'Holly knows this is how addicts think and behave: they rearrange the furniture of their lives to make room for their bad habits.'
Stephen King
Some FH readers might remember that Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. Last Halloween, I even did a series of posts featuring male nudity in some of King's projects, and a nude salute to a few favorite actors and characters from his novels and movies. (HERE:)
Most summers, I include King's latest novel in the series books I devour. This year, his latest, Holly wasn't due for release until September. Prior to it's arrival though, I wanted to see, and learn as much about Holly as I could. I was first introduced to Holly in the 2020 television adaptation of King's novel The Outsider. In the series, Holly was beautifully played by Cynthia Erivo.
I followed The Outsider up, by learning a little more about Holly in the one of the four novellas in King's If It Bleeds. While I was reading the book, it was Erivo who I pictured as visualized the story and characters. Then, I discovered that Holly was a big part of a trio of novels I had on my list to read in the future. The Bill Hodges trilogy of novels (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and End of Watch). were published in 2014, 2015 and 2016. I'd heard of them, but wasn't aware of the connection of novels.
What I wasn't aware of though, was that the novels had become a television show, with three seasons chronicling each of the stories. The show, titled Mr. Mercedes, starred Brenan Gleason as Bill, along with co-stars Holland Taylor, Harry Treadaway, Kelly Lynch, Jharrel Jerome and Justine Lupe as Holly. I'm not sure why I never knew this show existed, especially given it aired for three seasons. It might be because it aired on the Audience Network, a network I don't get, nor even knew existed.
Over the course of the summer, I found and binged each of the three seasons. I loved seasons 1 and 3, but struggled a bit with season 2. Season one starts out with a shocking scene that impacts each of the shows characters through it's three seasons. The joy of the series however, isn't the shocking scenes, it's the relationships between the characters.
I think I especially loved the chemistry between Gleeson and Holland Taylor, and loved whenever they were in scenes together. Gleeson's chemistry was also great to watch in scenes with Jharrel Jerome (Jerome) and Lupa. (Holly) I highly recommend checking out the show if you haven't, and wish it had gone to a season 4.
I'm about half-way through the novel Holly, and loving it. When I really enjoy a book, I try to savor it, reading a chapter or two a day, then picking up another book. This time, it's Justine Lupe as Holly in my head when I'm reading. Mr. Mercedes showed more of Lupe's Holly, and introduced us to her mother, and some of her backstory, and what made her who she is when me meet her in King's most recent novel.
Back to Mr. Mercedes, there were many scenes and characters that stood out to me over the shows three seasons, but there were 4 actors who I wanted to spotlight. Jharrel Jerome introduced in season 1, Jack Huston in season 2 and Gabriel Ebert and Rarmian Newton from season 3. Two had nude scenes in the series, two other had nude scenes in other projects. Check them all out on the NEXT PAGE HERE:
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