Whenever Stephen King is brought up in casual conversation, people tend to refer to his books as being scary, including too scary for some. While that is true of a lot of them, the fact of the matter is that the King of Horror isn’t a genre writer. He has not only written fiction, but non-fiction as well, and a number of his books would fall under the umbrella of crime and detective fiction. In fact, it could be argued that his last five releases fell into genres other than horror.
In late 2023, Mr. King released Holly, which was an excellent return to characters he created and then introduced us to in 2014’s Mr. Mercedes. As longtime fans will know, that book spawned a trilogy known as The Bill Hodges Trilogy, though its narrative and characters unexpectedly continued on into 2018’s The Outsider and 2020’s If It Bleeds.
Fast-forward to the present, where we have just experienced the release of another book by one of the industry’s greats. Entitled Never Flinch, it’s a follow-up to Holly, and once again stars private detective Holly Gibney. Some will be happy about this, but some will not be as pleased, because quirky Holly can be a really polarizing figure within the Stephen King fan community. There are folks who love her, and there are folks who don’t like her or are simply sick of her.
Never Flinch features a blind and bleeding Lady Justice on its dust cover, and that’s because its story has to do with a court trial. There’s a lot more to it than that, though, as the novel intertwines multiple narrative threads.
Things begin with a man named Trig entering an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, after which he confides in a fellow attendee about his anger regarding a relatively recent trial. Said case involved a banker who was charged with possession of child pornography, before being found guilty and getting locked up for the crime. The man in question ended up being shanked in prison and lost his life, despite the main witness coming forth and admitting that he’d set his coworker up.
Trig then devises a plan, in which he figures that the innocent must pay for what happened to this man, whom he believes never received a fair trial. He then begins killing random people and leaving jurors’ names in their hands.
Across this small Ohio city, Izzy and her partner Tom are attempting to solve these murders, all while the Police Department and Fire Department are gearing up for a big, charity, softball game.
Then, there’s the Robinsons. Brother Jerome is attempting to write a book, while his poet of a sister finds herself asked to meet a celebrity who’s coming to town, with that being popular soul singer, Sista Bessie. The Sista is starting her reunion tour there, and it’s big news.
Holly finds herself wrapped up in trying to help Izzy find the person who’s murdering innocents, but is up to more than ‘just’ that within this book. You see, there’s a woman’s rights activist named Kate McKay, who’s touring around the Midwest in her truck, engaging in speaking events, press conferences and debates along the way. After something happens, and her safety becomes a concern, she enlists Holly Gibney to be her bodyguard of sorts.
Needless to say, there’s quite a bit going on in Never Flinch by Stephen King, which also apparently had a plot line regarding drugs until the author’s beloved wife told him to remove it. It all comes together pretty well, though, as expected. Still, I must be honest and say that this is not King’s best work, or anywhere close to my favourite of his books. It’s good, but not great, and is not as good as Holly, which I really liked.
Never Flinch is a good book, but it isn’t up to the level of a lot of this author’s releases. It feels a bit too busy, isn’t as unique as many of the others, and wasn’t exactly what I expected from my favourite author. The narrative is interesting, the characters are deep and the writing is rather good, but it doesn’t have the same amount of wow or oomph as numerous past efforts. As such, I don’t think it’s going to be as buzzed about it as popular, and part of that could be due to others’ Holly fatigue.
There is also one other thing that I should touch on, although I don’t know if I want to or if it’s truly the best idea. That is the fact that Stephen King has become very political, or maybe always was. Either way, anyone who follows him online knows how much he hates Donald Trump and cannot believe how popular the man is, which is understandable. His views have become more prominent in his writing, which some complain about, and Never Flinch is the most extreme example of this thus far. After all, part of its story is about a woman’s rights activist having to deal with pro-choice people, some of whom wish her harm. As such, it deals with the topic of abortion.
King’s political views have never bothered me, nor has the odd hint of them in his books. However, that isn’t the case for certain others. Let this just be a warning to those folks, as the messaging is very heavy handed herein. I respect it, and respect King’s views — many of which we share — but it’s not subtle.
With all that having been said, and put out there, I am glad that Stephen King is still writing, and welcome anything new that he releases. Never Flinch may not be his best work, by any means, but it’s a good book and something that I personally consider a must read. I know that he’s finished a third Talisman book (I still need to read the first two), but I hope that his next effort will be something new, unique and downright scary. I’ve really enjoyed what he’s released since 2018, and haven’t disliked one of those books, but I’m in the mood for another horror book from the genre’s King.
Last, but certainly not least, I want to wish Mr. King well with regards to his health. He’s unfortunately getting older, and has been open about the pain he deals with due to his accident, surgeries and aging. I hope that pain will greatly lessen.
This review is based on a copy of the book that we were provided by the publisher.