Goodreads Choice Award 2023

#1 New York Times bestseller

“I could never let Holly Gibney fade away. She was supposed to be a secondary character in Mr. Mercedes, and she went and stole the book and stole my heart too. Holly is hers.” –Stephen King

Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King's most compelling and imaginative characters, returns in this chilling novel. When Penny Dahl contacts the private investigation agency Finders Keepers to find her missing daughter, Bonnie, Holly hesitates to take on the case. Yet something in Penny's desperate voice convinces Holly.

Just a few blocks away from where Bonnie disappeared live professors Rodney and Emily Harris. A model of respectable cultivated urbanites: octogenarian retired academics devoted to one another. However, they harbor a dark secret in the basement of their book-filled home, a secret that may be related to Bonnie's disappearance. And uncovering their secret will prove nearly impossible, as they are clever, patient, and relentless. Holly will need to summon all her skills to expose them.

Writings about the book:

“Lyrical and frightening, Holly is a hymn to the stubborn pursuit of justice.” –Guardian

“A thriller so terrifying that it tests the limits of its readers and empowers them... What makes King's work far more terrifying than most thriller writers' work, what elevates it to the level of nighttime horror, is not its brutality towards its characters: It is its kindness.” –The New York Times Book Review

“Brutal and gripping… Please, Mr. King, give us more Holly soon.” –NPR.ORG

“Holly is not just proof that King had more to say about the central character, but proof that Holly herself has so much more to tell us.” –Paste

“Holly proves that one of the last true rock stars of fiction can continue to evolve as a writer.” –The Washington Post