favorite private investigator returns in 鈥淣ever Flinch,鈥� the sixth novel by King featuring Holly Gibney, who readers first met in the Bill Hodges trilogy 鈥淔inders Keepers,鈥� 鈥淓nd of Watch鈥�) and who then helped solved the murders at the heart of 鈥淭he Outsider鈥� and 鈥淗olly.鈥�
In 鈥淣ever Flinch,鈥� Holly cracks two more cases, one as the lead security escort for a polarizing author touring the nation to talk about women鈥檚 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 鈥� 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鈥檚 title, recalling how his abusive and overbearing father berated him to 鈥減ush through to the bitter end. No flinching, no turning away.鈥�
Even with two killers talking to themselves, Holly is still the star of the book. She continues to 鈥渁ttract weirdos the way a magnet attracts iron filings,鈥� is how Holly鈥檚 friend Barbara puts it. More often than not, Holly鈥檚 obsessive compulsive disorder helps her 鈥渢hink around corners,鈥� as one of the story鈥檚 detectives says.
King also brings back Barbara鈥檚 brother, Jerome, and introduces some dynamic new characters, including Sista Bessie (鈥淪he鈥檚 not the Beatles, but she鈥檚 a big deal鈥�), a soul singer whose comeback concert serves as the nexus for the convergence of the novel鈥檚 two storylines. When they do, readers will enjoy the very Kingly ending. It鈥檚 not quite the pigs鈥� blood from 鈥淐arrie,鈥� but it鈥檚 satisfying.
The pages turn very quickly in the final third of the book as all the characters arrive back in Dayton, Ohio (鈥渢he second mistake on the lake鈥�), where we first met Holly, and where psychopath Brady Hartsfield began his killing spree in 鈥淢r. Mercedes.鈥� Will the Mingo Auditorium be the site of another massacre or will Holly and her amateur detectives save the day again?
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AP book reviews:
Rob Merrill, The Associated Press
