Never Flinch, by Stephen King

It was the kind of day you don't get often enough. The first day of June, when it's usually hotter than a stretch of midsummer Georgia blacktop. Today was beautiful. Sitting in my yard, it was a little warm when the sun was on my skin. When clouds rolled along and obscured Father Sol, I almost wished for long sleeves.

Sitting in my peaceful back yard. Birds were singing and chattering, bees buzzing among the clover, a couple members of our feral cat colony wandering about. The dreaded pollen is gone for another year, but the spicy smells of various plants and flowers greet my nose. Everything is in bloom and our yard is alive with growth.

Other than the birdsong all I can hear is a distant lawn mower.

A perfect day. The kind that is rare. Nothing pressing, nothing to worry about. Sipping cold tea, closing my eyes occasionally to stop and listen. A good day to be aware I'm alive and feel grateful for all the good things in my life. A day of peace.

What could make it better? A brand new Stephen King novel.

Never Flinch was published this week and any new King book is a cause for gratitude. No other writer has given me so much joy. The worlds Steve creates and shares feel like home to me. They are comfortable.

This new one is a thrilling suspense yarn with an ingenious storyline. Two alternating storylines, to be precise, but they relate to one another and inexorably coalesce into an addictively cohesive narrative. King's writing has never been as sharp and as precisely written.

This isn't to say Never Flinch is a perfect novel. Nor is it among King's best.

Let's face it: We all know Stephen King is a political individual. If you've even barely paying attention you know he's a diehard Democrat and a staunch opponent of Donald Trump. It's going to rub some people wrong. Never Flinch isn't quite as heavy-handed as his previous book, Holly, but he makes his feelings quite obvious.

I don't like preaching. Even when, as in the case of Stephen King, I happen to agree with his sentiments. If I want politics I'll read Reuters. Thankfully King reins himself in here. For the most part.

I like some of the characters a lot. There's a Feminist author/motivational speaker who is handled in an even-handed way. She may seem like a caricature at first, but King brings depth to the character.

Some like Holly Gibney while others don't. I count myself in the former category. I relate to a lot of Holly's personality traits. I don't possess her gifts of detection, but her social inadequacies are very familiar to me.

I like Holly's friends, Jerome and Barbara, but c'mon Steve. Gimme a break. I bought it when a legendary poet took Barbara under her wing, but another iconic artist does the same thing in the very next book? It's even more ridiculous than I am letting on here. Never Flinch is a hard suspense novel and the characters should be portrayed in a credible manner.

Yes, Never Flinch is a crime story, even if there is a whisper of the supernatural at the end of the book. This is Stephen King, after all. The crime elements are brilliantly executed. The final hundred pages are particularly gripping.

A few caveats, but I mostly love Never Flinch. Thanks to Stephen King for another wildly entertaining yarn.

I've read King books in all kinds of circumstances. I read a few of the early ones while shivering in the cabin of a tiny workboat and only a meager kerosene heater to ward off the cold. I sweated out some in the infernal depths of Summer in a hotbox of a shack with no air conditioning. I read him in comfortable chairs and lying down in my bed. I read some of the books in a local park.

I never had a better time than on the perfect day in my backyard, with the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees. It was that rarity: The perfect afternoon and a great, new Stephen King book to enjoy. It's a day I'll always remember.

Written by Mark Sieber