Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton/Simon & Schuster Audio (Audiobook – 5 September 2023)

Series: Holly Gibney – Book Two

Length: 14 hours and 44 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Legendary author Stephen King continues to dominate the horror and crime fiction genres with his brilliant 2025 release, Never Flinch, a gripping and intense thriller that brings back one of his more unique protagonists and keeps the reader constantly on the edge of their seat.

Ever since I started reviewing a wider range of fiction on my blog, I have been really drawn to the works of iconic author Stephen King.  King is a truly impressive author who has impacted so many levels of world fiction with his brilliant imagination, and I have had such an epic time getting through some of his latest novels.  Highlights for me so far include the fun coming-of-age story Later, the clever fantasy novel Fairy Tale, the gripping and personal thriller Billy Summers (one of my favourite books of 2021), and the impressive short story collection You Like It Darker (one of my favourite books of 2024), just to name a few.

While I have loved some of these impressive and varied reads, some of my favourite recent Stephen King books have been those where King dives into the crime fiction genre, producing some complex and particularly powerful narrative, especially when his mysteries border on horror stories.  The author’s current dive into the crime fiction genre mostly originated with his 2014 novel, Mr Mercedes.  The first book in the author’s Bill Hodges series, Mr Mercedes was a fantastic read that saw a gritty detective attempt to stop a deranged killer haunting his town.  While the Bill Hodges books featured several compelling characters, a true standout was unusual new protagonist, Holly Gibney.  An initially timid and unsocial figure, Holly grew into a competent detective as the Bill Hodges books continued and was a true standout for this clever trilogy.

King enjoyed Gibney so much as a character that she was eventually brought back for several additional books.  This included the horror thriller The Outsider (one of my favourite horror novels), where Holly is brought in halfway through the book’s plot to investigate a murder conclusively proven to be committed by a man with a perfect alibi.  The Outsider was an exceptional read, and King soon upgraded Holly to a sole protagonist with his 2023 novel Holly.  Featuring a particularly powerful and deeply shocking story, Holly saw the protagonist take on an unlikely pair of killers with a shocking motivation for committing their crimes.  Holly ended up being one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023, and I am still very impressed with where that dark story went.  As such, I have been very keen to read more books from Stephen King since then, and I was particularly thrilled when I found out that the author’s 2025 release was another Holly Gibney novel.  This sequel, Never Flinch, was one of my most anticipated novels of 2025, and I have been meaning to write a review about it for a while now.

Plot Synopsis:

From master storyteller Stephen King comes an extraordinary new novel with intertwining storylines—one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker—featuring the beloved Holly Gibney and a dynamic new cast of characters.

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.

Thrilling, wildly fun, and outrageously engrossing, Never Flinch is one of King’s richest and most propulsive novels.

Honestly, how the heck is King still this damn good?  Never Flinch was another exceptional novel from King, who continues to impress with his elaborate narratives, slick writing and relatable characters.  Featuring a particularly clever crime fiction plot that keeps the readers on their toes to the very end, Never Flinch proved near impossible to put down at times, especially as King keeps amping up the intensity and the danger.  Never Flinch gets a very easy five-star rating from me, and I’m already listed it as one of the top books and audiobooks from the first half of 2025.

King pulls together an awesome and compelling story for Never Flinch, that had me hooked very early on.  Starting off on an interesting note as the reader is introduced the book’s antagonist, who goes by the nickname of Trig, you are soon thrown into his desperate ploy to murder 14 random people in Buckeye City to replicate the jury who put an innocent man in prison.  Serving as a very impressive start to a great story, King soon expands the narrative further by examining the police investigation into these murders, and showing protagonist Holly Gibney’s initial interest in the case.  From there the plot expands even further, as another dangerous killer starts to stalk a women’s rights activist, Kate McKay, and her assistant, and Holly is eventually hired to act as Kate’s bodyguard during the rest of her book tour.  King does an excellent job building up all the details of this second case, while also following the growing murders in Buckeye City, and you are soon absorbed in both cases, especially when you witness all the perspectives involved with the two scenarios, including the book’s various antagonists.  There are also some fun additional personal notes added to plot, as several compelling supporting characters, including recurring Holly Gibney cast members Jerome and Barbara Robinson, the later of whom builds a connection with famous gospel singer Sista Bessie, who is performing in Buckeye City.

The author keeps the pace of Never Flinch going strong and fast as you move into the story, with interesting storylines around Holly, the police, the antagonists, and other supporting characters.  There was a real interesting mixture of storylines once King had everything set up, and I really loved the various compelling character arcs and elements as the plot continued.  While some of the big twists about the antagonists aren’t too surprising and are revealed relatively early in the plot, you are still very drawn into their respective crusades, as well as the protagonists’ attempts to stop them.  Everything comes together nicely in the second half of the book, where both cases, as well as the more personal storylines of Never Flinch, collide violently, and various characters are forced to fight for their lives.  King provides an exceedingly tense final third to Never Flinch, which sees a blow-by-blow coverage of events leading up to a dramatic and bloody final confrontation.  The alternating movements of all the participants in this case, including a deranged killer, several hostages and coerced individuals, as well as the protagonists desperately trying to save the day, produced so much tension, and you really cannot turn away until all the dramatic confrontations come to an end.  I frankly powered through this final part of the book in one extended session, as I was so damn keen to see what happened next, and this ended up being an extremely satisfying ending to a really impressive book.

I really enjoy King’s great writing style when it comes to his captivating crime fiction novels, and he excels at creating tense and ultra-exciting reads, driven by multiple compelling character arcs.  Never Flinch was an excellent example of this, as King produces a brilliant story that quickly grabs the reader’s attention and never slows down.  Featuring slick, quickfire writing and very short chapters and subchapters, the story moves along at a very fast clip, and King effectively sets up the book’s compelling scenarios very effectively.  The great array of alternating character perspectives, as well as several compelling flashbacks, really works to create a layered plot, and I loved the constant switch between the many characters.  Showcasing several antagonist perspectives also helped to really increase tension, especially as you got to see their various plans in action.  This writing style also helped to make Never Flinch feel a lot more accessible to new readers, and while established fans of the author will probably get more out of some of the character developments that occur in the novel, I felt that Never Flinch was a book that any fan of crime fiction could easily get into and have no trouble following at all.

King also experiments with some interesting themes in this novel, which added a lot to Never Flinch’s emotional impact, while also helping to highlight character flaws in the cast.  This includes a very compelling look at addiction in all its forms, with a particular focus on how it drives people.  While this includes a focus on more obvious addictions like drugs and alcohol, other major addictions come to light throughout the book, including Trig’s growing desire to kill, and Kate’s addiction for the spotlight and controversy.  The examination of addiction served as a key part of the book’s plot, especially as it helps to explore some of the character’s motivations, and I felt that King was putting a lot of his own personal experiences into the book.  King also spends a bit of time in Never Flinch examining mentorship, as several junior characters find themselves coming under the wing of older, seemingly wiser, people.  While some of these relationships are quite positive, others, such as Kate and her assistant, come across as a little more toxic at times, especially when the mentor puts their own needs ahead of their student’s safety.  I liked the interesting comparisons in the mentor/mentee relationships that formed throughout Never Flinch, and it was a very compelling addition to the plot.

As with most of King’s books, the true heart of Never Flinch lies in its compelling and often larger-than-life characters, who the author meticulously brings to life.  The focus of this book is once again the quirky and silently talented Holly Gibney, a skilled investigator brought into the case by her own curiosity and a desire to help a prominent women’s rights activist.  Holly serves as a dependable and likeable heart to the entire novel, and it was fascinating to watch her continue to battle her own lack of confidence and lingering social issues.  Her continued growth as both an investigator and a person is an excellent part of this book, and it was great to see the various relationships she continues to cultivate.

These relationships for Holly result in an excellent cast of returning characters, including detective Isabelle ‘Izzy’ James, who has a much bigger role in this novel as the main police character in the story.  Izzy’s official investigation serves as a good counterpart to Holly’s more general queries into the case, and her maverick personality, especially in the face of police politics, added some extra intrigue to Never Flinch.  The other two major returning characters are siblings Jerome and Barbara Robinson, who have served as Holly’s backup and friends since Mr Mercedes.  While Jerome was a great emotional support to Holly and had some key roles in this book, the standout supporting figure was Barbara, whose compelling side-plot about her work with Sista Bessie helped to make Never Flinch a little more hopeful in places, especially as King has been detailing Barbara’s artistic growth in response to the darkest of encounters for the last couple of books.  Of course, as this is a Stephen King novel, this hopefulness often results in greater trauma down the line, as the author must ensure you are constantly worried that bad things are going to happen to the good people in Holly’s life.  Throw in some other compelling supporting characters, including the radiant and soulful Sista Bessie, the bombastic feminist icon Kate McKay, and Corrie Anderson, Kate’s young assistant who finds herself in the firing line alongside her boss despite her best judgement, and there are a lot of interesting figures in Never Flinch who you become quite attached to.

While I love the main cast, another major highlight of Never Flinch is the complex antagonists who King effortlessly works into the plot.  This includes a compelling stalker figure who is hunting after Kate and Corrie for their own religious reasons.  An interesting character whose deeper issues are well exploited, this stalker was an interesting alternate antagonist for Holly in this novel, and I liked how their complex actions added some additional risk to the plot.  However, the best villain was the serial killer stalking Buckeye City, determined to murder 14 people in response to an innocent man dying in jail.  This killer, Trig, was a truly fascinating figure, with some unique motivations and quirks.  King does an excellent job mostly obscuring Trig’s identity for much of the novel, while also showcasing many compelling scenes from his perspective as continues his murderous quest.  The resulting slow-burn loss of Trig’s sanity as he becomes addicted to his dark work was a particularly sinister part of Never Flinch, and King excelled at showcasing this antagonist’s changing motivations and plans.  These outstanding villains served as an impressive counterpart to the main cast, and I felt that Trig was King’s best character in Never Flinch.

While I received copies of Never Flinch on a few different formats, I decided in the end to try out the audiobook version of this novel, especially after having some very good experiences with other Stephen King audiobooks.  This proved to be an outstanding choice, as the Never Flinch audiobook was an exceptional listen, with the layered and complex mystery really transforms into something special when read out.  Coming in with a near 15-hour long runtime, Never Flinch is a decently long audiobook, but it’s one that listeners will generally be able to power through quickly, especially with the compelling, if relatively new narrator Jessie Mueller bringing the story to life.  Now, I must admit that I was initially disappointed that Holly narrator Justine Lupe (who played Holly in the Mr Mercedes television adaptation), was not returning for Never Flinch, however Jessie Mueller quickly showed herself to be an excellent replacement.  Thanks to her outstanding voice work, Mueller quickly made the Never Flinch audiobook her own, and I liked the unique flair and compelling voices she gifted to the extended cast.  Several of these characters had a lot more personality thanks to Mueller’s narration, and I liked how well she voiced some of the distinctive members of the cast.  However, I think Mueller’s best inclusion to this audiobook was her very impressive singing voice, as there a couple of music focused scenes around Sista Bessie and Barbara.  Mueller captured these parts of the book perfectly, and her resulting singing performances were extremely good, and helped to give the audiobook more impact.  As such, Never Flinch was an overall exceptional listen and one of the best audiobooks of the year, and I would strongly recommend it as the best format to enjoy this great new King novel.

Stephen King once again showcases why he the world’s top author with another exceptional and truly gripping novel.  Never Flinch was an incredible read that combines a clever crime fiction narrative with some fantastic characters, to really grab the reader’s attention.  With its epic tension and high stakes, King’s latest novel was so damn addictive, and I really appreciated how clever the story got.  An overall exceptional read, Never Flinch was one of the best books I had the pleasure of reading in 2025, and I cannot wait to see what King writes next.

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