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With Never Flinch, Stephen King Offers an Overstuffed Thriller That Still Delivers

By Matthew Jackson  |  May 28, 2025 | 10:00am
Books Reviews Stephen King
With Never Flinch, Stephen King Offers an Overstuffed Thriller That Still Delivers
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Never Flinch, Stephen King’s latest novel to feature private detective Holly Gibney, is one he describes in the afterword as a challenge to write, a process full of rewrites and setbacks in an effort to bring the book home. After reading the book, it’s safe to say that those challenges are at least still somewhat evident in its 400-plus page length, though not at the expense of our entertainment.

King’s fascination with Holly, a character first introduced in his Mr. Mercedes trilogy of thrillers, is still clear, just as it was when he gave the character her own novel, simply titled Holly, two years ago, and his eagerness to keep diving into her life and her mysteries is still very potent. But with a wider cast of characters, a pair of villains, and perhaps one too many story threads, it’s clear that Never Flinch isn’t King at his best. But even when he struggles with a book, King is still King, and what the book lacks in cohesion, it makes up for in sheer suspenseful force.

This time around, King divides up the protagonist role between Holly, still running the detective agency Finders Keepers, and Isabelle “Izzy” Jaynes, a detective at the Buckeye City Police Department who’s become one of Holly’s close friends. As the book picks up, Izzy catches what seems to be a rather distinctive serial killer case, as a suspect—revealed in chapters of his own—starts to pick off victims one by one in retribution for a grave wrong done to someone he knew. Fascinated and frustrated by the case in equal measure, Izzy turns to Holly to help unravel the mystery as the bodies start to pile up, but Holly’s got a case of her own. Thanks to her reputation as a dogged investigator, she’s landed a gig as a bodyguard for Kate McKay, a feminist author on a speaking tour who’s been plagued by a religious fanatic stalker, who has lethal intentions of their own. 

King’s never been shy about including social issues in his work, and the Holly Gibney stories have given him a particularly good excuse to explore the darkness in current events, whether it’s COVID-19 in Holly or, in Never Flinch, abortion rights and alt-right extremism. It’s clear what’s captivated that side of his imagination this time around, and the issue is not the preoccupation but the sheer vastness of his attempted scope. A story about a violent anti-abortion activist feels meaty enough for one novel, as does a story about a vigilante setting out to avenge a miscarriage of justice. Here, King tries for both, and while he makes it work, you can see the strain in it, even for his veteran storytelling mind.

At any given point in Never Flinch, King’s character focus is also spread thin, flitting in and out of the heads of at least five major characters, plus assorted minor characters who dip in for the occasional point-of-view chapter. Again, this is nothing new for the legendary author, who’s often spread his narrative across dozens of characters to tell the story of entire communities falling under some darkness or another, but in Never Flinch, it feels just slightly threadbare. Holly Gibney is a strong enough character to lead a novel on her own, and Izzy Jaynes feels that way too, but by the time you’ve juggled them both and added two different villains, each with their own agenda, the book feels weighed down and in need of focus.

Still, this is Stephen King we’re talking about, and even if he gets a little lost trying to find the main narrative thrust in a book sometimes, he always gets there eventually. His confident, accessible prose still drives the narrative along, working in short sections and chapters like a proper thriller should, ratcheting up the tension as collision courses start to become clearer and King steams ahead for home plate. 

By the time all of these story threads converge, and King is moving into his endgame, you almost forget the issues with the middle sections of the book, because you’re reminded just how good he is at marshalling suspense when he needs it, and paying it off in a way that counts. Never Flinch is not his best Holly Gibney book, but it is evidence that the character still has plenty of energy in her finely tuned mind, and that King, even when he falters, can get his stride back.

Never Flinch is available now wherever books are sold. 

Matthew Jackson is a pop culture writer and nerd-for-hire who’s been writing about entertainment for more than a decade. His writing about movies, TV, comics, and more regularly appears at SYFY WIRE, Looper, Mental Floss, Decider, BookPage, and other outlets. He lives in Austin, Texas, and when he’s not writing he’s usually counting the days until Christmas.

 
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