2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss If It Bleeds, the second book in the Holly Gibney series by Stephen King.

Pages: 447 pages


Length: 1 Month (May)


Participants:Eirelyn, Joan, Saha

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

I can't wait to read another Stephen King!

Me too! I have just borrowed it! :D

I have finished the first story in the book: Mr. Harrigan's Phone. (view spoiler)[I love the characterization in this story. Mr. King is so amazing about that. I don't know why I'm surprised, though, as he is one of the most prolific writers of our time! But I always find myself sucked into the lives of his characters. And with this story, it was no different.

I liked Craig a lot. I thought he was relatable, and I loved the slow burn of watching his relationship with Mr. Harrigan unfold. There were not a lot of scenes meant to be scary in this story, but the few chosen ones were definitely creepy.

I was reading this on my phone in bed, in a completely dark room. The moment when Craig received a text back from Mr. H's phone, it gave me chills!

I felt like the ending was rushed a little bit. Craig's beloved former teacher had passed, and then Craig's calling up Mr. Harrigan's phone, basically in the hope that the same thing will happen to the man that killed her as happened to Craig's bully. Which, of course, it does! Another creepy moment, for sure!

But I think one of the most emotionally ambivalent moments was when Craig received the text from Mr. H's phone that said: "CCC sT" & Craig was sure that it was Mr. Harrigan trying to tell him to stop. That moment was packed with a lot of feelings -- it was creepy because he was still getting texts from a dead guy, it was sad because Mr. Harrigan was begging him to stop using that supernatural avenue to get revenge on people, and it was a little scary because it was evident that Craig was no longer innocent in what was happening. He had purposely chosen to send Mr. Harrigan a message, in the hope that the guy who killed his teacher would end up dead. And when it happened, he wasn't sorry, which made me worry for his character.

But in the end, he seemed to make the right decision by saying goodbye to Mr. Harrigan & getting rid of his phone completely. (hide spoiler)]

I just finished the first story. I love King's writing. I don't know why I took such a long hiatus from it.

(view spoiler)[ I also loved the characters. I wanted to know a little more about Mr. Harrington than I got but I guess that was part of the mystery. Craig was definitely a strong character.

I do agree maybe the ending was a little rushed. There could have been a little more creepiness.

The texts were definitely creepy. I jumped when I got a text while reading it.

Did I miss what all of the initials were at the end of the texts? I feel like I didn't get that part too much.

I agree about how Craig was innocent about it at first and then he called for the death of the drunk driver. That part was sad that he gave into the bad part of him.

I liked how it went into a little bit about how society is with the phones nowadays. I always think it's sad but then there I go sitting on my phone for awhile. I'm glad the issue was tackled in the book and poignant how he didn't throw away his iPhone 5C. (hide spoiler)]

The next story is short. I expect to complete that one today as well and then hopefully complete the big story this weekend.

I completed the second story. I had to read back over parts of it. I was a little confused.

(view spoiler)[ So did Chuck become famous after the dance on the street? is that why in Act 1 his name was everywhere?

The story seemed a little disjointed. There were too many things going on for a short story, I thought. (hide spoiler)]

I just finished the second story today. I liked the way it was written, (view spoiler)[going back in time as it was told. I thought it made it a lot sadder knowing where it was headed. But, like you, I was a little confused about a few things. I'm not sure what all of the billboards were about. And I'm not sure why the world basically ended when Chuck died. What was that about? There was no reference to that as the story went back in time. At least, not that I picked up on, anyway. (hide spoiler)]

I just now started the If It Bleeds story. And I've got to say, it's a little (view spoiler)[unnerving starting this one, with such a horrific story line of a bomb in a school, after hearing about the event that happened in the elementary school today. (hide spoiler)]. I think I may call it a night & come back to this one later.

I thought the same thing about If It Bleeds. The timing of us reading it was a little unnerving.

And I'm glad you agreed with me about the second story. That one was my least favorite so far. I'm reading Rat now and it's pretty creepy.

For If It Bleeds:
(view spoiler)[ I was expecting Ralph to show up and was a little disappointed that he didn't. I didn't find it as captivating as The Outsider. I did like the details that all of the "Outsiders" are a little bit different. Holly kind of bored me in it and towards the end I was just reading to get it done. Would she really have taken the money? That part upset me. I also thought there was going to be some weird connection between her uncle and The Outsider. I was kind of hoping for something creepy there. (hide spoiler)]

I should be completing Rat in the next hour.

I finished Rat. I think that and Mr. Harrigan's Phone were my favorite. I thought they were both creepy.

I have to say, my favorite part about this book was that I read it, instead of listened to it. The narrator for Outlander was SO SLOW when Holly was speaking, and I had him on 1.2 speed! This was a lovely delight :)

I'm slowly making my way through. I don't think I'm going to finish before the end of the month, but I'll keep posting here as I get through it! :D

I keep meaning to post! So, I finished the If It Bleeds story, and I have to say, (view spoiler)[I wasn't too impressed with it. I felt like it had a decent basis with the shapeshifter creature, but it seemed like a huge portion of it was just Holly thinking about things, wondering who the person/creature was & how to draw him out & stop him. I didn't like it nearly as well as The Outsider either.

Yeah, like you, Joan, I was hoping Ralph would be involved too, at least a little bit, as I loved his character in The Outsider. But most of this story revolved almost solely around Holly, with just minimal outside help or other characters. I didn't feel like we really got to know any of the others at all. Also like you, I felt like I was just trying to read to get it finished, as I was a little bored as well. =\ Which is sooo disappointing because I enjoyed The Outsider so much.

So, I read the first two stories via ebook, but this one felt like it dragged, so I switched to audiobook, and I think that my favorite thing about this particular story was the fact that Will Patton narrated it. He had a great audiobook voice! XD (hide spoiler)]

Archiving a little early this month, so this is in the Archive folder but will remain unlocked as people are still commenting