MixedThe Irish Times (IRE)The evil that Holly is chasing in Never Flinch is strictly flesh and blood, yet oddly the story feels less plausible than many of King’s flights of fancy ... The idea that a shrinking violet such as Holly would take on a job as a bodyguard is utterly nonsensical—the character is far too smart and self-aware to put herself in that position— and is one of several elements that feel like parts from a different jigsaw. King takes aim at anti-abortion protests, queries the legal system, and there is a character that may or may not be trans, but is definitely problematic ... It’s a shame, as there are sections in here that work perfectly—the stalker gradually closing in on his prey could easily have been its own separate story, there are some heart-breaking father-son dynamics, and the murders in the serial killer story are genuinely chilling for how utterly senseless they are. King is simply too good at this not to make it a page turner but ultimately the whole novel seems to add up to slightly less than the sum of its parts.
