Un polar qui commence ventre à terre avant de prendre ensuite son temps, suivant le rythme d'une enquête hoquetante, avec une détective hésitante en raison de faits trop fragiles. Puis s'installe progressivement l'horreur des crimes, la stupéfaction devant le mode opératoire et la personnalité des meurtriers, et la tension grandissante devant la lente avancée des investigations, les fausses pistes, les témoignages manquant. Mais, suivant la phrase en exergue, l'univers lance de temps en temps une corde à laquelle il suffit juste de s'accrocher. Et Holly, enquêtrice chouchoutée par son auteur, sait parfaitement saisir les rares opportunités qui s'offrent à elle. Malgré une légère tendance à la répétition, qui vient seriner certaines interprétations ou des éléments de la vie privée de l'héroïne, on reste solidement concentré sur l'intrigue : comme chez Columbo, on connaît les auteurs, on finit par connaître leurs motivations, mais on ignore comment ils seront attrapés. La fin en crescendo s'avère profondément haletante avant de laisser un long moment de conclusion, le temps de tout remettre en ordre. ( )

Ce roman de Stephen King est sa sixième œuvre de l'auteur dans laquelle le personnage Holly Gibney est présent, après une trilogie de romans centrés sur Bill Hodges puis un roman et un roman court dans lesquels Holly était déjà le personnage principal. Dans ce roman dont le titre est son prénom, elle est bien évidemment au centre de l'intrigue. Et cette fois-ci, ces acolytes Pete Huntley, Jerome et Barbara Robinson n'interviennent que très peu dans l'enquête que mène Holly. Il est très intéressant de suivre l'avancement de Holly, sa façon de procéder, d'analyser les faits, de creuser des pistes, et de partager ses doutes, ses difficultés mais aussi ses petites victoires. Comme toujours avec cette auteur, on retrouve une écriture fluide et une caractérisations parfaite de tous ses personnages. Si on y ajoute une intrigue bien trouvée et une incarnation du mal des plus originales, on est en présence d'un très bon opus de l'auteur. À déguster sans modération ! ( )

Not one of SKs best for sure. This seemed forced. All of his worst writing traits were here. Cutesy dialogue, progressive speak in characters, and an overwritten build up. The finale was good but it went quickly and the ending I don't quite remember. There was no depth in this. which is sad because Billy Summers was so good. ( )

Right, this is my final final final notice: I am definitely done with Stephen King. He went off the boil a long time ago - a lot like the crazy old oxygen thieves in this story - and his attempts to write about current events and relatable characters are laughable. I even borrowed rather than bought a copy, knowing full well I would be wasting my money, and boy, were my (low) expectations met.

First off, I don't care about 'soapboxing' in fiction when the ranting is relevant, but nothing dates a novel like Covid and Donald Trump (apart from maybe Minidisc players and iPods) - nobody cares or wants to read about the Lost Years now, and all the elbow bumping and 'are you vaxxed?' reverse nostalgia was even more cringeworthy than King's obsession with the 1950s.

Secondly, both the eponymous Holly and the undead oldies eating the neighbours were deeply fucking annoying. Holly with her 'poopy' aversion to swearing - just say the F-word, you'll feel better - and her weird exclamation of 'oough' grated on my nerves even before she started in with her warped health issues. She wishes someone dead at one point because they don't have Covid, which killed her mother - and that was actually a blessing in disguise - but then this throwaway line really pissed me off: 'Hearing of a non-smoker who's died of lung cancer always makes Holly feel a little better about her own [chain-smoking] habit.' Yes, that does make you a shitty person, Holly. I discovered after I started reading that there are two or three other books in the series, but I will not be filling in the gaps in this lifetime.

Lastly, the plot is ridiculous. I can understand the plot bunnies that King cobbled together to form the story but the execution - pardon the pun - requires more suspension of disbelief than I am apparently capable of. I would have welcomed a scene where they followed the 'process' through to the end, because I cannot believe it's that easy to dismember and dispose of a human body. 'Feed 'em through the woodchipper' is a lazy cop out. Also, why should we believe that the crazy old pair want to live forever - because they're college professors? Because they wuv each other? Anyone decaying at that rate absolutely should shuffle off the mortal coil. And did King really have an English professor misquote Hamlet for the yucks?

Finally - does King have grandchildren, or even great grandchildren? Because kids haven't behaved or talked like that since the 90s at the latest. Even the fact that Barbara is called Barbara in 2021 is bad enough. Stop now, old man, you're embarrassing yourself. ( )

This was a grisly one even by Mr King’s standards. But I love Holly and this was definitely her book! ( )