Latest news with #FindersKeepers
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Book Review: Quirky private eye tracks a couple more killers in Stephen King's 'Never Flinch'
Stephen King's favorite private investigator returns in 'Never Flinch,' the sixth novel by King featuring Holly Gibney, who readers first met in the Bill Hodges trilogy ('Mr. Mercedes,' 'Finders Keepers,' 'End of Watch') and who then helped solved the murders at the heart of 'The Outsider' and 'Holly.' In 'Never Flinch,' Holly cracks two more cases, one as the lead security escort for a polarizing author touring the nation to talk about women's reproductive freedom, and the other back home in Ohio, as a serial killer preys on jurors following a miscarriage of justice. The biggest connection between the two cases is classic King — the killers have dead Daddy issues. We meet them both relatively early in the plot and spend time inside their heads, though the true identity of one of them is a mystery until closer to the end. One of the murderers supplies the novel's title, recalling how his abusive and overbearing father berated him to 'push through to the bitter end. No flinching, no turning away.' Even with two killers talking to themselves, Holly is still the star of the book. She continues to 'attract weirdos the way a magnet attracts iron filings,' is how Holly's friend Barbara puts it. More often than not, Holly's obsessive compulsive disorder helps her 'think around corners,' as one of the story's detectives says. King also brings back Barbara's brother, Jerome, and introduces some dynamic new characters, including Sista Bessie ('She's not the Beatles, but she's a big deal'), a soul singer whose comeback concert serves as the nexus for the convergence of the novel's two storylines. When they do, readers will enjoy the very Kingly ending. It's not quite the pigs' blood from 'Carrie,' but it's satisfying. The pages turn very quickly in the final third of the book as all the characters arrive back in Dayton, Ohio ('the second mistake on the lake'), where we first met Holly, and where psychopath Brady Hartsfield began his killing spree in 'Mr. Mercedes.' Will the Mingo Auditorium be the site of another massacre or will Holly and her amateur detectives save the day again?
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Book Review: Quirky private eye tracks a couple more killers in Stephen King's ‘Never Flinch'
Stephen King's favorite private investigator returns in 'Never Flinch,' the sixth novel by King featuring Holly Gibney, who readers first met in the Bill Hodges trilogy ('Mr. Mercedes,' 'Finders Keepers,' 'End of Watch') and who then helped solved the murders at the heart of 'The Outsider' and 'Holly.' In 'Never Flinch,' Holly cracks two more cases, one as the lead security escort for a polarizing author touring the nation to talk about women's reproductive freedom, and the other back home in Ohio, as a serial killer preys on jurors following a miscarriage of justice. The biggest connection between the two cases is classic King — the killers have dead Daddy issues. We meet them both relatively early in the plot and spend time inside their heads, though the true identity of one of them is a mystery until closer to the end. One of the murderers supplies the novel's title, recalling how his abusive and overbearing father berated him to 'push through to the bitter end. No flinching, no turning away.' Even with two killers talking to themselves, Holly is still the star of the book. She continues to 'attract weirdos the way a magnet attracts iron filings,' is how Holly's friend Barbara puts it. More often than not, Holly's obsessive compulsive disorder helps her 'think around corners,' as one of the story's detectives says. King also brings back Barbara's brother, Jerome, and introduces some dynamic new characters, including Sista Bessie ('She's not the Beatles, but she's a big deal'), a soul singer whose comeback concert serves as the nexus for the convergence of the novel's two storylines. When they do, readers will enjoy the very Kingly ending. It's not quite the pigs' blood from 'Carrie,' but it's satisfying. The pages turn very quickly in the final third of the book as all the characters arrive back in Dayton, Ohio ('the second mistake on the lake'), where we first met Holly, and where psychopath Brady Hartsfield began his killing spree in 'Mr. Mercedes.' Will the Mingo Auditorium be the site of another massacre or will Holly and her amateur detectives save the day again? ___ AP book reviews:
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Book Review: Quirky private eye tracks a couple more killers in Stephen King's ‘Never Flinch'
Stephen King's favorite private investigator returns in 'Never Flinch,' the sixth novel by King featuring Holly Gibney, who readers first met in the Bill Hodges trilogy ('Mr. Mercedes,' 'Finders Keepers,' 'End of Watch') and who then helped solved the murders at the heart of 'The Outsider' and 'Holly.' In 'Never Flinch,' Holly cracks two more cases, one as the lead security escort for a polarizing author touring the nation to talk about women's reproductive freedom, and the other back home in Ohio, as a serial killer preys on jurors following a miscarriage of justice. The biggest connection between the two cases is classic King — the killers have dead Daddy issues. We meet them both relatively early in the plot and spend time inside their heads, though the true identity of one of them is a mystery until closer to the end. One of the murderers supplies the novel's title, recalling how his abusive and overbearing father berated him to 'push through to the bitter end. No flinching, no turning away.' Even with two killers talking to themselves, Holly is still the star of the book. She continues to 'attract weirdos the way a magnet attracts iron filings,' is how Holly's friend Barbara puts it. More often than not, Holly's obsessive compulsive disorder helps her 'think around corners,' as one of the story's detectives says. King also brings back Barbara's brother, Jerome, and introduces some dynamic new characters, including Sista Bessie ('She's not the Beatles, but she's a big deal'), a soul singer whose comeback concert serves as the nexus for the convergence of the novel's two storylines. When they do, readers will enjoy the very Kingly ending. It's not quite the pigs' blood from 'Carrie,' but it's satisfying. The pages turn very quickly in the final third of the book as all the characters arrive back in Dayton, Ohio ('the second mistake on the lake'), where we first met Holly, and where psychopath Brady Hartsfield began his killing spree in 'Mr. Mercedes.' Will the Mingo Auditorium be the site of another massacre or will Holly and her amateur detectives save the day again? ___ AP book reviews:
USA Today
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
With 'Never Flinch', Stephen King proves (again) he's scary good at mystery too
With 'Never Flinch', Stephen King proves (again) he's scary good at mystery too Show Caption Hide Caption 'The Life of Chuck': Tom Hiddleston headlines Stephen King movie Based on a Stephen King novella, "The Life of Chuck" chronicles the life of accountant Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) in three acts told in reverse. Imagine Jimi Hendrix also being a tuba virtuoso, or Andy Warhol also excelling on an Etch-A-Sketch. The artistic greats, the geniuses, are often really, really good at one thing. Then there's Stephen King. For decades, his horror stories – on the page and on the screen – have scared the bejeezus out of generations of people. (One of the things that defines Gen X is the fact many of us read his stuff earlier in our pop-culture lives than our parents would have preferred.) From 'It' and 'The Stand' to 'Carrie' and 'The Shining,' he's influenced an entire genre of entertainment more than anybody. Then, somewhat unexpectedly, King wrote a hard-boiled detective novel – entering the sleuthing space of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and more recently Michael Connelly. Over the past decade, from 2014's 'Mr. Mercedes' to his latest riveting novel 'Never Flinch' (★★★½ stars; Scribner; 448 pages), the master of horror has proven to be scarily good at the mystery thriller, too. So much so it's kind of unfair, honestly. King hasn't done it alone. He's found an inspirational muse in Holly Gibney. First a supporting player in the 'Mr. Mercedes' trilogy, Holly has become King's go-to recurring character and, in a bibliography filled mostly with iconic villains, one of his greatest heroes. Mixing lovable quirks – she calls things she doesn't like 'poopy' – with a relatable cadre of issues, she's a private investigator with a crowd-pleasing nature and a nose uncannily adept for sussing out a bad guy. Sometimes, like in 'Never Flinch,' multiple culprits. In the new book, Holly is hired as a bodyguard by rabble-rousing celebrity women's rights activist Kate McKay when her lecture tour is threatened by an increasingly violent mystery assailant. Holly's on that case and also is helping her police detective pal Izzy Jaynes with a serial killer on a revenge mission, who, after the death of a wrongfully convicted man, promises to 'kill 13 innocents and one guilty.' With two absorbing criminal plot lines, King juggles one whodunit and a pair of character studies while deftly and delightfully getting into the heads of the sinners and saints populating the book. The author also successfully continues to build out the world of fictional Buckeye City, Holly's Midwestern town that's getting to be as infamous as Castle Rock or Derry. Holly herself debuted as a side character in 'Mr. Mercedes,' which pitted aging cop Bill Hodges against homicidal ice cream man Brady Hartsfield (aka the Mercedes Killer), and she inherited their Finders Keepers detective agency after Bill's death in trilogy closer 'End of Watch.' From those books sprang Jerome and Barbara Robinson, the young sibling duo who continue to be Holly's closest allies in 'Never Flinch.' Bill's old partner Pete Huntley stops in for a spell every so often – not to mention Bill's presence that still haunts these stories – and Izzy takes a more central role in King's growing crime-solving universe after appearing in 2023's 'Holly.' Jerome even puts their relationship in a meta literary context: 'Holly's Sherlock Holmes and Izzy's Inspector Lestrade!' (For the record, Izzy's probably got a better fastball than that old Scotland Yarder.) King clearly loves writing Holly and her entourage – it's apparent not only from the ink spilled on her adventures but the way she's grown over each case and every book. Why she deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the writer's other memorable protagonists, like Roland Deschain of the 'Dark Tower' books or the Losers' Club in 'It,' is because Holly continues to blossom as a human being. She suffers from low confidence and constantly wrestles with the anxiety caused by her late mom, yet every mystery works to build up her fortitude and spirit, from that face-changing Chet Ondowsky in the title novella of the 2020 collection 'If It Bleeds' to the two elderly married psychos of 'Holly.' But as Holly improves herself, so does King himself. A large swatch of his Constant Readers would probably rather him just get back to the scary stuff already. The man still does a horror tale like no other – he's not the king for nothing. What's different and so enjoyable about reading his Holly stories, other than how he weaves his signature folksiness and macabre sensibilities with modern themes like abortion rights and evangelical extremism, is that King seems to be having fun testing his own imagination and experimenting with different ways to tell a detective yarn. That landscape is rife with so many colorful personalities – Sherlock, Miss Marple and Sam Spade of an old-school persuasion, Jack Reacher, Harry Bosch and Harry Hole from a more modern place. To not consider Holly Gibney a vital part of that crew at this point would be pretty poopy.
Toronto Star
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Stephen King reveals why he almost trashed his latest novel — and why his dog may outlive him
Updated 8 hrs ago May 24, 2025 6 min read Save By Janet Somerville Special to the Star 'Sometimes the universe throws you a rope.' That's what cop-turned-private investigator Bill Hodges tells his colleague Holly Gibney in Stephen King's 2015 novel 'Finders Keepers.' As Holly returns in 'Never Flinch,' King's new book, out May 27, that wisdom becomes a touchstone in all of the narrative threads. The Dickens of our time spoke with me recently by phone from Florida where he winters with his wife of 54 years, the novelist Tabitha King, and their 10-year-old corgi, Molly, whom his social media followers will recognize by King's ironic nickname for her: The Thing of Evil. Throughout our conversation his generosity of spirit shone, reverberating, as Fitzgerald wrote, 'like a tuning-fork struck upon a star.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Janet Somerville is the author of 'Yours, for Probably Always: Martha Gellhorn's Letters of Love & War 1930-1949.' Related Stories 'Poison: A History' and a 100-year-old book signed by Tolkien: a peek at the library of bestselling fantasy novelist Guy Gavriel Kay Toronto novelist Linwood Barclay took a big risk with his latest book, 'Whistle': 'If it sinks like a stone, it will probably be the last of its kind' Forensic anthropology is mainly behind her, but Kathy Reichs is still dreaming up Temperance Brennan novels Report an error Journalistic Standards About The Star More from The Star & partners
