Despite being one of Stephen King's Never Flinch. This has led to mixed reactions from his readership, with some happy to get another crime novel from him, and others rolling their eyes that Holly will pop up in another book.

The reaction isn't surprising. the collection You Like It Darker, she will be in Never Flinch, and with that, it's worth exploring the strong reaction to the character.

Why Is Holly Gibney So Controversial? The Backlash To Stephen King's Character Explained

There Are A Few Reasons For The Division

Some of the division over Holly stems from the fact that Holly is unlike any character King has written before, and has taken up a higher page count than any other character aside from those from The Dark Tower series and Randall Flagg. That will make any character a lightning rod for criticism, especially one who is unique in an author's pantheon. Holly, for many, is arguably an acquired taste beyond that, though.

With her agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and prodigious memory and computer skills, some readers dislike her as her personality is a hard one to love from the jump. Her awkwardness and insecurities do not make her immediately endearing. Meanwhile, others feel Holly is a Mary Sue character. It's true that Holly's skills in certain areas are savant-like, with her pattern recognition and crystal-clear recall up there with Sherlock Holmes, which grates on some readers who find her unrealistic.

The latter argument is more than a little disingenuous, though, considering King has written plenty of precocious or freakishly skilled characters - Holly is, in many ways, an adult version of Mark Petrie from 'Salem's Lot, and everyone loves him. The same goes for Roland Deschain, a taciturn and hard-to-crack character with preternatural skills. The only difference is that Holly is a woman and the other characters are male, so it's hard not to think there's likely some misogyny at play here, whether realized or not. It's an ironic reality, considering that one of the regular criticisms of King's work over the years has been his relative weakness when it comes to writing fully realized female characters.

The Stephen King Books Featuring Holly Don't Help Her Case

Plenty Of His Constant Readers Want Him To Return To Horror

Part of the reason that Holly Gibney hasn't endeared herself to a segment of the fanbase is arguably the books in which she's appeared. Writers experimenting to challenge themselves and stave off boredom is not new. With a career that's spanned half a century at this point, Stephen King has had various eras, the same as Picasso or Spielberg. For the past decade, King has been in a crime thriller era, with his first pure crime book, Mr. Mercedes, being the book that introduced Holly in 2014. His other tie-in thrillers like The Outsider and Holly have been really well-received, and have also made for two great TV adaptations, with Holly Gibney being played by Cynthia Erivo in The Outsider and Justine Lupe in Mr. Mercedes.

That said, there is a fair segment of longtime Constant Readers who prefer King's horror novels and aren't keen on his shift to thrillers. Others are actively unhappy about it, regularly campaigning the author to just return to writing horror novels like his classics of decades ago. It makes sense, in a way: crime thrillers are ubiquitous, but no one can do horror quite like Stephen King. While fans have no proprietary ownership of what an author chooses to write, through her appearances, Holly Gibney has become the face of the books that King's lifelong readers tend to care about least. That feeling has translated to the character, rightly or wrongly.

Holly Gibney Is One Of Stephen King's Best Characters (Despite The Backlash)

She's A Flawed Person And It Makes Her More Human

Despite the backlash toward her from some of Stephen King's fanbase, Holly Gibney is actually one of the best characters the author has created. As noted before, King has often struggled to write three-dimensional female characters, which was always a bit confusing seeing as how most of King's characters have been the everyman/everywoman type. Beyond her being a female character, Holly is just a particularly well-fleshed-out individual thanks to her appearance across multiple books.

King has often struggled to write three-dimensional female characters, which was always a bit confusing seeing as how most of King's characters have been the everyman/everywoman type.

The complaints about Holly, ironically, actually just help illustrate why she's a great character: she's like everyone else. She's deeply flawed and has some annoying quirks, which isn't strange – that could describe any character, or any person reading it. In plenty of ways, Holly Gibney is the most human and relatable of Stephen King's characters, which is perhaps why there are such strong feelings for her across the spectrum. Plenty of readers see a little bit of themselves in Holly, and whether in a positive or negative way, it shows that Holly is memorable.