Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Holly by Stephen King

7 reviews

mccormicke2's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Homophobia, Murder, Racism, Cannibalism, and Child death

Moderate: Blood, Addiction, Body horror, Violence, Police brutality, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Dementia, Alcoholism, and Mass/school shootings

theraccoonqueen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I 👏🏻 LOVE 👏🏻 HOLLY 👏🏻

I have loved seeing her development from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy to The Outsider and now. I did not realize If It Bleeds was supposed to be read before Holly, but I wasn’t too horribly lost by not having read it. 

The Harrises were quite frankly some of the most disturbing antagonists that King has written that are just purely human. There’s nothing supernatural about them. They’re just a couple of old people who have more than a few screws loose in their heads. This was like horror and crime/mystery wrapped up into one and I was absolutely here for it. 

I felt that it was a good pace and I love that we got more of Holly’s internal push and pull on why she does what she does. Definitely a great read and I’ll recommend to anyone who enjoys horror and thriller and won’t be butthurt by Holly’s perception of anti-vaxxers.

TW/CW for this book are as follows (I added what I could remember off the top of my head but I did find a comprehensive list online for the rest):
Cannibalism 
Homophobia 
Racism
Abortion 
Cancer
COVID
Sexual harassment 
Rape
School shooting

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Cancer and Rape

Minor: Sexual harassment and Mass/school shootings

nikogatts's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Dementia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, Kidnapping, Child death, Death of parent, Confinement, Racial slurs, Lesbophobia, Blood, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Homophobia, Cannibalism, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction, Medical content, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Mass/school shootings and Police brutality

maimy_santiago99's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and Ableism

Moderate: Stalking, Mental illness, Medical content, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Confinement, Addiction, and Alcohol

Minor: Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Suicide

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Medical content, Murder, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Blood, Death, Violence, Chronic illness, Dementia, Drug use, Gore, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Lesbophobia, Racism, Torture, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Police brutality, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Classism, Body horror, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Terminal illness, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Antisemitism, and Xenophobia

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

King has historically been bad at writing female characters and good endings. I’m pleased that this book is a delightful change! 

I just love Holly Gibney and I’m glad King finally realized he could give a female character a full life and her own story. This is Holly’s 6th appearance and finally one where she’s the star 

King’s storytelling skills are on display here— his crime fiction is always a favorite style for me. This is intense and dark and gnarly (seem out CW for specifics because this has a lot of wild content) 

Know going in that this is a DEEPLY pandemic focused book. Covid is hugely a part of the plot and characters and King’s politics are also deeply embedded in the story. Not everyone will like that. I got past it and his author’s note helped. 

One thing that nagged at me (that I eventually worked through while reading) was how King characterizes the villains by having them use slurs. This is not new for him, but it comes off heavy handed for me personally. But I know his writing is read by a broad mass of folks so maybe that’s ok in the long run. At least he’s moved on from “the bad guys are all fat” so “the villains are super racist”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Murder, Medical content, Death, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Gaslighting, Racism, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Torture, Ableism, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, and Cursing

Minor: Fatphobia, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, and Vomit

asifsyed's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Confinement, Death of parent, Blood, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Torture, Racism, Racial slurs, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Gore

Moderate: Death

Minor: Mental illness, Drug use, Police brutality, Addiction, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Racism, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Dementia, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Medical content

cannibalism