“Jorge wants to look and feel forty when he gets to fifty, but fate is a joker. Jorge Castro isn’t even going to see forty-one.”

Holly makes heavy use of dramatic irony. Readers are often one step ahead of characters, which increases the suspense of the central mystery.

“She’s a better, stronger person than she once was, but she’s still a deeply private person.”

Though Holly is a standalone novel, its protagonist has appeared in several other King novels. As a result, she has already experienced character growth “off-screen” before the events of Holly.

“As an avid Trump supporter—a fact she trumpeted to her daughter at every opportunity—she refused to get vaccinations or even to wear a mask.”

In Holly, King touches on sociopolitical topics, including the varying response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Holly portrays the anti-vaccination, anti-mask contingent in a negative light, reflecting King’s real-world views on the topic.