Horror Book Preview: Read or Skip?

 

Is the Master of Horror back with another creepy tale, or is this not going to hit the mark? 

Let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of the book NEVER FLINCH by Stephen King. As always, I’ll be basing my reviews on first impressions and whether I would want to continue reading the book or not. 

NEVER FLINCH was published in May 2025 and is the character Holly Gibney’s seventh appearance in Stephen King’s works. This is also her second time as a lead in a novel. 

Clearly, she’s King’s favorite character if she has made it this far. 

While many readers do not like Holly Gibney as a character, there are those who do find her authentic and suspect that King may have based her on his wife.

But this is about the book NEVER FLINCH, and disappointingly, not an all-out horror but more of a crime thriller. 

NEVER FLINCH Plot

Detective Izzy Jaynes is put on a case where the department has received a letter that warns that he will kill thirteen innocents and one guilty as an act of retribution for letting an innocent man die. The letter is signed by Bill Wilson. Izzy discusses this case with her friend Holly Gibney, a private detective, who gets immediately intrigued by it. 

On the other side, women’s rights activist, Kate McKay whose assistant Corrie becomes a victim of an attack intended for Kate. As the attacks get bolder, Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard. 

Will Holly be able to solve both cases in time?

My Take on the Preview

The book begins with a character named Trig. As mentioned later on, it is not his real name. He is attending the NA meetings, where he usually listens but, on one occasion, speaks about how he is shaken after learning something disturbing. Later, he speaks to one of the other attendees, Reverend Mike, about how he had learned that someone he knew had died. 

We learn that it was a man who had died in a prison shower. The man in question was apparently innocent, as announced in a podcast much later. Trig decides that he must make amends for what has happened. 

We then meet Izzy Jaynes, a detective, who is shown a letter by Bill Wilson, who claims that he will kill 13 innocents and 1 guilty as part of atonement. 

Izzy involves her friend Holly, who meets up with her at a park and quickly guesses that the prisoner could be Alan Duffrey, who had recently been killed in prison. Apparently, he had been framed by his coworker Cary Tolliver, who was angry at him for getting the promotion he wanted. 

Holly deduces that the letter couldn’t have been written by Cary Tolliver, who had a change of heart. 

Izyy and her partner, Tom meet Cary Tolliver at the hospital, who tells them that he did try to confess to his misdeeds but that no one listened to him, which is why he had to go on the podcast. Neither Izzy nor Tom has any sympathy for the man who framed Alan. 

Later, we see Trig commit his first kill. It’s a woman whose poodle is confused as to what happened to the owner. 

Next, we meet Corrie who is Kate’s assistant. Corrie is attacked by someone in a red wig, and to her horror, she finds herself splashed with some liquid in a bottle which reads ACID. Fortunately, it was all part of a harassment technique, and Corrie is alright. However, the attack on her is used by Kate on stage, which causes Corrie to want to learn to stand up for herself. 

 NEVER FLINCH reads a lot better than the previous crime thriller, HOLLY. It is slightly more immersive from the beginning, although the “magic” that made Stephen King’s works incomparable is missing. 

I suppose the author has given up on horror and decided to write mysteries with Holly as the central character. While the writing is fluid, the visceral way in which the author used to write is subdued. His writing was raw, open, and honest. 

Now, it seems like he has decided to play it safe with the characters, but also uses his works to put out his personal thoughts and opinions on worldly matters. 

Read or Skip?

If you’re expecting Stephen King horror, then this is a miss. It appears to be an ordinary mystery: 13 guilty and 1 innocent? It’s obvious that these 13 people could be jurors. Where else would you find 13 people having some sort of connection?

There’s not much suspense, and Holly appears to be just an eager character, always on the lookout for a mystery. If she were younger, she would be compared to Nancy Drew. 

Never Flinch is a decent crime thriller, but do not expect it to turn into a suspenseful horror. 

You can get the book here