Book Review of Stephen King’s ‘Holly’

As a longtime admirer of the reliable and prolific Stephen King, I cut him some slack.

I don’t mind – much – when he indulges himself with steady streams of literary references in his tale-telling – references to various writers and titles, which may befit King more than the characters. (Well, they do say to write what you know.) And I don’t mind when he cuts back and forth through time rather than write a linear plot with logical through lines, especially when such intercuts artfully stitch together flashbacks and the tale’s current time.

Such is the case for his latest novel, “Holly” (from Scribner), which boldly reveals the “who” of its whodunit in the opening pages, then entwines years of ongoing kidnappings and murders with a current-time investigation of the latest crime by the heroine of its title: Holly Gibney.

Introduced as a mousy wallflower in the riveting trilogy starting with “Mr. Mercedes,” she flowers here into an intrepid lead character with her own tiny private-eye agency.

Was I impatient for spunky Holly to pierce the mystery of dawning coincidences which became much more, then zero-in on the horrid predators who’d been getting away with ghastly crimes?

Not really. The joy is in the journey, as they say, and King’s vividly descriptive prose and way with spinning a compelling yarn makes “Holly” a solid, absorbing read despite knowing the “who” in advance of Holly’s methodical sleuthing.

But what really sells me on this relatively brief, for King, novel of 446 pages is what I like to call, in rock ‘n’ roll terms, the Big Finishing Kick.

“Holly” has one.

Does it ever.

For a rock comparison, a younger Bruce Springsteen once stretched out three-minute songs to 10 minutes or more by building toward a sustained ending with furious energy that kept the song going, and going, and going. Or take the last couple of minutes of Meat Loaf’s “I’m Gonna Love Her for Both of Us,” rife with utter abandon.

Though a novel, not a song, “Holly” has that kind of ending. It sweeps you up and swoops you along with its edgy, relentless power.

The book hits that galvanizing rush to the finish about 60 pages from the end, when things get confrontational in a grandly grisly high gear. Some would call that a “page turner,” but the term doesn’t do it justice. You want to read on so quickly to reach the denouement that it’s more of a “page burner” in your hands.

Mr. King, I salute you.

As for the setup, I won’t bestow much here, since as a reviewer I avoid too much regurgitation of details when the reader should enjoy his or her own discoveries. But I will say this:

As revealed at the start, the crimes involve two unlikely culprits: aging, retired members of a nearby college’s faculty, who touchingly dote on and love each other but, to ward off age’s ravages – and heed the husband’s wacky theories about human flesh being rejuvenating – have resorted to carefully planned schemes of snatching folks they dislike and – there’s no point soft-pedaling this – devouring them.

Oh, yes. You’ll be sorry you peeked into the Harris couple’s basement – and their fridge. As King fans know, non-supernatural yarns in his hands can be just as disturbing as those with fangs or fiery powers.

From her fledgling detective agency, Holly is set on the case by the frantic mother of their latest victim. It seems 20-something daughter Bonnie has gone missing with no apparent signs of foul play.

I know, I know: “I want my kid back” is one of the basic plots of Writing 101, along with “save the farm,” “find the thing,” “get revenge” and “boy meets girl.” But as Holly soon learns, there’s more than one missing person connected with this latest supposed runaway or feared victim.

Piecing the puzzle together is a low-key delight, interspersed with then and now flashes to the crazed couple and their dietary devilry. Then it’s time to brace yourself for the furious finish.

Along the way, King does what you’d expect, given his outspoken social media commentaries and the fact that this tale occurs during the height of the COVID pandemic: He rips the holy hell out of politicized deniers of the “fake flu” who cling to nutty conspiracy theories and look pityingly at Holly with her protective mask and offer of an elbow instead of shaking hands.

King also delves into Holly’s psychological issues, most of which concern her late mother, whose rent-free presence in her tormented mind makes Mom not quite dead, not when scathing memories remain — and a freshly unearthed cruelty arises.

Any way you slice it, there’s more to this tale than cannibalism and a trailblazing female detective (in a way, a modern cousin of the heroine of PBS’s “Miss Scarlet and the Duke”). Also meaty are Holly’s inner battles while the outer world staggers from soaring COVID deaths and willful ignorance.

When King is done with all that–and with us, his faithful readers– you just might be exhausted from your rapid reading and frantic page turning. But that’s a good thing.

Like fans at the end of a mammoth Springsteen show, you’re drained, but also elated. You have experienced the Big Finishing Kick, literary style. And only the ungrateful would expect or demand more.

–Bruce Westbrook

Houston Astros 2022 World Series Video Review: Any More Questions?

Convinced of the Astros’ greatness by now? Their fans have been since before Space City’s team notched its fourth American League pennant and second World Series title in six years. Envious haters are gonna hate, but the big picture is this: As Chris “Mad Dog” Russo — a New Yorker — has said on MLB Network’s “High Heat,” the Astros are “the best organization in baseball.”

That doesn’t mean they win it all every year, but they win a lot. And since the spoils go to the victors, it’s time to savor and relive the 2022 season via two companion home video releases on Blu-ray and DVD, created for Major League Baseball by Fox Sports Films and sold by Shout! Factory, just as they were for the Astros’ 2017 championship.

Available starting today, the biggest of the two releases is a boxed set of eight discs featuring all six games of the 2022 World Series in their entirety via their telecasts on Fox, as well as the clinching Game 4 of the American League Championship Series. The boxed set (on Blu-ray and DVD) also includes the 2022 World Series Documentary, which also is sold separately as a single disc.

That single disc with the documentary also adds Season Highlights, Clinching Moments and a “How They Got There” featurette.

The feature-length, 90-minute film, which also has been shown on FS1, recaps the World Series with capsulizations of each game, largely using different footage than seen on the live telecasts. Ample audio from Fox’s announcers and superb Astros radio broadcaster Robert Ford is entwined with warmly supportive narration by rapper and avowed Astros fan Bernard “Bun B” Freeman.

The Astros’ 73-year-old manager, Dusty Baker, often is featured in press conferences and interview clips to tell it like it is. As a baseball legend and MLB’s oldest manager, he puts the Astros’ season and postseason in a philosophical perspective that only he can summon.

Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Jeremy Pena and others also get plenty of facetime in sit-down interviews, apparently shot in reflective calm well after the clinching game.

After routine setups and recaps for the first two games in Houston, split by the teams, the locale shifts. The film then hypes the hell out of Philly–the pugnacious city, the tough players and their rabid fans–to set the stage and then chronicle Game 3, the Phils’ emphatic yet final win of the Series.

Those games in Philadelphia include colorful profiles of the city’s neighborhoods, audio of excited fans on sports talk radio and ceremonial first pitches for two of the games – none of which were featured for Houston.

I figure MLB had prepared the extensive Philly coverage in case the Phils won the Series, then deemed it fit for use in a film ostensibly made for Astros fans. Bad choice. Enough is enough.

And after Game 3, the Astros had had enough, as shown by the Series’ last three games.

To be succinct, they were:

No-hitter. Nail-biter. No-doubter. And just like that, the Astros were World Champions again.

After tying the series with their historic no-hitter in Game 4 – only the second in WS history – the film sets up Game 5 with Verlander’s history of failure pitching World Series games for Detroit and Houston. But redemption quickly follows, in what proved to be the key game of the series.

Verlander narrowly hangs onto the lead before departing after the fifth inning, when he’d faced more trouble on the base paths. “I decided to leave him in there and give him a chance to win that game,” Baker says, and Verlander acknowledges his gratitude “for Dusty to trust me.”

Then came Trey Mancini’s remarkable stop on a liner to first in the eighth and Chas McCormick’s leaping catch against the right-center-field wall in the ninth, both of which saved the game – and perhaps the Series. Somehow, the Astros had won two in a row where the Phils hadn’t lost all postseason to take a 3-2 Series lead back to Houston.

As Baker acknowledged, Game 6’s had been cruel to him in the past. But this one would be different, largely thanks to another shut-down performance by pitcher Framber Valdez and by the Yordan Alvarez home run which was hit “on the moon,” as Baker put it. Kyle Tucker’s running catch in right-field foul territory then ended the season, just as a grounder to Jose Altuve in shallow right had ended the 2017 Series.

“It’s been a long journey, but it’s been a very joyous journey,” Baker said of his first World Series title as a manager after 25 years at the helm of five teams. But during that journey, with all its ups, downs and disappointments, Baker says he “always felt like a champion in my heart.”

The best team had won. The Astros had done it. And the aftermath shown here is the best part of the film, from rousing looks at the postgame revelry to incredible shots of the sun-kissed victory parade’s enormity.

Over such shots, the film ends with a happy, charming song called “How Bout Them Stros” by Paul Wall, featuring Sam Knight (which you also can hear – and view in a different version – on YouTube).

Yes, how about those Astros? (As a journalist, I’m compelled to tweak the song’s and Baker’s lovably colloquial grammar.)

Let Freeman answer that question with his closing narration:

“It might be because I’m a ‘Stros fan,” he says, “but that trophy, to these guys, led by the coolest dude in baseball, it just looks right.”

— Bruce Westbrook

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Book Review: King’s Modern ‘Fairy Tale’ Works Wonders

As Halloween nears, it’s time to feed our fears with the work of that prolific master of the macabre, Stephen King–even if his latest book is titled Fairy Tale (Scribner, 598 pages).

Yet more goes into this aptly chosen title than a literal name for a novel of that genre. Fairy Tale isn’t just a yarn with familiar magical elements. It’s also a novel with ceaseless self-awareness of its genre’s history — a novel not just set in a new fairy-tale land of palaces and giants, but also one rife with references to our shared fairy-tale lore, from Jack and the Beanstalk to Rumpelstiltkin, as observed by the sharp mind of its narrator and protagonist, an earnest teen named Charlie Reade.

Besides, traditional fairy tales can be quite horrific, from ravenous wolves to poisoning queens to oven-baked witches. King taps that vein, too, and his horror-first fans won’t be disappointed — especially if they, like him, adore the disturbing works of H.P. Lovecraft.

As for the seeming simplicity of this book’s title (whose amusing literalism reminds me of Non-Threatening Boys magazine read by Lisa on The Simpsons), that’s deceptive. Calling this novel a fairy tale doesn’t just peg the story. It also concerns King’s exploration of the ways in which ancient fairy-tale elements can combine in a modern saga –a vivid story replete with pots of gold, living-dead soldiers, royal betrayals, slavering villains, a beautiful princess and a medieval-style world that needs saving from a plague of gray death.

Our hero is a 17-year-old living with his reformed alcoholic dad in small-town Illinois, where circumstances toss him into the life of Mr. Bowditch, an old hoarder and loner living in a hulking house nearby — you know, the kind of creepy house common in fright flicks.

What starts as an absorbing real-life narrative about an unlikely friendship between Charlie, the hermitlike man and his lovable but old and dying German Shepherd, Radar, wrenchingly switches gears about a quarter of the way through. That’s when a secret gateway in a shed outside the house takes Charlie to Empis, a world apart from our own, where evil entities have sent civilization spiraling via disease and their unholy powers.

Charlie ventures there with a pre-set goal: to spin a wheel of life which could restore years to the dying dog. But his tale then becomes about far more than that. It becomes a nightmarish story of hellish captivity, cruel games of death for evil’s amusement and a desperate fight to overthrow wicked powers and restore life to a dying kingdom.

That’s the kind of far-fetched fairy tale which narrator Charlie is sure no one will believe, in contrast to the compelling, relatable realities of the story’s early stages. And making that switch, in a way, was as jarring for me — one of King’s Constant Readers — as it was for wide-eyed Charlie.

But give it time and give yourself over to King’s far-fetched fantasy. Then you’ll find a tale with its own compelling nature, thanks to strong characters, shrewd plotting and vividly descriptive writing.

King, after all, is a persuasive storyteller at heart — he loves spinning yarns — and he sells his fanciful Fairy Tale as well as any of his non-supernatural books about crazed fans who kidnap authors or prison inmates who dare to hope.

That’s why, after my initial resistance, I shared a sentiment of his narrator, who said, “I finally accepted — wholly and completely – -the reality of this other world. Of Empis. I had come from a make-believe world. This was reality.”

I understand King wrote this book basically to make himself happy during the death-march dirge of the pandemic, so it’s natural and understandable when he indulges himself at times. I’m speaking of his familiar tack of having characters — during instants of extreme distress — suddenly reflect on related moments in favorite films or novels.

This is really King name-dropping his own favorites, and it’s absurd in the characters’ urgent circumstances. But it’s OK. It’s among his signatures. And I accept it, because it’s him.

Clearly, King loves to read as much as he loves to write.

And I love to read him.

— Bruce Westbrook

Book Review: Stephen King’s ‘Billy Summers’ Hits the Target

I’ve been a Stephen King fan since picking up Carrie when it first hit paperback, and I’m sure many of you have read some of his voluminous work. If so, you may need a heads-up about his latest novel, Billy Summers (Scribner, 514 pages).

It’s a real-world crime thriller with no horror or supernatural elements (aside from brief references to the Overlook Hotel of The Shining), and like most books from this master storyteller, it’s a page-turner–but only after the first 150 pages or so. The setup is as painstakingly detailed and–I have to say it–dull as anything I’ve read from King. But once the story of a paid assassin who only shoots baddies who deserve it gets rolling, look out.

The title character also is an aspiring writer, which allows King to indulge in the literary references he loves to inject into his novels (he’s clearly not just a prolific writer but a voracious reader), while doing what writers are told: write what you know. Other than noting this is a thinly-veiled revenge fantasy aimed at real-life politicos you may or may not endorse, I’ll spare you the plot particulars to discover on your own.

Just rest assured that, once it kicks into gear, Billy Summers is yet another richly rewarding work from–yes, I’m prejudiced–my favorite author. Enjoy.

— Bruce Westbrook

RIP Naya Rivera; We Will Always Have ‘Glee’

As Bogie said, “We’ll always have Paris.” As we must say now with the passing of yet another of its young cast members, we’ll always have “Glee.”

RIP actress and singer Naya Rivera, who rose from a bit part in Season 1 to become a major character in the large ensemble of the landmark musical comedy-drama series of 2009-2015. Her Santana was the master of eloquent, in-your-face smack and sometimes was too tough for her own good. But boy could she sing. And as I’ve said about “Glee” for years–borrowing from an old campaign slogan–it’s the music, stupid.

The tangled tales of a high school show choir’s wildly diverse members were the cake, but the music was the icing. No series in TV history delivered music like “Glee” did, and Naya was one of the best in delivering it.

‘The Graduate’ is Cinema Perfection

Of the thousands of films I’ve seen, The Graduate is the only perfect one. RIP author Charles Webb, upon whose 1963 novel it was adapted by screenwriters Buck Henry and Calder Willingham.

Webb rejected fame and fortune and tried to distance himself from The Graduate’s enormous notoriety. But he planted the seed from which a true screen classic grew, and for that I will always be grateful.

–Bruce Westbrook

Egad! ‘Eegah’ is back!

If, like me, you’re a longtime fan of that little ol’ cowtown puppet show known as Mystery Science Theater 3000, you’re probably in need of a fix.

Sure, you’ve collected all the original episodes released on DVD over the years by Rhino and Shout! Factory, as well as the two rebooted seasons with a new cast. But apart from a dozen shows for which movie rights weren’t acquired (Satellite News says six may be breaking loose–we can always hope), that well has run dry.

Now there’s nothing new on disc in the MST3K galaxy.

Or is there?

Book Review of ‘The Institute’: King’s Kids Have the Power

As a Constant Reader of Stephen King’s since Carrie, one thing I’ve always valued is his ability to take an element of the fantastic (a girl’s massive telekenetic powers in that novel, or vampirism in ‘Salem’s Lot) and enmesh it so much in everyday life that a far-fetched story becomes quite real (a talent which didn’t much apply in the massive otherworldly fantasy saga of The Dark Tower, which is one reason I never warmed to it, even while reading the whole damn thing).

While trading on the could-be-possible though unlikely mental powers of Carrie, Firestarter and the like, The Institute also feels real. That’s one thing which makes the new novel from Scribner so compelling, despite its almost deranged conspiracy-theory bent.

But beyond that, King also sucks us in by making most of his many principal characters kids — not teens, but 12-year-olds on down. And those kids suffer. They suffer mightily. And heroically.

‘Shoot for the Moon’ book review: Go for liftoff

Landing the first man on the moon was perhaps mankind’s most enormous undertaking, and in Shoot for the Moon (Little, Brown and Company, March 12) writer James Donovan does an excellent job of telling that story from its World War II rocket weapon origins through that first small step for a man on the moon (as he notes first moonwalker Neil Armstrong meant to say).

An ardent follower of NASA since my childhood in the ’60s and a resident of Houston since 1983, I’m more familiar than the average person with these things, and I can testify that readers will gain immense knowledge and details from Donovan, who seems to get everything right.

Well, almost everything.

‘Valley Girl’ Blu-ray review: Like, Totally Bitchin’

I used to celebrate ’60s nostalgia. Now it’s the ’80s. The styles and the music were such fun. And no cell phones! So any movie or TV series shot in the era doesn’t have characters incessantly interrupted or distracted by their phone fixation.

No, they can focus — and in the case of 1983’s Valley Girl (just out on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory), the focus is a lively if not exhilarating boy-girl romance.

The boy is Randy (Nicolas Cage), a punkish guy from LA. The girl is Julie (Deborah Foreman), a trendy girl from the suburban valley. When her friends balk at her out-of-step and less than totally tubular suitor, peer pressure causes a Romeo and Juliet rift.