Welcome back, Readers!
This month we’re taking a look at one of the newer Stephen King books, Never Flinch.
Originally this was going to be the Book Spotlight for July, but I decided the Superman history was a more timely one to put out. Stephen King also has a book of short stories due out this month; The End of the World as we Know It, stories from the world of The Stand.
This book is another centering on the world of Holly Gibney and Finders Keepers. I wasn’t exactly over the moon for the prior entry into this series (Holly, Spotlighted Here. Wow, has it really been almost two years!?) but let’s see if this one can’t turn me around!
So, let’s gather our P.I. supplies and embark on another case for Finders Keepers!
Book Stats
- Author: Stephen King.
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, and Audible.
Price: $32.00 for Hardcover, $25.50 for Paperback, $16.99 for Kindle, and $19.68 for Audible, or one Credit on Audible.
Length: 448 pages or 14 hours and 44 minutes in audio format.
Narrator: Jessie Mueller
Number of books in the series: This is Holly’s 4th mostly standalone novel, but she also appears in the Bill Hodges trilogy, so, either 4 or 7 depending on how you look at it.
Basic Premise
Holly is drawn into a strange case by her friend on the Buckeye City Police force, Izzy Jaynes. A letter has been sent into the force stating that fourteen people are going to be killed (13 innocent and one guilty) to atone for the wrongful death of one innocent man. It’s not pitched as a possible Finders Keepers case, though, so Holly is just providing a sort of free consultation service for the Buckeye P.D. at this time. Usually over regular lunches with Izzy.
Still, Holly is never one to drop a puzzle when it lands in her lap and as the bodies start to pile up, her experience comes in invaluable to Izzy. Each victim is left with a small piece of paper in their hand and on each piece of paper is a name.
As the names are collated, a connection is established… they were members on a jury.
Meanwhile, a notable politician by the name of Kate McKay is making her way around the country, seeking election. She’s pro-choice, which tickles some folks the wrong way. One in particular is on the hunt, stalking this politician and her assistant with the explicit intent of being violent. Holly is dragged in and hired as private security for Kate. The other, more interesting case is what she’d sooner be working on but a job is a job, and her quick thinking comes in handy multiple times!
These two stories converge and come to a head, as would be expected, of course, but what does that look like? You’ll have to read it to find out!
My Take
I don’t think the Holly Gibney books are my cup of tea.
Loved The Outsider and I enjoyed most of what the Bill Hodges trilogy had to offer, but I’ve never been the biggest crime novel kind of guy and even the character work I love Stephen King for can’t exactly get me jazzed about this book. The Outsider at least had a monster to hold my interest, y’know? And yeah, Scooby Doo taught us all that humans are always the real monsters… they just generally aren’t the kind that interest me over much.
Despite that, I loved the concept of two antagonists to begin with. The stalker is fascinating and as we learn more, I wanted to see what they had in store for the serial killer when the two finally met – as they had to do! That’s what the story was building towards! The serial killer was a less compelling villain to me, with motives that were entirely out-there and hard to fathom. That’s fine. If you wind up understanding the serial killer on a deep, personal level you may need to talk to someone about that. But in the end, it didn’t quite amount to what I’d expected and the whole thing left me feeling a little unfulfilled.
I will say that the way we are slowly introduced to both these antagonists is a step up on the prior novel, Holly. We’re fed just enough information to keep things interesting for the fist two thirds of the book and we’re actively trying to figure out who these people could be alongside Holly, Jerome and Izzy. With the book Holly, we know who is who from the get-go which left me feeling like our heroes were playing catch-up. So, definitely a step in the right direction.
Holly is charming and loveable, as always, and I did enjoy seeing Jerome and Barbara play their parts, too.
Our narrator, Jessie Mueller, does a great job keeping everyone’s voices distinct and she sings, too! Really well! It was quite a treat!
Overall, if you’ve enjoyed Mr. Mercedes, The Outsider or Holly, you will enjoy this as well, I’m sure!
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