The Outsider by Stephen King
Jan. 17th, 2019 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gilda_elise
An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.
An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.
As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.
As with most of King’s doorstops of a book, this one has lots of characters and several plot lines to keep straight. And what kind of book is it, anyway? A crime drama? Science Fiction? Horror? Perhaps a little of all three, because it takes you from a horrifying crime, to the puzzle of someone being in two places at once, to an answer grounded in myth. I have to admit, I never thought I’d run into the cucuy, the boogieman of my childhood.
And while it’s a fascinating story on its own, the plus was that it brought back Holly Gibney, one of the main characters from the Bill Hodges trilogy, because it was her addition that really brought the other characters to life. Holly is the only one who has come into contact with the unexplainable, and so is able to guide the others, and bringing out the best in them at the same time.
Mount TBR 2019 Book Links
Links are to more information regarding each book or author, not to the review.
1. The Outsider
1. Fantasy, Scifi, Paranormal - The Outsider by Stephen King
