hard-boiled premise, the investigation unspools in rich, generous storytelling… What makes King’s work so much more frightening than that of most other suspense writers, what elevates it to night-terror levels, isn’t his cruelty to his characters: It’s his kindness * New York Times * King at his gruesome best * Afterword * King has conjoined his mastery of the macabre to an equal command of the crime genre… [he] transfixes us as thoroughly as ever * Financial Times * Beautifully constructed… Masterful entertainment * Sunday Business Post * A masterpiece of thriller fiction… in HOLLY there are enough edge of the seat moments, enough gross moments, enough nerve-jangling moments to satisfy the most ardent of Stephen King fans… it’s an enormously satisfying read… you will not be disappointed! * Books Monthly * Truly chilling, it aptly demonstrates King’s inimitable talent as a storyteller * Daily Mail * Once again, King proves he is the master of versatility with this brilliant edgy thriller * The Sun * A richly imagined and grisly tale… Holly is wholly her own. She’s a thorny, determined protagonist… A compelling page-turner * Sunday Independent (Ireland) * A twisty tale that engages the reader from the first page and keeps you enthralled * Press Association * Stephen King has always been a first-rate storyteller. . . Holly is as nuanced as anything he has done. * The Times, Thriller of the Month * Holly is a formidably dogged and persistent investigator… This is Stephen King at his hardcore crime thriller best, and the delightful Holly Gibney is a real keeper * Irish Independent * This compelling read about the nature of evil and the dangers of bad science will keep you gripped to the last page * Sunday Express * Holly has horror and heart by the bucket-load… seeing Gibney spread her wings is a joy * Hot Press Magazine * Holly Gibney has matured into one of the storyteller’s most memorable creations * Daily Mail * If you want to properly scare someone this Christmas, then I’d advise plumping for Stephen King’s new novel . . . Utterly nail-biting – and loads of fun * Observer * A bone-chilling look at the consequences of bad science, this gripping read explores the very nature of evil * Daily Mirror * King’s portrait of Holly is sympathetic, subtle and seductive. Brilliantly observed . . . very moving . . . He understands, better than almost any living writer, how to suspend disbelief * Independent * [Holly] leaps off the page, dogged and resourceful . . . Masterful . . . lyrical and horrifying * Guardian *