Stephen King's favorite recurring protagonist shines in his new novel

Washington Post

22-05-2025

There are two ways that authors typically write with recurring characters. In series like Arthur Conan Doyle's early Sherlock Holmes stories or Sue Grafton's 'alphabet' mysteries, the perennial protagonists never change much, and neither do their relationships with other characters. Consequently, such stories can be read in any order. In serial fiction, on the other hand, recurring characters mature over time, so their narratives make the most sense when read in chronological order. Each installment adds something to your understanding of the central figures, because their personalities and skills continually evolve.
Such is the case with Holly Gibney, whom author Stephen King has proclaimed his favorite returning player in his work. Gibney has a supporting role in King's Bill Hodges trilogy — 'Mr. Mercedes' (2014), 'Finders Keepers' (2015) and 'End of Watch' (2016) — as well as 'The Outsider' (2018). She became a main character in the novella 'If It Bleeds' (2020) and then again in 'Holly' (2023), one of King's best horror novels. She now leads King's latest nail-biter, 'Never Flinch.'
To say that Holly has evolved over the years is an understatement. She enters 'Mr. Mercedes' as a mentally ill middle-aged woman, so bullied by her mother that she reminds Detective Hodges of 'a dog that's been beaten too many times with a newspaper.' King characterizes her as 'a spinster' who 'never speaks above a mutter and seems to have a problem making eye contact.' 'The Outsider' is set only seven years later, but by then Holly has transformed into an independent private investigator leading the hunt for a child-killing monstrosity that resembles the Hispanic bogeyman El Cuco. Holly still has trouble making eye contact and small talk — traits that have led some critics and fans to identify her as neurodivergent — but she's gained confidence and shows more bravery than any of her associates. In 'Never Flinch,' she's a force to be reckoned with, and she knows it.
All the Holly stories involve antagonists with unstable or split identities that arguably reflect Holly's own vulnerable sense of self. This psychological complexity adds depth and substance to her narratives, making them popular among readers not ordinarily drawn to horror or detective fiction. Fans enjoy rooting for Holly because, despite her many successes, she can never get her mom's old criticisms out of her head. She's highly competent yet insecure and prone to underestimating herself, particularly in 'Holly,' where she squared off against two retired professors who had become ghouls.
In 'Never Flinch,' Holly faces two threats at once. One is a serial killer with a perverted sense of justice; the other is a religious zealot out to assassinate the feminist firebrand Holly's been hired to protect. Both adversaries suffered childhood abuse that disrupted their personal development. One will remind readers of Norman Bates long before King name-checks 'Psycho.' Alas, 'Never Flinch' never captivated me because of that disagreeable precedent. Not only was Norman's psychosis based on dubious psychological principles, but Alfred Hitchcock's homophobic representation of him also established a template for demeaning representations of gender-variant villains that persists to this day. King enters this fray with more empathy than most, but one wonders why he decided to go there at all.
King has never been one to repeat a plot or a villain, but in his late career he's taken up the challenge of organizing books around archetypal monsters. 'Cell' (2006) was his zombie novel, 'Revival' (2014) his Frankenstein narrative and 'Bag of Bones' (1998) his ghost story. 'Never Flinch' fits right into that pattern, though King never grants his gender-ambivalent killer the depth or dignity he confers on other classic bugaboos. We never learn why gender dysphoria drove this person insane, and their origin story doesn't honor their individuality. Instead, it rips off the trans-monster movie 'Sleepaway Camp.' Reading his 21st-century novels, I've often gotten the sense that King is sincerely attempting to compensate for some of the sexism, homophobia and racism of his early work. He hasn't yet crafted a fully believable queer or trans character, however, and that shortcoming stands out in 'Never Flinch.'
Fortunately, intertextual allusions aren't all 'Never Flinch' has going for it; it also engages with the culture wars, addiction and recovery, and abusive parents. Addiction and abuse, in particular, are themes that have run though King's fiction since 'Carrie' (1974), providing fodder for his most terrifying novels. Holly lends King a fresh perspective on his signature motifs. Neurodivergent or not — I personally don't see the point in diagnosing fictional people — Holly faces the mess of existence with curiosity, compassion and genuine intelligence. She may be the smartest character King's ever created, and her experiences with addiction, neurosis and family dysfunction usually help her and the reader better comprehend the monsters she encounters. Some are supernatural and others the result of bad upbringings, but Holly understands them all as part of the same reality. Evil is evil, she explained in 'The Outsider,' and dismissing some evildoers as aberrant or impossible belies the fact that we are all progeny of the same chaotic, indifferent universe. That open-minded worldview has been King's stock in trade for more than 50 years, which makes Holly the quintessential King protagonist and her stories a great entry point into King's work for new readers.
King acknowledges in an afterword that 'Never Flinch' didn't meet his own expectations for it, allowing only that he was 'happy enough' with the finished product — but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable. King is one of the best genre novelists writing today, so to say that 'Never Flinch' isn't as good as 'Holly' or 'The Outsider' is like saying that 'Cannery Row' isn't as good as 'The Grapes of Wrath.' As with all King novels, its propulsive plot will keep you turning pages long past your bedtime. His evocative prose still makes characters come alive and ensures that they linger long after their stories are over. 'Never Flinch' has a serious shortcoming that some readers might find offensive. I am one of them, and I still couldn't put it down.
Caetlin Benson-Allott is a professor in the department of English at Georgetown University and the author of 'The Stuff of Spectatorship: Material Cultures of Film and Television.'
By Stephen King.
Scribner. 439 pp. $32