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You’re not alone if you feel like you’re living in a horror film, but why not go to a scary fictitious story instead?
Stephen King has long been considered the maestro of horror, and on May 27, 2025, he will return with Never Flinch, another horrific book. The first sample from the book, which is only available to Entertainment Weekly, is recounted from the viewpoint of the enigmatic Trig, a guy who is out to exact revenge.
A vigilante pursuing a feminist celebrity speaker and a murderer on a demonic vengeance quest are two of the interwoven plotlines in Never Flinch. King’s favorite Holly Gibney and gospel singer Sista Bessie are among the many well-known characters in the book, but there are also some intriguing new ones, such as a murderous villain.
“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,” according to the book’s blurb. “Is the massacre of fourteen citizens in an insane act of vengeance imminent? Izzy goes to her friend Holly Gibney for assistance after learning that the letter writer is extremely serious as the investigation progresses.
“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,” continues to happen. “Kate’s activities are being disrupted and targeted by someone who strongly disagrees with her message of female empowerment. Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard, which is a difficult job with a bossy boss and a resolute opponent motivated by anger and his sense of his own justice, even though initially no one is harmed.
Ultimately, the two stories come together to create a thrilling, harrowing finale. For a sneak peek from Never Flinch, read the excerpt below.
The weather is terrible in March. The Straight Circle meets every weekday from 4 to 5 PM in the basement of the Buell Street Methodist Church. Straight Circle is typically full, and although it is officially a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, many alcoholics also attend. On the calendar, spring has been here for about a week, but in Buckeye City, which is frequently referred to as the Second Mistake on the Lake (Cleveland being the first), spring arrives later than expected. A little mist hangs in the air as the conference ends. It will become sleety and thicken by dusk.
After an hour in the basement, they need that hit, so two or three dozen people congregate at the butt can by the entrance and lit up because freebasing nicotine is one of the two addictions left to them. Most others turn right and go to The Flame, a coffee shop a block away. They are still able to indulge in their addiction to coffee.
Reverend Mike stops one man; the Rev is in recovery from an opiate addiction and frequently attends this and many other meetings. When introducing himself in meetings, which he attends two or three times a day, even on the weekends, he states, “I love God, but otherwise I’m just another fiend.” Even though he is a little annoying to some of the older folks, this always receives nods and murmurs of encouragement. He is known as Big Book Mike because he frequently quotes lengthy paragraphs from the AA manual verbatim.
Now, the Rev shakes the man’s soul. I’m not accustomed to seeing you here, Trig. You must reside in an upstate area.
Though he doesn’t express it, Trig doesn’t. Today was an emergency: he had to attend a meeting or have a drink, and after the first drink, all options would be lost. He had his reasons for attending meetings outside of the city where recognition is improbable. He has firsthand knowledge with this.
Mike places a hand on the shoulder of the other man. “You sounded upset in your share, Trig.”
A nickname from childhood is Trig. At the beginning of meetings, he announces himself in this manner. He rarely talks beyond that first identification, even in out-of-town AA and NA. This afternoon, he raised his hand, although he usually says, “I just want to listen today,” at tag-team sessions.
“I am Trig, and I suffer from alcoholism.”
The group said, “Hello, Trig.” There was still a call-and-response for the revival gathering even though they were in the basement rather than the church. In actuality, Straight Circle is the Church of the Crashed and Burned.
Just to let you know, I’m feeling somewhat rattled up today. That much I had to share, and I don’t want to speak any more. All I have is that.
Thank you, Trig, hang in there, and keep coming back were the whispers that were heard.
Now that he has learned that he lost a loved one, Trig confides in the Rev about his distress. The only thing Trig will say when the Rev begs for further information is that the person he is grieving for passed away in prison.
The Rev, “I’ll pray for him.”
“Thank you, Mike.”
After walking three blocks and climbing the stairs to the public library, Trig leaves, but not in the direction of The Flame. The man who passed away on Saturday must be on his mind. Who was killed on Saturday? In a jail shower on Saturday, he was shanked.
In order to have something to hold, he takes a copy of the local paper from an empty chair in the Periodicals Room. He flips to page four, where Jerome Robinson of the Finders Keepers Agency tells the tale of a missing puppy. A young Black man with a smile and good looks is shown in a picture with his arm wrapped around a large dog, possibly a Labrador Retriever. FOUND is the only word in the headline!
Trig looks through it, contemplating.
No one has established a link between the man who attends out-of-town recovery sessions and the one whose real name appeared in this same newspaper three years ago. Even though there wasn’t a picture of him, why would they still do it? In addition to wearing contacts, that man’s beard was starting to gray. This version is younger-looking, clean-shaven, and wears spectacles (giving up alcohol will make you look younger). Being someone new appeals to him. It weighs on him, too. The dilemma he lives with is that. That, along with the increasing amount of time he spends thinking about his father.
He thinks, Let it go. Don’t remember it.
On March 24th, that is. It only takes thirteen days to forget.
Two
Trig is sitting in the same chair in the Periodicals Room on April 6th, gazing over the Sunday paper’s feature story. The headline yells rather than merely speaking. The murdered prison inmate may have been innocent, according to BUCKEYE BRANDON! Three times, Trig has listened to Buckeye Brandon’s podcast and read the feature. According to Buckeye, there was no “may have been” involved in the narrative, which was revealed by the self-described “outlaw of the airwaves.” Does the tale make sense? It must be, Trig believes, considering the source.
It’s absurd what you’re considering doing, he says himself. It is accurate.
“You’ll never be able to go back,” he tells himself. It’s also accurate.
Of all the things he tells himself, “Once you start, you have to keep on,” is the most accurate. The motto of his father was: You must persevere till the very end. No squirming, no looking away.
Moreover, how would it be? What would he experience if he did such things?
He should think more about it. In order to prevent anyone from drawing a connection between what he learned from Buckeye Brandon (see this feature piece) and the acts—the horrors—he would execute, it is important to distance himself from what he is considering doing.
The headline about the young man who found the stolen puppy comes back to him. FOUND was the epitome of simplicity! All Trig can think about is what he did, what he lost, and what he needs to make right.
A passage taken from Stephen King’s NEVER FLINCH Stephen King, copyright 2025. Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., has granted permission for this reprint.
