Stephen King’s Never Flinch Review: A Solid Holly Gibney Thriller

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️

After finishing the Bill Hodges trilogy and The Outsider, I’ve grown pretty attached to Holly Gibney, so seeing her headline her own series has always been something I look forward to.

Never Flinch picks up in a more grounded space than her earlier supernatural brushes, putting her in the dual role of bodyguard to a popular feminist speaker and consultant on a disturbing set of Surrogate Juror murders.

It is an intriguing setup but also a shift in how Holly functions within the story. She spends most of the book deducing patterns rather than being right in the line of fire, and the real propulsion comes from Trig, the perpetrator behind the Juror murders. We follow him from the moment he grapples with the idea of killing to the point where he crosses the line, and then crosses it again with unsettling ease. His chapters carry most of the tension while Holly, despite being positioned in dangerous territory, remains at a surprising distance. Even in the bodyguard track, where a stalker is actively threatening Kate, Holly never has the direct confrontation you expect from this kind of setup.

The book still moves at a brisk, engaging pace and the audiobook narration helps keep the whole thing lively. I enjoyed my time with it and it held my interest throughout, but it didn’t hit the heights of the best Holly stories. A solid 3.5 for me, enjoyable but not something that would make any personal best of list.