Stephen King - The Outsider

Stephen King – The Outsider

I couldn’t have revisited my favourite authors without taking in a Stephen King novel. Over the last couple of years, King has moved away from the supernatural horror mould and gone for more crime related books with science fiction based elements. This has led to the excellent Jonas Hodges trilogy and the good but somewhat sluggish in parts, Sleeping Beauties. His latest novel sounded it like it would be pure crime and I for one couldn’t wait for its release. 

The blurb:

When an eleven-year-old boy is found murdered in a town park, reliable eyewitnesses undeniably point to the town's popular Little League coach, Terry Maitland, as the culprit. DNA evidence and fingerprints confirm the crime was committed by this well-loved family man.

Horrified by the brutal killing, Detective Ralph Anderson, whose own son was once coached by Maitland, orders the suspect to be arrested in a public spectacle. But Maitland has an alibi. And further research confirms he was indeed out of town that day.

As Anderson and the District Attorney trace the clues, the investigation expands from Ohio to Texas. And as horrifying answers begin to emerge, so King's propulsive story of almost unbearable suspense kicks into high gear.

Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy but there is one rock-hard fact, as unassailable as gravity: a man cannot be in two places at the same time. Can he?

Opening Sentence: It was an unmarked car, just some nondescript American sedan a few years old, but the blackwall tires and the three men inside gave it away for what it was.

Days to read: 28 (audible)

The premise in the blurb supplies the mystery for the first third of the novel. King does a great job of investigating the gruesome death of a local boy through supplying manuscripts of witness interviews and good old fashion police detective work. One second you are convinced Terry Maitland is guilty and then next you can’t see how he possibly could have done the crime. I loved this element of the story, as a reader you obviously want to root for Terry and hope there has been a terrible mistake, but this being a King novel, you get the sense of dread that maybe, Terry really is the vile man everyone thinks he is.

As usual King’s characterization is superb. You side with the protagonists and loathe the despicable characters. King does a great job of making you feel empathy towards Terry and his family, whilst also sowing enough seeds of doubt to make you question the character.

With Ralph Anderson we have a protagonist who has strong morals but is not above admitting when he makes mistakes. His conviction in his actions is admirable, but I loved how he was humble enough to question his methods.

One of my favourite films growing up was From Dusk Til Dawn. The twist in it blew my mind and although I loved it, I couldn’t help mourning the first half of the film and wished it had continued in the same direction prior to the twist. Whilst the Outsider doesn’t possess a twist quite so extreme, as soon as the supernatural element is introduced, I found myself experiencing the same feeling as when I was young. 

The direction the novel heads in is not bad by any stretch of the imagination. It is very good in fact, but the first half was so finely poised and set up I couldn’t help but wish the supernatural element had not occurred. Any long-term readers of my reviews will know how hypocritical that sounds as I normally love a supernatural element.  

Incidentally, the supernatural element in this novel is fantastic. It draws upon a myth I knew nothing about and have looked into a lot since. I won’t say anymore as I don’t want to spoil anything.

The second half of the novel also sees the return of one of my favourite characters in a King novel. Again, I won’t say who they are, but they take a prominent role and it is nice to see them interact with a different set of characters this time around. I listened to the audio narration of the book by Will Patton (who as usual does a fantastic job). I will confess that initially I hated his interpretation of the returning character but by the end came to love it.

I’ve seen reviews where people have called the ending anti-climatic. I can see what they are saying but for me it was one of the more satisfying endings and liked that King did not drag the conclusion out unnecessarily. I thought it was also consistent with the villain’s character.

Overall, the Outsider is a terrific book. I think it is a testament to King’s writing that I wanted the novel to be something a little different due to how well it began but have no complaints as to how it turned out. Gruesome with great characters and a cool villain, what more could you ask for?

My rating: 9.0