When you’ve written 65 novels like Stephen King has, I think it’s fair to say that you can’t hit a home run every time. Sometimes, like in the case of his latest novel, Never Flinch, it’s a bunt.
Over the past decade, King has become enamoured with his character Holly Gibney, who first appeared in his excellent 2014 crime novel Mr. Mercedes in a supporting role. Since then, Holly has appeared in the novels Finders Keepers, End of Watch, The Outsider and her self-titled book, along with the short story “If It Bleeds,” found in King’s 2020 collection of the same name. In Never Flinch, Holly takes centre stage once again. The results are a bit of a letdown.
Here’s the logline:
When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help.
Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard—a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness.
Featuring a riveting cast of characters both old and new, including world-famous gospel singer Sista Bessie and an unforgettable villain addicted to murder, these twinned narratives converge in a chilling and spectacular conclusion—a feat of storytelling only Stephen King could pull off.
Even from the promo description, you can tell that a lot is going on in Never Flinch, and there’s no question that your enjoyment of the novel is going to be severely impacted by how much you like reading about the adventures of Holly Gibney. For me, though I’ve enjoyed all the previous stories she’s been a part of, this time out, with Never Flinch, I finally found myself tiring of the character. More specifically, the language of the character. Prim and proper, and on the spectrum, Holly refrains from swearing. Fuck is frack, which, as a Battlestar Gallactica fan, I can get behind . However, Holly doesn’t say shit, she says poopy, a juvenile word that King uses so often throughout Never Flinch that it became distracting.
That language isn’t exclusive to Holly, though. In conversation with a potential client, Jeromme Robinson, another stalwart from previous Holly stories, who has become a bestselling writer, refers to his sister, acclaimed poet Barbara Robinson, as “a booger.” This moment stood out to me while I was reading as something that, again, felt juvenile and hard to align with Jerome’s development, intellect, and professionalism that King has created for him.
For me, these are the moments in Never Flinch that stood out, which doesn’t say much for the book as a whole. The story’s crescendo almost redeems the book, until it devolves into what I found to be a highly silly finale. King himself reveals in his acknowledgements that his wife Tabitha, after reading the first draft of Never Flinch, told him he could do better. If this is better, well, I’ve got to figure that first draft was pretty…poopy.
All that being said, Stephen King is always an entertaining writer, even when the work isn’t his best. While Never Flinch is the least of his Holly stories, fans of the character will likely enjoy visiting with her once again, though once finished, they’ll likely never revisit this particular book again.
