The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: King, Stephen. Holly. Scribner, September 5, 2023. Kindle.

In the horror novel Holly by Stephen King, Holly Gibney investigates what she later calls the worst case of evil she has ever seen. Holly accepts a missing persons case to distract her from her mother’s death, but the case turns into a murder investigation spanning nearly a decade. To make matters worse, those missing were victims of an elderly couple who believed cannibalism would cure their age-related illnesses and pains.

Holly has just finished attending her mother’s funeral on Zoom when she receives a call from Penelope “Penny” Dahl on her office phone. Penny reports that her daughter, 24-year-old Bonnie, is missing. The police believe Bonnie just ran away, but Penny thinks her daughter has been abducted. Holly agrees to take on the case against the advice of her partner, Pete Huntley, who is sick with Covid.

King incorporates information about Roddy and Emily Harris, a couple of elderly professors who believe that cannibalism can cure illnesses, like Alzheimer’s and sciatica, as well as soothe the aches and pains of growing older. The narrator details how Roddy and Emily use their age to scam their victims into helping them push a motorized wheelchair with a supposedly dead battery up a ramp into a handicap-accessible van. The victims are injected with a tranquilizer when they are busy pushing the chair. The couple has killed five victims, including Bonnie.

As Holly investigates, she begins to uncover more and more people who have gone missing. These victims were not connected closely enough with anyone that their disappearances drew any suspicion at the time. Once Holly begins asking questions, people begin remembering and telling her about others they have known who have suddenly disappeared.

After Holly connects most of the victims with Roddy and Emily, she writes up a preliminary report, but holds off on sending it out until she has enough confirmation to justify her suspicions. She goes to the Harrises’ house with the intention of determining if they have a handicap-accessible van. Holly finds the van she suspected would be there, but is distracted by Emily. Roddy uses a taser to subdue Holly so he can inject her with a tranquilizer. He and Emily put Holly in the cage in the basement.

When Holly wakes, she realizes she will have to keep her wits about her to survive. She refuses to answer any of Emily and Roddy’s questions, but learns from them that they are killing and eating their victims. Roddy, who is suffering from the beginning of Alzheimer’s despite the diet of human brains that he believes cures Alzheimer’s, goes to talk to Holly alone because he has forgotten Emily told him not to talk to her alone.

Roddy begins lecturing Holly about the benefits of eating humans, but Holly angers him by telling him that his beliefs are not founded. She argues that he has fallen prey to the placebo effect. Roddy is angered enough by her claims that he walks up to the cage to confront her. Holly grabs him around the throat and slices his jugular vein with an earring she found left behind in the cage by Bonnie.

Emily returns home and is devastated when she sees that Roddy is dead. She falls down the stairs and breaks her arm as she is trying to check on him. Emily returns with the gun Holly brought with her to protect herself. Emily shoots at Holly several times, but manages only to graze her arm. When Holly realizes the gun is empty, she walks to the bars of the cage. Emily pulls the trigger and is surprised when the gun does not fire. Holly is able to grab her and twist her neck, breaking it and killing her.

Penny, who became worried when Holly did not call with an update about the case when she was supposed to, alerted Pete that she could not get in touch with Holly. Pete calls Barbara, a young adult who sometimes helps them with their investigations, to check on Holly. Barbara puts together the information she has about the case and goes to the Harrises’ house where she finds Roddy and Emily dead and Holly locked inside the cage.

Later, after Holly has been rescued and the FBI is investigating the case, Holly realizes that Roddy and Emily’s was the worst example of evil she has encountered in her job as a private investigator. She believes this case was the worst because Roddy and Emily were evil in an ordinary way. They were not possessed. Their actions were not the result of any evil forces, they were simply two people who lacked empathy and believed they could abuse people for their own selfish reasons.

Holly considers not reopening the private investigation firm because her mother left her enough money to live comfortably for the rest of her life. She knows that if she closed the firm she would not have to worry about facing evil again. Holly also realizes working at the firm is good for her mental and emotional well-being. When the phone rings with a case, she decides to answer it, indicating she is going to continue working.