I’m not an inveterate King reader, but a rave review in the New York Times encouraged me to read this one. This noirish novel features private detective Holly Gibney, drawn into an investigation of multiple disappearances by the mother of one of the missing women. The story is fast-paced, but not a whodunnit, since we know from the very beginning about the strange behavior of local semi-retired professors, Rodney and Emily Harris. But why and how? Set in 2018 - 2021, the story is shaped by the pandemic, and as Holly pursues her investigation, the reader hears beliefs across the spectrum from COVID non-believers to those who have lost loved ones to the virus; I didn’t find this distracting, but more of an interesting documents of his times. What was distracting were King’s writerly tics: the annoying substitutes for profanity, like “fracking” and “poopie”; the underlining of character traits, in case the reader missed them; the repeated use of the same word or phrase in close proximity. Would a grown woman, a private detective no less, use the word “poopie” to describe distasteful things? No. (The reader should be warned that, unlike his approach to profanity, King doesn’t shy away from epithets when needed, pretty jarring if you’re listening to this as an audiobook.) I did find his villains fascinating and unique, and would definitely read a Holly Gibney novel again.