Stephen King’s next novel is called Never Flinch, and the 2025 release features the return of the Holly Gibney character

Stephen King‘s “Constant Readers” have read about the character Holly Gibney in the pages of his Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch), the novel The Outsider, the If It Bleeds short story from the collection of the same name, and his crime novel Holly. Now, Entertainment Weekly has revealed that Holly is also at the heart of his next novel, Never Flinch, which is set to reach store shelves on May 27, 2025.

A couple of years ago, King told The Kingcast hosts Eric Vespe and Scott Wampler, “I could never let Holly Gibney go from the Mr. Mercedes books. I mean, she was supposed to be a walk-on character and she just kind of stole the book and stole my heart.” Obviously, Holly still has his heart. He had mentioned last year that he was working on another Holly Gibney book, but at that time he was calling it We Think Not. He told the Talking Scared podcast that the book was turning out to be fairly long because there were “too many stories” going on in it. King said, “I feel kind of like the mad juggler. I’m trying to keep all the balls in the air and not drop any of them.“

Never Flinch is said to feature intertwining storylines – one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission and another about a vigilante stalking a feminist celebrity speaker. Eventually, the stories converge for a “spectacular, chilling climax.” When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to ‘kill thirteen innocents and one guilty’ in ‘an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,’ Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help. Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard — a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness.

Entertainment Weekly mentions that another character in the book is a gospel singer called Sista Bessie. A short excerpt from the book can be read at the Entertainment Weekly link.

King also told Talking Scared that he had ideas for a third Talisman book and was more than 600 pages into writing a novel called The Dreamers, which was so creepy that he couldn’t think about it at night. “I had this image of a man who is under some kind of drug, and he opens his eyes and they turn black, and these tendrils start to come out of his eyeballs. It just creeped me out.” He added that the story was inspired by and is dedicated to No Country for Old Men author Cormac McCarthy. So it will be interesting to see if The Dreamers ends up being his next release. In the meantime, we have Never Flinch to look forward to?

Will you be picking up a copy of Stephen King’s Never Flinch when it’s released next year? Let us know by leaving a comment below.