Title: The Outsider

Author: Stephen King

Release date: May 22nd, 2018

I’m going to state a few things up front here, just to get them out of the way. This is mainly for those who’ve still not read this one, or are on the fence.

The first – I’ve not watched the series. I’ve heard great things, but I’ve not had time to get to watching it and frankly, I wanted to read this first. The second – yes, Holly Gibney is in this. The third – I enjoy Holly. I know she’s become a polarizing figure for King fans (I also really enjoyed the Bill Hodges Trilogy), but knowing Holly is in this was fine for me. Either her appearance would work or it wouldn’t and I wouldn’t know that until I’d read it for myself.

Lastly, I will say, I’ve been a massive King fan since my neighbour, Patty, lent me some of her collection back when I was 9 or 10. I know people enjoy ripping him about things, and consider him almost untouchable, but (and not that he needs little Steve to be sticking up for him) without King, a lot of what we read today wouldn’t be as popular as it is and we’d see horror in general struggle for recognition even more than it typically does. Alright, I’ll get off my soapbox ha!

‘The Outsider’ intrigued me from the get go. A horrible crime occurs. A suspect is quickly and easily identified. But he has an iron clad alibi, backed up by colleagues and even video. But as the story unfolds, we get a glimmer of something else, something slinking along and King works his magic like only he does.

What I liked: The reality is, King is one of those writers who just sucks you in immediately and his writing voice is so familiar, so ingrained and comforting that the pages fly by. It also helps that he frequently tells fantastic stories.

The first third or so of this book could’ve been its own stand-alone, stunning read. A who-done-it about a local baseball coach wrongly arrested and the community fracturing because of this. It had me hooked and seeing both sides – the detective and prosecutor working the case, as well as the coach and his lawyer working against the reality that this coach, Terry, is now considered guilty in the eyes of everyone, was phenomenal. I was hooked and pulled along.

But what King does best, and what constant readers (sorry, had to!) know, is that within his releases, there are normally two to three storylines. And when chaos breaks out as Terry is brought to the courthouse for his arraignment, King starts to really unfurl and get us seeing more about these other pieces.

I loved how we were led along and ultimately arriving down in Texas. When Holly was contacted and she looked into events seemingly unrelated, but ultimately were key to the story, it opened up another plot line and these all converged as we go all the way down to a finale that happens deep underground at the Marysville Hole.

For me, personally, the ending was spot on, I loved the throwback of something from the Hodges trilogy and it was great to see how this outsider became unhinged and reactionary. It has hints of ‘IT’ all over it and maybe it is related. After all, it does ask Holly if she’s seen others of its kind and we do know how much King loves to relate to his own worlds.

What I didn’t like: It’s funny, because I’m actually struggling to find something that really annoyed me or that I’d think others reading this might be put off by. Obviously, you may not be a Holly fan, but otherwise, if you’re a King fan, who just loves to read his books and not try and pick them apart, I think you’ll be pleasantly rewarded.

Why you should buy this: If you’re a constant reader, you probably already own this, and if you’re not, you’ve most likely heard of this one. Either way, if you’ve not read it yet, this book is a fast-paced thriller that takes a hard supernatural turn and is made better by that turn, even considering prior to that, it is phenomenal. This is a 600 page book that’ll zip by and the secondary characters all have purpose and work well to keep the story all together.

Another amazing book by Stephen King, and now I’ll be able to dive into ‘If It Bleeds’ knowing that one of those novellas is a bit of a sequel to this one.

5/5