For the past decade, Stephen King has turned his hand to the crime thriller, and his latest novel, Never Flinch, shows his mastery of the cat-and-mouse element of that genre while still maintaining his trademark slow-burn style in a small-town setting. King is back with his seventh story featuring Holly Gibney, his sixth full novel, and it finds the clever, unassuming private investigator involved in her most dangerous and personal case yet. Longtime Constant Readers have had mixed feelings about Holly Gibney and King's crime novels, but Never Flinch is arguably the best example of how he's perfected weaving the trademark beats of the thriller with his blue-collar style.

Never Flinch weaves together multiple separate storylines as it unfolds. In one, there is a serial killer loose in the streets of Buckeye City, one who is determined to seek revenge for a wrongly convicted man who was murdered in prison. Detective Izzy Jaynes is on the case, and she enlists Holly's help. In another, the controversial feminist speaker Kate McKay has embarked on a nationwide speaking tour, but when she picks up a stalker, Holly finds herself pulled into her orbit. In another, the soul and gospel diva Sista Bessie comes to town and takes Holly's friends Barbara and Jerome under her wing.

What starts out as wholly unconnected stories converges in one horrifying climax as coincidence, bad luck, and obsession push the characters toward a conflict none of them can foresee. Never Flinch showcases King's deft touch at sketching memorable characters, both heroes and villains, and dropping them into the middle of a remarkable series of events. The mileage you get out of Never Flinch depends on how you feel about Stephen King's Holly Gibney books, but there's no doubt he's still at the top of his game by the time the last page turns.

Never Flinch Is A Masterful Lesson In Pacing & The Build-Up Of Tension

A Slow Burn Leads To A Frantic End

King has always excelled at the slow-burn storytelling format. The author often prefers to take readers on a tour of each small town setting and set us up to spy on the characters' lives like voyeurs before getting to the action. It seems counterintuitive, but it works. One of the most powerful aspects of King's storytelling has always been how he slowly layers the supernatural and fantastic into more mundane storylines, the horror building up so slowly for the characters that by the time they realize something is wrong, it's often too late for many of the townspeople.

That approach works to great effect in Never Flinch. The crime thriller starts out slow, even meandering, and modern readers who have become accustomed to our current all-plot, no-story era might find themselves bailing on it. Those who stick with it will find the payoff is worth it, however. As the characters and storylines converge, the pacing picks up and continues to gain speed. The effect is that it feels as though the characters - and the reader - are hurtling toward a crash, one that seems inevitable thanks to being swept up in the plot that's now speeding along.

It feels as though the characters - and the reader - are hurtling toward a crash, one that seems inevitable thanks to being swept up in the plot that's now speeding along.

No character in a Stephen King book is ever truly safe, and at no point do any of the characters in Never Flinch feel as though they have plot armor and are untouchable. Not even Holly Gibney, the protagonist and main star of the past decade of King's career, feels like she's wholly safe. Even those who haven't read Stephen King's previous Holly Gibney books before Never Flinch to familiarize themselves with the characters will find themselves sweating until the very end – and perhaps beyond.

Stephen King Shows The Horrors Of Human Madness & Fanaticism Are As Dangerous As Any Monster

The Crusade Of A Zealot Always Ends Up Consuming The Zealot

Stephen King is as adept at writing human villains as he is supernatural monsters, and he proves it once again in Never Flinch. The beauty of King's work has always been that his characters feel so real and lived-in: you know these people. With just a few lines, he sketches a character profile that reveals exactly who a character is, for better or worse. It's no different for his human villains; even in the throes of madness, there's something still so mundane and real about his psychopaths and serial killers.

His work with Trig and Chris/Chrissy in Never Flinch is irable and a little unsettling. Both characters feel like people we might on the street, our neighbors, our coworkers. Never Flinch isn't a supernatural horror novel, but it might as well be thanks to the multiple villain POV ages.

The crusade of a zealot always ends up consuming the zealot rather than freeing them, and it doesn't matter the crusade.

Both villains, despite having their own motivations and goals, feel wrong; Chris's mind a mirror full of broken shards, and Trig's a pit of vipers. Both villains revolve around central themes of the ephemeral nature of identity, particularly when it has been subsumed by a mission. Whether the zealotry of a religious cult or the zealotry of murderous compulsion, it doesn't matter. The crusade of a zealot always ends up consuming the zealot rather than freeing them, and it doesn't matter the crusade.

In Never Flinch, as in real life, fanaticism leads to dark places and actions that can't be undone. It leads to paths in life that lock characters into a spotlight they may never have wanted, and can't it to themselves that they never did. It leads to violence, and good work with bad ends. It's that ugly fanaticism of narrow-minded conviction that makes King's latest book feel so relevant in 2025 America. It's also what makes his villains jump darkly off the page.

Never Flinch Would Be A Great Conclusion To The Holly Gibney Era

Stephen King Might Have At Least One More Holly Gibney Story Left In The Tank

It's no secret that the controversial Holly Gibney has become Stephen King's favorite character in the past decade. He returns to her again and again, and it's likely he'll write another book featuring Holly as the central protagonist. Still, if Never Flinch is the final book featuring the petite private investigator, it would be a fine one to end on. Holly and her rag-tag band of friends and allies have been through it over the course of multiple books and one novella.

Her latest case is the most complex one yet and hits a little too close to home. As Holly herself notes throughout Never Flinch, she's getting up there in her years and slowing down. Maybe she has one more case in her, maybe not. If she decides to hang it up, though, the story of Never Flinch isn't a bad way to go out. Though with a mind like Holly Gibney's, it's unlikely she'll ever really retire - much like Stephen King himself, it's a brain that never stops.

Never Flinch is available now wherever books are sold.