What are we doing here?
Never Flinch by Stephen King (Scribner, 2025)
Reviewed by Brody Eldridge
If you like horror, then you know who he is. If you do not like horror, then he is likely the author of your worst nightmares.
Stephen King’s yearly release, Never Flinch, is a sort of sequel to his loose series of books centered around Holly, a character who "stole [King's] heart" in her initial debut in his 2014 crime fiction novel, Mr. Mercedes. In recent years, King has devoted most of his time to writing crime fiction. While known colloquially as "the King of Horror," King has explored numerous genres. Growing up on fifties science fiction, he has tried his hand at post-modern fiction (Roadwork, 1981), fantasy (The Dark Tower series), thrillers (a large chunk of his work borrows from this genre's typical trappings), and even children's books (Charlie the Choo-Choo, 2016) among others.
Never Flinch opens with a serial killer attending an AA meeting. Trig, one of the main antagonists, was addicted to alcohol, and now he is addicted to killing. His inspiration for murder is the wrongful conviction of an innocent man, Alan Duffrey, who was convicted of possession of child pornography. The convicting evidence was planted by a jealous coworker who wanted the promotion Duffrey earned. In events which take place before the start of the novel, Duffrey is shanked in prison and dies for crimes. In response, Trig¾who is connected to Duffrey in a way that will shock the reader¾takes it upon himself to "kill 13 innocents and 1 guilty," leaving cards with the names of the 12 jurors who wrongly convicted Duffrey in the hands of his victims, hoping to make the jurors feel guilty (6). Police officer Izzy Jaynes spends her chunk of the plot trying to track down and stop Trig.
Meanwhile, feminist activist Kate McKay is currently on a book tour when a mysterious assailant starts to target her and her assistant Corrie. First splashing some sort of chemical into Corrie's eyes and then sending a letter laced with anthrax, the attacker Chris (who has subsumed his dead twin's identity Christine and switches between their two identities) has been radicalized by his fundamentalist church, Real Christ Holy, and is tasked by Deacon Andy Fallowes with killing McKay. Holly, from the earlier novel, is hired as McKay's bodyguard, and she spends her time trying to catch Chris/Chrissy.
With two angry and rampaging antagonists, King brews these storms and has them hurtle forward until they eventually converge. Bouncing between Holly and Izzy as they act as detectives and Trig and Chris/Chrissy who enact violence, the novel works the angles of crime and thriller. However, the novel never quite thrills the reader. While these plots may seem complex, the character's motivations are quite simple. As the novel slogs along, Trig comes to terms with his mission being less about indicting the jurors and more about his alcohol addiction being transposed into murder addiction. Chris/Chrissy never really evolves or changes¾their mission from start to end is to kill McKay for her beliefs. The end result is a novel that cannot seem to make 440 pages seem short instead of long.
In addition to being a crime thriller, Never Flinch is clearly a deeply political book. Interestingly, McKay seems to be a vision of what a leftist populist might look like. Speaking to arenas of fans (and haters who show up to protest) each night, McKay earns rounds of thunderous applause advocating for a woman's right to abortion. Her famous gesture and catchphrase, "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon," entices the audiences in their frenzy. As she states early on, "This isn’t a book tour, the book would do fine if I just sat at home on my ass and watched TV. It’s an ideology tour" (29).
During a tense moment, Holly tries to persuade McKay to consider canceling her shows. McKay is unabashedly zealous in her mission and it frustrates Holly, who blurts out "It's no joke. Does the name Lauri Carleton ring a bell?" (193). Lauri Carleton was a real-life woman, murdered in 2023, over a dispute regarding her pride flag. King name drops Carleton without much commentary on the hate crime, opting to briskly move on with his plot. During rallies, McKay will get into debates with hecklers, "owning" them (to use modern political parlance), and then using the energy of the verbal smack down to electrify her audience for her cause. These moments are presented by King with a one-dimensional wink, which suggests you either get the political vision or you do not. King is trying to assert his beliefs within this novel, but he does not seem interested in prompting a conversation about those beliefs.
King is no stranger to infusing the tones of the American political culture into his works. In his novel, The Dead Zone (1979), Greg Stillson finds work as a door-to-door salesman selling Bibles. He disappears from the novel's first half only to reappear in the second half as a successful politician and who goes from mayor to congressman in the House of Representatives. All the while he acts out his "everyman" schtick at his rallies: wearing construction hard hats, throwing out hot dogs to the crowd, and hiring a biker gang to be his security entourage and personal bullies. Publicly, Stillson postures himself as the outsider who is going to clean out the establishment. Behind closed doors, Stillson uses power and coercion to attain his political goals. King based the concept of Stillson on his fear that someone like Stillson would become President of the United States and start World War III. While it is not unproductive to read Stillson in 2025 as a "Trump" figure, the Alabaman politician George Wallace seems to be the initial inspiration for Stillson. More broadly, the inspiration for Stillson is populist figures who use authoritarian means of amassing power.
This is why The Dead Zone (which is only one of many King books to consider here) is still a relevant book which does speak to our times. It speaks to our times because it asks the question: what would happen if someone like Stillson was elected President? The novel explores Stillson's character and this question, and while King provides an answer, (nuclear war would result), there is a substantial amount of meat to the discussion occurring within the confines of the novel's fiction.
On the other hand, Never Flinch seems uninterested in spurring a discussion within its subtext. King’s latest work does not offer a specific argument about women’s rights, among other hot topic issues. Instead, King is observing and reflecting cultural and political trends. King does not ask why someone like Chris/Chrissy or the real-world Travis Ikeguchi (Carleton's murderer) are radicalized and commit hate crimes. He does not speculate on the causes of our present political moment. He does not use his novel to consider the rise of far right-wing radicalization, or anything else. King makes clear that these trends are occurring, and he makes clear his value judgments regarding these trends, but he does not open a conversation about women's rights or the social and political climate surrounding such issues. The subtext assumes that you as the reader agree with him and believe hate crimes to be wrong. This is not a bad assumption to have about his readers. However, the assumption in King's writing closes off any sort of inquiry into why someone would think the opposite or any inquiry into some sort of real-world policies/solutions. It is unreasonable to expect a single author (no matter whom, whether widely known or not) to have all the answers to world's woes. However, some people might want some more from the art they consume.
It is possible for authors to establish their convictions, engage with social issues, and bring their readers along for a discussion. King has done it before in The Dead Zone. Additionally, his brutal The Long Walk (1979) is a quite effective analogy for the toll the Vietnam War took on young men. Toni Morrison eloquently explores beauty in The Bluest Eye (1970) as it relates to white society's standards and its damaging effects when forced upon the Black community. Morrison's Tar Baby (1981) considers Black identity as it plays out in relationships, both romantic and platonic, between those of different races and ethnicities. Her Song of Solomon (1977) is particularly striking for its dive into masculinity. Morrison does not go without any stance or conviction in her novels. In fact, she is justifiably confrontational. And yet she offers something to consider, chew on, and mull over.
In Sally Rooney's Normal People (2018) there is a standout quote: "Generally I find men are a lot more concerned with limiting the freedoms of women than exercising personal freedom for themselves." The reader's reaction to it will probably be tied to their preexisting beliefs regarding relationships and dynamics between men and women. And yet, in context of the novel's main characters, Marianne and Connell, it is an expansive quote which opens a dense dialogue about how men and women engage with and/or control each other. It sparks a conversation that has something relevant to consider for our times, including how and why men and women subjugate themselves to control.
Kazuo Ishiguro's most well-known novels revolve around questions that he provides for the reader. Never Let Me Go (2005) and Klara and the Sun (2021) ask "what does it mean to be human?" The Remains of the Day (1989) asks a series of questions which starts with "how does one have dignity even in the face of something dishonorable?" followed by "should they hold that dignity?" and ends with "what does one lose by holding dignity above everything else?" The Buried Giant (2015) grapples with national identity and collective memory.
Morrison wrote in the face of an ugly racism. Rooney writes in a time with a large gap emerging between men and women regarding politics and social issues across the world. Ishiguro writes in an age where AI relationships are materializing and nationalism is on the rise. None of these barriers or facts have stopped these three from sharing their warnings, but also their visions for the world. The ideal is exemplified in authors like Morrison, Rooney, and Ishiguro: a challenge for the reader.
In many ways artists are like teachers, and the best teachers guide their students to the truth. Authentic revelations are roads which lead to understanding. In many ways, it is naive to believe that every creator will engage their audience in conversation in good faith. But the alternative is a fatalism regarding humankind and our ability to overcome our current social divide. King’s book is ultimately disengaged from solutions, a common social ill that is much more common than serial killers.
Brody C. J. Eldridge graduated in 2024 from Palm Beach Atlantic University with a BA in English. He was a 2024-2025 Fulbright English Teaching Assistant award winner for the Republic of Georgia. He is now pursuing a Master of Philosophy in English Studies at the University of Cambridge, where his research focuses on AI-generated art and its relationship to contemporary and conventional literature.
