Never Flinch – Stephen King
I’ve been looking forward to this one all year. King’s been on a hot streak lately, and Holly Gibney is one of my all-time favorite characters. I’d follow her through just about anything, and in “Never Flinch,” she’s thrown into a sprawling, tightly wound thriller that’s somehow both ridiculous and hard to put down. It delivers everything fans have come to expect: breakneck pacing, interwoven narratives and a cast of morally gray characters who are either deeply compelling or completely unhinged.
Let’s start with what works.
King is a master of dual-thread storytelling, and this book wastes no time dropping us into two escalating situations. Detective Izzy Jaynes is investigating a series of murders tied to a prison death and a cryptic letter threatening to kill “thirteen innocents and one guilty.”
Meanwhile, feminist firebrand Kate McKay is being stalked across state lines for her unapologetically pro-woman activism, with Holly stepping in as her bodyguard. Of course, both threads converge in Buckeye City — lovingly dubbed the second “mistake by the lake” — where gospel legend Sista Bessie is staging a comeback concert that becomes the story’s centerpiece.
This is King at his most efficient. He keeps the tension high, the characters distinct and the locales refreshingly off the beaten path (shoutout to Des Moines and Davenport). The villain POV chapters are especially strong — one killer has clear Dexter Morgan vibes and the other is a zealot with a dual identity and dangerous conviction. The eventual plot convergence is borderline absurd, but it works, because King knows how to sell absurdity with conviction.
That said, the book stumbles out of the gate. It leans more heavily on previous Gibney novels than it probably should (this one’s not as standalone-friendly as “The Outsider” or “Holly”), but once things click — around the 10% mark — it’s full steam ahead.
Where it falters more seriously is in its politics.
For a writer who’s become increasingly vocal about social justice, King’s portrayal of queer characters remains frustrating. Here, we get Christopher Stewart, a villain whose identity blurs the line between schizophrenia, gender nonconformity and religious trauma. He’s a cross-dressing, mother-obsessed, Bible-beating stalker whose father calls him a “transvestite.” Whether intended or not, it’s a remix of old, harmful tropes King should know better than to revisit.
Add in two queer side characters who only serve the purposes of tragedy and trauma, and it stops feeling like coincidence. If this were a one-off, I might chalk it up to a generational blind spot.
But “Holly” and “It” and assorted other novels in his bibliography have used the “bury your gays” trope, so the pattern is getting harder to ignore. For someone who rightly criticizes J.K. Rowling’s transphobia, Stewart’s portrayal feels especially tone-deaf.
I’m not about to write off my favorite author of all time, but I am going to question the choices here. King has an enormous platform, and lazy, recycled stereotypes aren’t the best use of it. As Holly herself might say: “It’s poopy.”
And yet — despite the glaring flaws — I was hooked.
The final act is pure momentum. As the plot threads knot together, the pacing hits a fever pitch. Even the most contrived twists feel earned in the moment because King builds such relentless momentum. I couldn’t stop listening.
A huge part of that credit goes to the audiobook. Jessie Mueller, taking over from Justine Lupe and Will Patton, delivers what might be my favorite performance of the year. She gives every character a distinct voice, adds emotional depth where needed and even sings. It’s an absolute masterclass in narration.
The book wraps up in classic Holly Gibney fashion: justice prevails, but not without casualties. Once again, I’m questioning why Barbara and Jerome want to maintain this friendship.
Stephen King still knows how to tell a pulse-pounding story, but if he wants to keep his cultural edge sharp, he needs to start asking harder questions about who gets to be the hero — and who keeps getting cast as the victim and the threat.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): 5/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: May 30 – June 3, 2025
Multi-tasking: Good to go, but only in the second half. It takes a while for the plot threads to click into place, and if you’re not paying close attention, it’s easy to get lost in the who’s who. But once it settles in? Golden.
