Never Flinch

'Retirement' isn't a concept accepted by 78-year-old author Stephen King. He admits to winding down, and is very conscious of his mortality and finite time. But he is still actively writing, exploring new directions beyond traditional horror. According to PEN America, Stephen King is apparently the most banned author in US schools. LOL

“The thing is, I try to entertain myself,” King says. “I sit down like at quarter of 6 in the morning before anybody's up, and before my wife's having her first cup of coffee and she's in another part of the house. I really enjoy those three or four hours where I can play in a kind of a fantasy world. It's kind of nice.”

“I’m a busy guy.” But the author concedes he’d “like to stop before I start to drivel. Like, repeat myself. I feel like I've still got a little more space to explore, but I have to watch out and not become a bore. I hate that idea, of being a boring person. I'd like to still surprise people a little bit.”

I'm in the middle of speed-reading the author's 'It' (1986) and finishing up television series 'IT: Welcome to Derry' (October 2025). The show's pretty good! The television series is developed by all the 'It' film directors — Andy Muschietti, Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs.

I finally got around to reading Stephen King's detective novel 'Never Flinch' (May 2025). It's a follow-up to his crime novel 'Holly' (2023), which was pretty decent.

All the reviews said that 'Never Flinch' isn't his best work. And after I read it, I agree. Yet everyone said that it is still a good book. Are we missing solid storylines and decent writing nowadays? Stephen King's 'not the best' is still extremely acceptable by critics. (Reviews here, here and here.)

Like all his other foray into detective storylines, there's nothing supernatural in 'Never Flinch' either. The horror is in human stalkers and serial killers.

Fan favorite sleuth and whose name we should be familiar with — private investigator Holly Gibney is back! This story holds two parallel cases developing simultaneously. 

A 'Bill Wilson' had emailed Buckeye City Police Department, pledging to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty” And the person did. We learnt that this was in reference to 13 jurors who had convicted 'paedophile' Alan Duffrey in a trial. Duffrey had always maintained his innocence; he was killed while in jail. It was revealed that he had been framed, and indeed innocent. Someone decided to be a vigilante, and would kill 13 proxies and 1 guilty. Detective Isabelle 'Izzy' Jaynes of Buckeye City Police Deparment and her partner Tom Atta are assigned to the case, 

Bodies pile up, shot and killed. The author never hid who 'Bill Wilson' was, and towards the end of the story, revealed his identity to us readers even before the detectives knew it. 'Bill Wilson' is Trig, who is Donald Gibson, Juror Number Nine in the trial. When he learnt about the wrongful conviction, he was eaten up by guilt. 

Donald Gibson has a ton of Daddy issues, and a mother who disappeared when he was eight. She was never found. His childhood trauma resurfaced — he was abused by his father, used as target practice for hockey and always got hit by the puck. Each time he gets hit and tries to dodge or run away, he gets yelled at. His father yelled 'NEVER FLINCH!' So I guess that's how this book got its title. Donald took on the name 'Trig' as he goes to AA meetings and all of that. Now the name 'Trig'. Trigger is the name of the horse ridden by actor Roy Rogers in many American Westerns and Donald's father sarcastically named him 'Trigger'. Donald's missing mother Bonita Gibson was never found, and he always suspected that his father killed her, but even the police couldn't find evidence, and by now, decades later, it's a cold case. 

There's another would-be fanatical murderer named Christopher 'Chris' Stewart from an abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular women's right activist and feminist author Kate McKay on a publicity tour. He had made attempts to hurt her, and he intended to kill her. Private detective Holly Gibney somehow was hired to be Kate's bodyguard. She eventually discovered who the stalker is, and learnt his dual personality as biological male Christopher Stewart who also cross-dresses and takes on the identity of Christine 'Chrissy' Stewart. 

Holly and Izzy are close friends. They share case notes and bounce ideas off of each other. They meet for lunch regularly. Fish tacos. The relationship between the two women isn't fleshed out too well, I thought. The author treated them like characters in a novel, and not too focused on the vibes between them. The language used and the banter, and manner they talk to each other is fine, but I'm not feeling their bond.  

Somehow these two cases of a serial killer and a stalker are intertwined for no good reason, and they all ended up together in a kidnapping finale at the Mingo Auditorium at Dingley Park. At this, I rolled my eyes. Was it absolutely necessary? I felt that the second storyline of Kate McKay was purely the author's way of slipping in social critique in not-subtle manner.  

The ending confused the heck out of me. At the end, there was a statuette of Trigger the famous horse that sat on Donald Gibson's desk. Then in the melee, the janitor stole the statuette for himself. No one was the wiser about it. And suddenly, one day, the janitor thought he heard a voice emanating from the horse, asking 'Where'd you bury her, Daddy?' I was like, wtf. This is so open-ended.