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Emily and Rodney Harris are the main antagonists of Stephen King’s 2023 novel Holly, the third installment in the Holly Gibney series.
They are retired professors of Bell College Arts and Sciences who are also serial killers, responsible for murders in the Midwest from a small town. After kidnapping a young girl, Bonnie Dahl, private investigator, Holly Gibney investigates the girl’s disappearance.
Biography[]
Both Emily and Rodney are a married couple who were retired professors of Bell College Arts. They had become serial killers, responsible for murders in the Midwest. After retiring, Rodney later gained Alzheimer's disease and Emily became sick with sciatica. Rodney realized that consuming human flesh would help prevent their illnesses. In 2013, Rodney and Emily kidnapped a professor at the college named Jorge Castro. They trapped Jorge in a cage and later killed and cannibalized him. Their next victim was a man named Cary Dressler, who worked at a bowling alley, who they kidnapped in 2015.
After cannibalizing Cary, they kidnapped a woman named Ellen Craslow, though things didn't go according to plan and it ended with Rodney shooting and killing Ellen. Later the same year, Rodney and Emily kidnapped a young man named Peter Steinman and cannibalized him. In early July of 2021, they kidnapped their next victim, one of their young workers named Bonnie Dahl. They killed and cannibalized Bonnie, whose desperate mother, Penny, hired a Finders Keepers detective named Holly Gibney to investigate Bonnie's disappearance.
Holly was initially reluctant to accept the case, but after her mother died from complications of Covid-19 and her partner has the virus too, she decided to help. Holly started investigating Bonnie's disappearance and connected her disappearance to the disappearances of Jorge, Cary, Ellen, and Peter. After speaking with some of the men from the bowling league which Rodney was a part of, Holly spoke to Rodney, and figured that he could be who she called "The Red Bank Predator." Holly found Rodney and Emily, who were doing what they usually did to kidnap a victim: Stop their van at a sidewalk and have Emily cry out that she needs help in order to lure a person nearby, who would then be tased by Rodney. Holly went over and confronted Emily and Rodney. Holly is tased by Rodney after kicking Emily and falls unconscious.
Rodney and Emily take Holly's phone and the pistol which once belonged to Bill Hodges. They trap her in the cage, though she seems to not be phased by them. Emily becomes worried that people are going to know that Holly is missing and that Holly told people that she suspected that they were the abductors. Emily gives Rodney a cyanide pill and keeps one for herself before she leaves the house. She tells Rodney that if the police arrive with a warrant, he needs to call her before taking the pill. After Emily leaves, Rodney goes down to the basement, where Holly tells him to talk about the pros of consuming human flesh. Holly starts goading Rodney, who goes towards the cage. Holly grabs a triangle earring which once belonged to Bonnie, and uses it to slice Rodney's throat open. Rodney stumbles around and falls to the floor, quickly bleeding out.
Emily arrives back at the house and goes to the basement, where she finds Rodney's body and the bloody Holly. Emily grabs Bill's pistol and attempts to use it on Holly, who grabs Emily and breaks her neck. Holly is later rescued and the Harrises' house is raided by the FBI.
Trivia[]
Emily and Rodney were likely inspired by R.M. Renfield from Dracula, as all three of them are delusional, mentally ill cannibals who believe that consuming flesh will grant them immortality and greatness. King himself named Dracula as one of the scariest horror novels of all time (while considering it a not-so-good book on its own at the same time) and frequently referenced it in his work; additionally Olivia Kingsbury compares the Harrises to Renfield, even quoting "The blood is the life" line.
Their surname likely comes from Thomas Harris, an American writer known for his series about a cannibalistic psychologist Hannibal Lecter.
