Book Review: The Outsider by Stephen King

Inside the Book:

Title: The Outsider

Author: Stephen King

Release Date: May 22, 2018

Publisher: Scribner

Genre: Horror

Format: Ebook/Paperback/Hardcover

Purchasing:

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.

Stephen King has been my favorite author for as far back as I can remember. So, when a new book comes out I usually try to read it, just to see if he still can grab me with his stories like he did the first time I read one of his books. And with this novel, he did just that.

If you are looking for a true horror story, this is not the book for you. This story does have a supernatural element to it, but it is more focused on a community, and an accusation that has evidence to support it, but an airtight alibi that leads you to believe there is no possible way the crime that was committed was done by the man accused...even though there is DNA that says otherwise.

How could there be evidence supporting both sides...evidence that would be impossible to refute no matter which side you were arguing? And a poor young boy is dead, brutalized by someone the community can hardly believe would do such a thing. Did he? Or was something else at work?

This one starts with a bang and keeps up a fast pace until the conclusion. I loved it. 

Meet the Author:

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes The Bill Hodges Trilogy, Revival, and Doctor Sleep. His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller as well as the Best Hardcover Book Award from the International Thriller Writers Association. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.