Never Flinch

Holly Gibney first appears in King’s novel Mr. Mercedes, which is the first of the Bill Hodges trilogy, including Finders Keepers and End of Watch. Mr. Mercedes is a crime novel focusing on Bill Hodges, a retired policeman, who tracks down Brady Hartsfield, who killed a group of people at a job fair. Through characters connected to the investigation, Bill meets Holly, who joins him. Across the Bill Hodges trilogy, Holly helps Bill in operating Finders Keepers, a private investigation agency, which leads into The Outsider, If It Bleeds, Holly, and Never Flinch, which continue to follow Holly as she grows and faces new challenges as a private investigator. Starting with If It Bleeds, Holly becomes the main character of the series, and Never Flinch is the newest addition to Holly’s story. The ending of Never Flinch, in which Trig’s ghost speaks to Jerry Allison through Trig’s ceramic horse, implies that Trig’s story may not be over.

In an interview with NPR’s Terry Gross, King said, “I just love Holly. And I wish she were a real person and that she were my friend because I’m so crazy about her,” adding, “She just walked on in the first book that she was in, Mr.