Never Flinch

A Novel

De: Stephen King

Narrado por: Jessie Mueller, Stephen King

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.

©2025 Stephen King (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Jessie Mueller provides a rich, satisfying performance that should please fans of King’s audiobooks, particularly his most recent works. By now, King has fully embraced the detective genre. Private investigator Holly Gibney is back—with her dizzying intellect, ability to think through tough cases, and relatable quirks. The story is a revenge plot that has the murderer announcing to law enforcement a plan to kill '13 guilty and one innocent.' Along the way, Gibney hits the road, serving as protection for a famous women’s rights activist who also attracts credible, dangerous threats. Mueller fully embodies the many diverse voices that make up Gibney’s world of the Finders Keepers detective agency, including characters who break into song. Mueller’s tone embraces the mounting tension." —AudioFile Magazine

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by The New York Times Book Review, AV Club, Variety, The Boston Globe, The Minnesota Star Tribune, Vulture, Men’s Health, Book Riot, New York Post, Goodreads, AARP, Paste, and more!

Holly

Kings TDS is getting tiresome. His obsession with Covid is getting tiresome. His liberalism is getting tiresome. This book is just ok. Not his best.

Evolution Isn’t Always Improvement

The funny thing is that I remember liking Holly, Izzy, Jerome, and Barbara. But something happened between the last Holly Gibney book and this one. But who knows?! Maybe it’s me.

In this book, the characters struck me as entirely unbelievable and frankly, not likable. They struck me as characters SK has put on pedestals for some reason. It’s bizarre actually. Except for the baddies, there are no character flaws, no inner conflict…nothing interesting, frankly. It’s almost as if a politically left version of Bob Ross wrote this book. The characters he spends time on are predominantly female and/or minority. Now I couldn’t care less about this, but Stephen King is certainly neither of these things. The way he writes them almost feels patronizing. Having grown up in the south around a LOT of black people, these black people are NOT believable. You can tell they’re what a rich white guy from Maine would imagine perfect black people to be. He missed out on the cultural nuances that make them powerful and endearing, and that’s a shame.

He did include a couple of white guys though for posterity I guess. One is a cross dressing psycho and the other is an alcoholic psycho. LOL.

Less tongue-in-cheek though, the political aspects of the plot are unnecessary and don’t add anything. He should have left all the divisive abortion rubbish out. I like to plug into books a lot of times to escape the “us vs. them” narraty that’s already hurled at us from virtually every news outlet. Political polarization was absent in Salem’s Lot, The Shining, It, The Stand, Misery, etc. and those were better books….by a loooong shot. If SK feels DRIVEN to inject politics into the books from the twilight of his career, he could at least inject it from both sides (without vilifying one group or another) and show how people can come together in spite of these differences. Mr. King just comes off bitter through much of this book. So many of the points he’s trying to make just feel like cheap shots.

In the epilogue, he did note that it was a hard book to write. His work coincided with some health issues and I can commiserate there. The pain and uncertainty that go with health issues can make the best of us sour. I’m pulling for him to feel better and keep writing. I do love the vast majority of his work and am thankful for it.

the performance was great but the story... meh

I was slightly disappointed. I mean, it was "ok" but no great twist, no great storyline, no great intertwining ... like it could have been since it was written by the master. For a SK book, it wasn't close to his best, for sure. (and yes, I'm 100% in line with his political stances so it's not that...)

King's Done Better

It was nice to read about Holly & Co. once again but in previous novels (i.e. Holly & If It Bleeds) the antagonists were better. This novel did keep me guessing and it wasn't a bad read by any means; King shines with his character development and narrative building... I, however, have"Holly Hope" that he returns to horror one last time before he retires.

great story. horrible voice reading

story is great. unfortunately its a woman using the same voice for every character making it nearly impossible to follow.. my advice is to actually read the book first. this sounds like none of the other books with the holly character. you can tell they speed up or slow down this womans voice to try make it sound different but it doesn't work.

Holly’s character growth…Good for you Holly!!!

I honestly thought the narrator could have done a much better job with our beloved Holly. I thought the singing was amazingly beautiful however, personally I couldn’t get past the narrative. I think we could have done a lot better on this part especially with an entire “Holly” novel.

not his best work

This book is okay. It's definitely not Stephen King's best work nor is it his best Holly book.

Note: if you are listening with earbuds, there are a lot of instances with loud speaking and or screaming. It hurt my ears a couple of times. The performance is really good other than that.

Brilliant weaving of two different storylines!

This is another great book in the Holly series & is by far the best. (DEFINITELY not Stephen King horror btw). I am liking these detective novels and it proves no matter the genre, Stephen King is the master of storytelling.

As for narration, overall she does a good job. Singing is amazing. She does tend to get loud/shrieky at times. But I just turn the volume down. I enjoy Will Patton also. Voices are personal to each person, you'd just have to listen to sample & see.

Yes this book has Right to Life vs Right to Choose as one of the plots. There's still another amazing one weaved in. I didn't find it any more preachy than any other book/show/movie over the last several years. Everyone has to voice their opinion. That being said, I'm not reading the book for reproductive rights advice nor religion. I think SK does a good job showing both sides & people can decide for themselves.

It's fiction. Not real life.

Great read from lifelong fan.

It’s like deja vu all over again

I already read this book, but the first time it was called Mr Mercedes.

This was the same exact story.

Slow Burn

I’ll be real with y’all—Never Flinch is a slow burn, but in the best kind of way. It’s the kind of story that creeps up on you, sits heavy in your chest, and doesn’t let go. If you’re looking for cheap thrills or jump scares every few pages, this ain’t it. But if you love that deep, unsettling tension that builds layer by layer until it finally boils over? You’re in for a ride.

Stephen King took his time with this one, and honestly, I respect the hell out of that. The pacing is deliberate, almost meditative at times—but never boring. Every chapter felt like peeling back another layer of something twisted and painfully human. I found myself getting really wrapped up in Holly Gibney’s world again. She’s vulnerable but sharp, still haunted and still pushing forward. It’s like watching someone walk barefoot across glass just to do the right thing. Plus in her older age I felt pieces of myself in her character.

The villains? Whew. King’s always had a way of writing evil that doesn’t need a monster mask. Just real people, broken in believable ways. That’s what made it hit even harder—because it could be real. Maybe it is real.

So yeah, Never Flinch isn’t flashy. It’s not loud. But it lingers. It’s methodical and haunting, and I think it’s one of King’s most quietly powerful stories in a long time.

Highly recommend if you’ve got the patience for something that simmers before it scorches.