Lezersrecensie
Holly is back
http://looneybooks79.blog/2025/06/19/holly-gibney-4-vrees-niet/
Obsessive Compulsive Holly is back in 'Never Flinch', her fourth solo adventure and her seventh appearance in King's oeuvre. She still works at 'Finders Keepers', the private detective bussiness she inherited from the late Bill Hodges, together with Jerome Robinson. Since her last case, where she almost got killed herself by a cannibalistic elder couple, she befriended detective Izzy Jones. And Izzy asks for her advice (even help) in a new case where a serial killer contacted the police and plans to kill thirteen innocent men and/or women and one very guilty one. With each killing a name is left next to the body, a name corresponding with one of the jurors in the case of an innocently convicted man, who was killed just before he was exonerated.
Holly wants to help but since it's not her case she commits to other jobs. And then she gets a call from Corrie Anderson, who works for Kate McKay, a feminist pro-abortus (pro-choice!) who tours with a show. But a threat looms over Kate and Corrie. Corrie already became the victim of a vicious attack, the culprit thought she was Kate, and she stopped another one on Kate due to her wit and quick thinking. Now Kate wants a bodyguard. After two tries, with men, she decides she wants a woman and Holly's reputation precedes her. And even though Holly is in her fifties already, she is not to be messed with (ask Brady Hartsfield, the outsider and the cannibalistic couple... well if you could at least!). Holly joins the tour heading to her hometown Buckeye City with Kate and Corry, looking for those ready to attack her client.
While the serial killer, named Trig, is hunting people in Buckeye City and some religious nutcase is hunting Kate McKay, Barbara Robinson gets a call by gospel singer Sista Bessie, who comes to the city to perform after years of retirement. Sista is so infatuated with Barbara's poem, she wants to turn the text into a song and perform it on stage, even wanting Barbara to join the gospel choir and sing along.
Will Holly succeed to stop the attacker? Will Izzy find the killer? Will Barbara sing? The most important thing to remember is: Never Flinch!
After Holly fought off some supernatural and unexplainable monsters, she has to overcome flesh and blood humans in this novel. The story has the same feel of the first Mr. Mercedes novel (which I wasn't a huge fan of at the time) and instills that same feeling in me when reading it. It starts and finishes great, with a storyline out of a textbook thriller novel. But along the way it looses momentum, it plummets like a pudding taken out of the oven too soon with too much unnecessary information. It is also his most political novel to date. The storyline about Kate McKay and the feminism-abortion storyline is a clear comment on the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision. But also the bad functioning of the justice department in the USA (innocent men being incarcerated) is a huge part of the story. And between the lines there's the defiance of Holly still wearing a mask in public... this counters the very bad comments of non-believers or conspiracy theorists. This is great material but unfortunately it hurts the quality of the story and slows it down!
Some people react he should stop writing, enjoy his pension. I do not concur with that statement. However, it would be great if he would go back to his earlier work for inspiration (either writing a sequel to one of his greater works such as Salem's Lot or Pet Sematary or just writing a fantastic horror novel again like back in the days). It's not that he doesn't write great books anymore (I loved The Outsider and Holly very much) but I was disappointed with 'Never Flinch'.
But the (hopefully) good news is... after Peter Straub's death, he decided to write the third 'The Talisman' novel (after The Talisman and Black House, both authors sat together again to write a third novel but Straub's demise halted that). King said the spirit of Straub will still be in this third novel. And who knows, we might even go back to the world of The Dark Tower and Roland Deschain! So I am looking forward to that novel! I am and always will be a huge Stephen King fan, but these past years I noticed I am foremost a Classic King fan... so I sure hope we get at least one more truly gruesome story from the King of Horror!
Obsessive Compulsive Holly is back in 'Never Flinch', her fourth solo adventure and her seventh appearance in King's oeuvre. She still works at 'Finders Keepers', the private detective bussiness she inherited from the late Bill Hodges, together with Jerome Robinson. Since her last case, where she almost got killed herself by a cannibalistic elder couple, she befriended detective Izzy Jones. And Izzy asks for her advice (even help) in a new case where a serial killer contacted the police and plans to kill thirteen innocent men and/or women and one very guilty one. With each killing a name is left next to the body, a name corresponding with one of the jurors in the case of an innocently convicted man, who was killed just before he was exonerated.
Holly wants to help but since it's not her case she commits to other jobs. And then she gets a call from Corrie Anderson, who works for Kate McKay, a feminist pro-abortus (pro-choice!) who tours with a show. But a threat looms over Kate and Corrie. Corrie already became the victim of a vicious attack, the culprit thought she was Kate, and she stopped another one on Kate due to her wit and quick thinking. Now Kate wants a bodyguard. After two tries, with men, she decides she wants a woman and Holly's reputation precedes her. And even though Holly is in her fifties already, she is not to be messed with (ask Brady Hartsfield, the outsider and the cannibalistic couple... well if you could at least!). Holly joins the tour heading to her hometown Buckeye City with Kate and Corry, looking for those ready to attack her client.
While the serial killer, named Trig, is hunting people in Buckeye City and some religious nutcase is hunting Kate McKay, Barbara Robinson gets a call by gospel singer Sista Bessie, who comes to the city to perform after years of retirement. Sista is so infatuated with Barbara's poem, she wants to turn the text into a song and perform it on stage, even wanting Barbara to join the gospel choir and sing along.
Will Holly succeed to stop the attacker? Will Izzy find the killer? Will Barbara sing? The most important thing to remember is: Never Flinch!
After Holly fought off some supernatural and unexplainable monsters, she has to overcome flesh and blood humans in this novel. The story has the same feel of the first Mr. Mercedes novel (which I wasn't a huge fan of at the time) and instills that same feeling in me when reading it. It starts and finishes great, with a storyline out of a textbook thriller novel. But along the way it looses momentum, it plummets like a pudding taken out of the oven too soon with too much unnecessary information. It is also his most political novel to date. The storyline about Kate McKay and the feminism-abortion storyline is a clear comment on the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision. But also the bad functioning of the justice department in the USA (innocent men being incarcerated) is a huge part of the story. And between the lines there's the defiance of Holly still wearing a mask in public... this counters the very bad comments of non-believers or conspiracy theorists. This is great material but unfortunately it hurts the quality of the story and slows it down!
Some people react he should stop writing, enjoy his pension. I do not concur with that statement. However, it would be great if he would go back to his earlier work for inspiration (either writing a sequel to one of his greater works such as Salem's Lot or Pet Sematary or just writing a fantastic horror novel again like back in the days). It's not that he doesn't write great books anymore (I loved The Outsider and Holly very much) but I was disappointed with 'Never Flinch'.
But the (hopefully) good news is... after Peter Straub's death, he decided to write the third 'The Talisman' novel (after The Talisman and Black House, both authors sat together again to write a third novel but Straub's demise halted that). King said the spirit of Straub will still be in this third novel. And who knows, we might even go back to the world of The Dark Tower and Roland Deschain! So I am looking forward to that novel! I am and always will be a huge Stephen King fan, but these past years I noticed I am foremost a Classic King fan... so I sure hope we get at least one more truly gruesome story from the King of Horror!
1
Reageer op deze recensie
Meer recensies van Looneybooks79
Gesponsord
Een sinister geheim bedreigt de bekendste Amerikaanse presidentsverkiezingen. De erfgenamen van A.C. Porter is de zesde winnaar van de Hebban Thrillerprijs.
In een wrak voor de Texelse kust wordt een waardevolle trouwjurk gevonden. Het is aan archeologe Emilie om het verhaal achter de jurk te ontrafelen. Schrijf je nu in voor de Hebban Leesclub.
Mirjam van Biemen was acht jaar oud toen haar moeder een einde aan haar leven maakte in een psychiatrische inrichting. Twintig jaar later gaat Mirjam op zoek naar antwoorden. Schrijf je nu in voor de Hebban Leesclub.
