Stephen King’s crime thriller NEVER FLINCH

 

To celebrate the release of Stephen King’s crime thriller NEVER FLINCH in paperback, Hodder and Stoughton have kindly offered readers of Shots Magazine three copies in a competition.

But first, we wrote last year on the release of NEVER FLINCH –

Though the undisputed master of the horror genre, after this latest release perhaps Stephen King will be anointed the king of crime fiction. Never Flinch features the return of Private Investigator Holly Gibney, tasked to bodyguard the controversial feminist speaker Kate McKay. It seems McKay is being stalked by a deranged brother [and sister] duo from a radical religious sect intent on disrupting her promotional book tour.

Add to the mix a serial killer referred to as Bill Wilson [aka ‘Trig’] whose intention is to '…..kill thirteen innocents and one guilty…’ in retribution for the murder of an innocent man [wrongly incarcerated] in the Ohio state penitentiary.

Read the full review HERE

In order to win one of three copies of NEVER FLINCH in paperback name three previous works [Novella, Novel, or Story Appearance] by Stephen King that also feature the character of Holly Gibney.

Email your answer to shotseditor@yahoo.co.uk by midnight on Tuesday 30^th of June 2026 – three winning entries will be picked at random and full terms and conditions of entry are noted at the bottom of this article.

GOOD LUCK!

And Hodder and Stoughton in conjunction with Stephen King present a short extract from NEVER FLINCH >

It’s April now. In the Second Mistake on the Lake, the last of the snow is finally melting.

Izzy Jaynes gives a one-knuckle courtesy knock on her lieutenant’s door and goes in without waiting. Lewis Warwick is tilted back in his chair, one foot resting on the corner of his desk, hands loosely clasped on his midsection. He looks like he’s meditating or dreaming awake. For all Izzy knows, he is. At the sight of her he straightens and puts his foot back on the floor where it belongs.

‘Isabelle Jaynes, ace detective. Welcome to my lair.’

‘At your service.’

She doesn’t envy him his office, because she’s aware of all the bureaucratic bullshit that comes with it, accompanied by a salary bump so small it might be called ceremonial. She’s happy enough with her humble cubicle downstairs, where she works with seven other detectives, including her current partner, Tom Atta. It’s Warwick’s chair that Izzy lusts after. With its high, spine-soothing back and reclining feature, it’s meditation-ready.

‘What can I do for you, Lewis?’

He takes a business envelope from his desk and hands it to her. ‘You can give me an opinion on this. No strings attached. Feel free to touch the envelope, everybody from the postman to Evelyn downstairs and who knows who else has had their paws on it, but the note should maybe be fingerprinted. Partly depending on what you say.’

The envelope is addressed in capital block letters to DETECTIVE LOUIS WARWICK at 19 COURT PLAZA. Below the city, state, and zip, in even larger capitals: CONFIDENTIAL!

‘What I say? You’re the boss, boss.’

‘I’m not passing the buck, it’s my baby, but I respect your judgement.’

The end of the envelope has been torn open. There’s no return address. She carefully unfolds the single sheet of paper inside, holding it by the edges. The message has been printed, almost certainly on a computer.

To: Lieutenant Louis Warwick

From: Bill Wilson

Cc: Chief Alice Patmore

I think there should be a corollary to the Blackstone Rule. I believe the INNOCENT should be punished for the needless DEATH of an innocent. Should those who caused that death be put to death themselves? I think not, because then they would be gone and the suffering for what they did would be at an end. This is true even if they acted with the best will in the world. They need to think about what they did. They need to ‘Rue the Day.’ Does that make sense to you? It does to me, and that is enough.

I will kill 13 innocents and 1 guilty. Those who caused the innocent to die will therefore suffer.

This is an act of ATONEMENT.

Bill Wilson

 

NEVER FLINCH by STEPHEN KING - EXTRACT FOR SHOTS MAGAZINE

Chapter 1 (p.5 – p.6 in Never Flinch paperback)

TEXT © 2025 – 2026 Stephen King and Hodder and Stoughton

More information available HERE

Terms and conditions for the NEVER FLINCH competition

# Closing date for entries is midnight 30.06.2026

# All correct entries will be entered into a prize draw and will be picked at random on 01.07.2026

# Entry is restricted to UK and Ireland.

# The winners will be notified by email within 3 days of the promotion closing date and are required to accept their prize by email or phone call within 7 days of notification.

# In the event of non-acceptance within the specified period, the promoter reserves the right to reallocate the prize to the next randomly drawn correct and valid entry.

# No responsibility can be accepted for lost or misplaced entries

# The prizes are non-transferable and there is no cash alternative

# Only one entry per person

# Incorrect or illegible answers or entries received after the entry date will not be entered into the prize draw

# The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

Stephen King reads from Never Flinch via Simon & Schuster  

 Stephen King Reads from Other Worlds Than These via Simon & Schuster  

Shots Magazine wish to thank Stephen King, Kallie Townsend, Louise Court,

Francesca Russell and Philippa Pride of Hodder and Stoughton Publishing for organising this competition.

Jacket Cover Images used from Hodder and Stoughton and Simon & Schuster  

Stephen King Readings © Simon & Schuster  

Second Coming

 

The original title of Stephen King's second novel “Salem's Lot” was “Second Coming”. King was inspired to write the novel after brainstorming about what would happen if Dracula were to appear in modern-day small-town America.

“I decided I wanted to find out, so I wrote a novel,” said King in 1975.

Though he initially planned to title the novel “Second Coming, he changed it to “Jerusalem's Lot” on the advice of his wife, novelist Tabitha King, who thought the original title sounded too much like a "bad sex story." King's publishers then shortened it to “Salem’s Lot”, considering that “Jerusalem's Lot” sounded too religious.

The corruption in the government was a significant factor in the inspiration of the story, King recalls at that paranoiac time of Nixon, corruption and the Whitehouse tapes in 1973 –

“Every novel is to some extent an inadvertent psychological portrait of the novelist, and I think that the unspeakable obscenity in 'Salem's Lot has to do with my own disillusionment and consequent fear for the future. 

In a way, it is more closely related to Invasion of the Body Snatchers than it is to Dracula. The fear behind 'Salem's Lot seems to be that the Government has invaded everybody.”

The novel was first adapted into a highly successful CBS miniseries in 1979, directed by Tobe Hopper [renowned for his Texas Chainsaw Massacre] and now in 2024, a new film version directed by Gary Dauberman has been released. Dauberman is best known for writing horror films Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation and The Nun, as well as co-writing the 2017 film adaptation of Stephan King’s “It”.

So it was excitement all the way when Shots Magazine Editors Mike Stotter and Ali Karim were invited by Stephen King’s UK publishers [Hodder and Stoughton] to a press screening of the new film version [and reworking] of Salem’s Lot ahead of its UK Cinema release.

It should be noted that Warner Brothers [Discovery] released Salem’s Lot in America to its streaming service MAX [much to Stephen King’s irritation] while in the UK Warner Brothers Pictures opted for a full nationwide cinema release. To celebrate this theatrical release Warner Bros UK hired out the prestigiously historic venue, London’s Regent Street Cinema for its launch on Tuesday 8^th of October.

The Regent Street Cinema was first opened in 1848 and is housed in the flagship building of the University of Westminster. When it was first opened, it was used as a theatre. In late February 1896, the cinema played a short movie by the Lumière Brothers. It was the first motion picture shown in the United Kingdom.

The cinema was decorated in spooky fashion, with actors mingling amongst the invited guests and assembled journalists – with bloody cocktails, wine and blood bags with a weird concoction.

The film though two hours long moved at a frantic pace, with plenty of jump scares bound to a rousing soundtrack which included the late Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown, as well as Donovan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man.

We were talking to journalist and editor at The Express Jon Coates prior to the start of the film. It was no surprise that Salem’s Lot was his first Stephen King novel and how it deeply impacted his love of this author’s output. Coates was not alone.

Jeffery Deaver noted that “King Singlehandedly made popular fiction grow up. While there were many good best-selling writers before him, King, more than anybody since John D. MacDonald, brought reality to genre novels. He's often remarked that Salem's Lot was Peyton Place meets Dracula, and so it was. The rich characterization, the careful and caring social eye, the interplay of story line and character development announced that writers could take worn themes such as vampires and make them fresh again.”

Peter Straub recalls that "One day I wandered into a very good book store and saw Salem’s Lot on the main table. If I had known that the book was about vampires, I might not have bought it. But I did buy it, and when I learned that one of the main characters was a vampire, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought, 'Oh my God, this guy is working with a very tired, almost exhausted, trope and he’s making something really vibrant out of it.' So I became a huge Stephen King fan on the spot."

So as the curtain came down, and we mused over the new film, the consensus we agreed upon was -

It’s hard to pare down such a dense and thematically complex novel such as Salem’s Lot into a two hour movie, even Tobe Hooper struggled with a two part miniseries back in 1979/1980. In our opinion Gary Dauberman had crafted an elegant updating to this gothic tale – though as readers, we would always steer you to grabbing a copy of King’s novel from Hodder and Stoughton – click here

Or explore Stephen King’s more recent books – reviewed here at Shots Magazine via the links below.

HOLLY – now out in paperback

YOU LIKE IT DARKER – still out in Hardcover

And an article here WORKING WITH THE KING is worth perusing.

We present a few photos from the launch party for SALEM’S LOT 2024 in LONDON

Shots Magazine would like to thank Philippa Pride and Francesca Russell of Hodder and Stoughton as well as Warner Brothers Pictures UK for a wonderfully creepy evening.

The Cornerstone Crime & Thriller Party

Muriel Karim, Ayo Onatade and I were delighted to receive invitations from Francesca Russell and Selina Walker to attend the very first Cornerstone Crime & Thriller Party. Cornerstone maybe a new name in the genre to some, but many of us have come to know this eclectic imprint from Penguin-RandomHouse.

We’ve known Selina for some time, as she is a renowned publisher and Ayo, Mike Stotter and I enjoyed her company over Bouchercon 2016, in New Orleans; while Francesca is one of the renowned PR Directors in Publishing. Francesca was one of the team behind the PR for Penguin’s Michael Joseph Imprint which specialises in Crime and Mystery as well.

The Cornerstone Party was remarkable, hosted in London to give Crime-Fiction Critics, Literary Commentators an opportunity to meet some of their Authors, Editorial and Public Relations / Promotional Teams – with an array of canapes, wine and eclectic conversation.

We took away their 2017 Catalogue, from which we paste the introduction from Selina Walker to give you an indication of what narratives are coming from this interesting imprint of Penguin-Randomhouse.

The guest list was equally eclectic, with Rony Cambell, Barry Forshaw, Nick Clee, Laura Wilson, Jake Kerridge, Mike Linane and many many others.

It was good to see writers Simon Kernick, John Harvey, Tony Parsons among the newer talents such as Lisa Jewel, Amy Lloyd among many others.

I particularly enjoyed having a lengthy chat with Anthony Horowitz. I thanked him for enthusing our three Children (now Adults) into reading due the thrill they got with literature; with no small thanks to his Alex Ryder novels.

I also chatted about his latest work, the curious and very elegant THE WORD IS MURDER, as well as his excellent after dinner speech at this year's Crimefest Convention held in Bristol entitled The Curious Murder of Felix Francis.

I remarked just how extraordinary his delivery in comedic terms was. Horowitz replied 'Ali, we writers are solitary souls and not usually adept at stand-up comedy'.

Though witnessing his high-wire act at the Crimefest Gala Dinner, I said he was too modest, as the five minute murder mystery he delivered was extraordinary, and he smiled.

I also thanked him for allowing me to upload and share the clip via The Shots Blog as I had found myself sitting on an adjacent table (with Peter Rozovsky) and can be viewed below and is an extremely witty five minute murder mystery; and quintessentially British.

It was soon time for Selina to take the Microphone to welcome the guests and introduce the Cornerstone Authors assembled as well as mention those not present in person, but represented by their works which were on display, such as Hollie Overton, Harlan Coben, Alison Gaylin and Lisa Gardner.

So after much mingling, Muriel, Ayo and I said our farewells and thanked Francesca, Selina and their team at Cornerstone for their hospitality. We were still recovering from the late reveling at Martina Cole’s launch party for Damaged - held the previous night, and which spilled into today, hence we needed some sleep – so we headed into the London Evening.

For more information about Cornerstone Publishing, and their Crime and Thriller List click HERE