HOLLY by Stephen King

The title character is a private investigator who has been hired by the mother of a missing young woman named Bonnie.  We readers know that Bonnie was abducted by two conniving and depraved elderly professors—Emily and Rodney Harris.  In other words, this is a thriller but not a mystery, or at least not a whodunnit.  We also know that Bonnie is not the first abductee whom the Harrises have locked in a cage and forced to eat putrid raw liver.  What?  In fact, we get to know all of the victims, so that the grisly fate that befalls them is all the more heartbreaking.  Holly is diligent in her quest to find out not only what happened to Bonnie but to determine if a serial killer is at work, as she becomes aware of one disappearance after another.   What these victims have in common, besides being acquainted with the Harrises, is that their disappearance is not deemed strange enough to warrant investigation, at least until Bonnie comes along.  Even in Bonnie’s case, the police are not entirely convinced that a crime has taken place.  If gruesome stories are not your thing, then you are probably not going to pick up a Stephen King book anyway, but be warned that he pulls no punches here.  Holly as our intrepid sleuth has no idea what motive is behind these abductions, but we readers learn soon enough and can only hope that Holly will prevent any further abductions.