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In this fifth appearance by Holly Gibney, the private detective gets involved in two cases: the hunt for a serial killer, and a women's rights advocate being threatened by a religious zealot.
The book works fine as a standalone.*****
Holly Gibney was introduced to readers in Stephen King's 'Bill Hodges Trilogy' which begins with 'Mr. Mercedes.' In the trilogy, Bill Hodges is a retired police detective who investigates crimes with the help of an amateur team that includes Holly, a shy, middle-aged computer whiz.
Afterwards, Holly and an ex-cop named Pete Huntley start a private detective agency called 'Finders Keepers'. Now that Pete has retired, Holly is in charge of the agency, and she sometimes assists the police with their inquiries.
During a crime spree, Holly met Police Detective Isabelle Jaynes (Izzy) and they're now friends.
Izzy values Holly's intuition, and she shows Holly an ominous letter sent to the police department. The letter reads in part, "I will kill 13 innocents and 1 guilty. Those who caused the innocent to die will suffer." The missive is purportedly from 'Bill Wilson', the deceased founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The police determine the 'innocent' who died is Alan Duffrey, a man wrongly convicted for kiddie porn. Duffrey was recently shanked in prison and 'Bill Wilson' blames the judge, jury and prosecutor. In reality, 'Bill Wilson' is a recovering alcoholic who calls himself Trig at AA meetings.
Trig's initial order of business is to murder 13 random people, and his first victim is a middle-aged woman walking her standard poodle. Trig shoots the woman and leaves a slip of paper reading Letitia Overton - the name of a juror in the Alan Duffrey trial. Trig then goes on to kill more people, leaving jurors' names every time.
Izzy Jaynes and her partner Tom Atta lead the 'surrogate juror' case.
Izzy recruits Holly to assist, and Holly contacts a bartender acquaintance in AA, to ask if he knows or has heard of Trig. This is a questionable tactic, since 'what happens in AA stays in AA', but these are desperate times. For his part, Trig is a highly intelligent and wily perp, and the police struggle to track him down.
In a separate plot thread, a feminist author called Kate McKay has published a book and is on a multi-city publicity/lecture tour that begins in Portland, Oregon and ends in Portland, Maine.
Most of the audience consists of women, lots and lots of women who tend to scream 'We love you Kate.'
Some lecture attendees come to show their hate and contempt for everything Kate believes in. These are mostly men (and a few women), who boo Kate, make vile comments, shake their fists, and make obscene gestures.
Things take a more sinister turn when Kate's assistant Corrie is sprayed with bleach, and told to go home before something worse happens. Kate then hires Holly Gibney to be her security expert, and Holly flies out to join the tour. Holly is a fine bodyguard, and soon shows her worth by saving Kate from a Hulk-size attacker. Holly also continues to help Izzy with the 'surrogate juror' killings, via data mining, flashes of inspiration, and phone calls.
Worse than Kate's run of the mill haters, an individual called Chris - who belongs to a fanatical right wing, anti-abortion, church - is on a mission to murder the feminist icon. Chris's pastor urges him on, and Chris stalks Kate, looking for an opportunity to kill her.
As all this is happening, we also look in on two of Holly's young friends (and sometimes colleagues): Harvard graduate and best-selling author Jerome Robinson.....
.....and Jerome's sister Barbara, a prize-winning poet.
Barbara has won tickets to a Sista Bessie concert, and as things turn out, Sista Bessie LOVES Barbara's poems, and recruits the girl to be a temporary back-up singer/dancer. Jerome joins the Sista Bessie entourage as well, driving Sista Bessie around town and shielding her from obsessive fans.
All these story lines come together when Sista Bessie and Kate McKay both have events at Mingo Auditorium.....
...... and Detective Izzy Jaynes is playing in a 'guns and hoses' charity baseball game, between cops and firemen, right near Mingo Auditorium.
For me, the climax of the book isn't believable because some characters do things they just wouldn't do in real life. This kind of finale bothers me, even if the writer is Stephen King.
Aside from that, this is a good thriller, highly recommended.
Note: Stephen King is open about his personal beliefs, and his advocacy for women's rights, and disdain for right-wing fanatics, come across loud and clear in the novel. Moreover, at the end of the book King reads a list of people who've been killed at abortion clinics by right-wing fanatics. I say hurray for Stephen King, but some people might be bothered.
Stephen King
Rating: 3.5 stars
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