The Outsider: A Novel

When I post reviews of Stephen King, I quite often rate it at five stars and, consequently, many people assume I’m just another King groupie. If you are one of these, you might still find a reason to appreciate my take on this latest work by the master of horror, because this story goes into something much more than just horror. Be sure though that you are ready to journey through shock and awe as only Stephen King can guide you.

In searching my book of quotations, searching for just the right thought, I came up with this nugget of wisdom by the master of horror:

The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool - Stephen King

Demakis, Joseph. The Ultimate Book of Quotations (p. 490). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

BLUSH FACTOR: This is Stephen King, so, of course, there are ample profanities. As for me, I wouldn’t change a word, but that’s just me.

Reviewers and readers of Stephen King fall into three categories. My target audience is that segment that wants to know if this novel is little more than a re-hash of one of his other novels, or something fresh and titillating.

As for myself, I am close to being a dedicated fan, so keep that in mind as you proceed.

The Outsider blends typical King with the same sort of plot as his Bill Hodges series and some of that exhibited in the book 11-23-63. Where it differs markedly from both is the King gets us inside the head

EXCERPT

NOTE: I took the below excerpt from about the 15% mark, so don’t get the impression that this is a spoiler. What you’re reading here may, or may not shed light on the direction of the story. It is provided only so readers can get a feel for the language utilized with great effect to set the scene and establish the mood, as I call it, or to foretell the direction of the tale.

‘…deliberate. What possessed you? What on God’s green earth possessed you?”

Ralph felt his face heating up again. “You really want to know, counselor?”

“Ralph,” Samuels said warningly. He put a restraining hand on Ralph’s arm.

Ralph shook it off. “I wasn’t the one who arrested him. I had a couple of officers do that, because I was afraid I might put my hands around his throat and choke him blue. Which would give a smart lawyer like you a little too much to work with.” He stepped forward, getting into Gold’s space to make him stop the back and forth rocking. “He grabbed Frank Peterson and took him to Figgis Park. There he raped the kid with a tree branch, and there he killed him. Do you want to know how he killed him?”

“Ralph, that’s privileged!” Samuels squawked.

Ralph paid no attention. “Preliminary forensics suggests he tore the kid’s throat open with his teeth. He may even have swallowed some of the flesh, okay? All that got him so excited that he dropped trou and spilled his spunk all over the back of the kid’s thighs. Nastiest, vilest, most unspeakable unspeakable murder any of us will ever see, God willing. He must have been building up to it for a long time. None of us who were at the scene will ever get it out of our minds. And…’

King, Stephen. The Outsider: A Novel (Kindle Locations 961-971). Scribner. Kindle Edition.

BOTTOM LINE

I’ve tried to provide sufficient insight into “The Outsider” without spoiling the tale and without slipping any expletives into the review. If you have enjoyed King’s recent stories, I think this is even better than those. Mind you, my favorite of his remains “The Stand,” but this story is a very close second, or, perhaps, third.

Five stars out of five.

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The first third of this book is brilliant and a real page-turner. However, because this part is so good, the latter half feels comparatively weak, and the whole story winds up abruptly and unsatisfactorily. To explain all the chaos he created, Stephen King resorts to his habitual way: he introduces a ghost, alien, or something/someone not existing on Earth. The final scenes (from the confrontation with the "Outsider," winning the battle, and returning to normal life) feel like a cheap soap opera. But to be frank, his descriptions of the characters and his storytelling ability to captivate readers in the first third are truly outstanding, and that is the reason why he is still popular.

This was classic King. I enjoyed the story just not him inserting his personal opinions into these characters IYKYK. I read books to escape the messy world not have more of the same thrown at me. When he wasn’t doing that it was good book. I love Holly’s character and the references to Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers. I always enjoy keeping a character going in novels.

HOW TO READ REVIEWS IN 2020 STEP 1: Disregard the 1 star wingnuts who blather on about politics like lemmings blindly repeating what they hear elsewhere. These reviews don't count. They also do not take into account that SK has always included current events, politics, and pop-culture references in his novels from the beginning. These are tools a good author uses to establish a feel. Is this a political novel? No. Does it reference current events that are on everyone's mind? Of course! Are we blasted with commentary about the current President? Nope. The President is mentioned by name only 3 times: two of them are signs/posters we've all seen in the last few years (one for, one against) and the other is a quote. STEP 2: Be wary of 5 star reviews attempting to offset the 1 star reviews. Some are genuine (this was a really good book), but some are clearly just counter-blows by other politically motivated mouthpieces. STEP 3: Look for an objective review of the story. This requires critical reading skills to separate the wheat from the chaff. There are good reviews here, but you can not longer take any of them at face value.

MY REVIEW The story turned from a compelling murder mystery to something more sinister about halfway through. It opens with a horrific murder, and then draws you into what SK does best: taunting you to pull back the skin of the world to consider things we might not want to know about lurking underneath.

The plot is solid, but the migration from one genre to seemingly another might be off-putting for some. If you wanted just a basic murder mystery story that stays within the normal formula, this isn't it. The characters are GREAT! Holly, in particular is so adorably weird that I think she might actually live down the street from me.

It also seems that SK has returned to a more sparse writing style similar to his older works. I started falling away during the Dark Tower era where it felt like there was more description than action. Here description is leaner and the action is faster. He sets up enough that I can picture the scene very well, but doesn't spend extra pages detailing what my imagination can do quite well. WELL DONE!

In some ways, the Outsider seems to have some parallels to IT... but again, I can't tell you why. You really do need to take the ride. If you like old-school Stephen King, you'll like this.

THE AUDIOBOOK The book itself was a page-turner (every chapter ending with a "What? WHAT??? moment that forces you to read on), but the audiobook is narrated by Will Patton who did an AMAZING job at giving each character a swerve and quirk that made it an absolute joy to listen to.

WHY NOT 5 STARS? While an excellent novel that will leave me with a lot of memorable scenes and quotes, it's not one that screams "this is a classic!" to me. There are a few books that I'd ready where I finished, and I knew --just knew-- that this would be one of that author's defining moments. Solid novel, highly recommended, top shelf, but it's not the one I'd grab from the library if I were going to be stranded on a desert island.

(NO SPOILERS)

I found "The Outsider" a middling-good Stephen King work with a couple of noteworthy characters, and I recommend it to King fans and anyone else looking for decent summer fiction reading. I thought the story ran out of gas a bit after the first act and took a little long hashing out a fairly apparent conclusion.

I've enjoyed reading Stephen King here and there for decades. I'm not a fully dedicated fan where I read everything he puts out, but I have fond memories of several of his works, like the time I gulped down all 20 trillion pages of "It" one Christmas break during college.

I find he has the same strengths -- grabbing the reader immediately, setting an interesting scene, quickly sketching believable characters, and ratcheting up the intensity -- every time. King has a few weaknesses as well -- the odd penchant for gross-out sexual imagery (so many fluids) and often a letdown when the supernatural mcguffin is revealed.

I like King best when he grounds his work most firmly in the real world -- "Misery" had not one supernatural element, but is maybe the most satisfying King novel I've read. In "The Outsider," King starts out with a gritty crime story --- the horrific murder of a child, seemingly carried out by the nicest man in town -- and slowly pushes it toward the bizarre. The result is like a Law and Order episode that morphs inexorably into pulpy horror fiction.

I enjoyed the result, but thought the first third of the book was best, and began to lose interest well before the end. The first act -- the murder mystery -- is gripping and emotionally fraught. A man is seemingly wrongfully accused of a grisly child murder (the imagery here is simultaneously horrifying and darkly comic, another of King's signatures). The police and prosecutor are overzealous, cocky and mean, and a shrewd lawyer is the accused's only hope. Then the anomalies begin to pile up. Soon it appears something very strange is going on.

But by the beginning of the third act, we have a pretty good idea of what the "strange" is, and that's where I had a hard time continuing to be interested. The story continues jolting along, driven by King's quirky characters and confident descriptions of the grisly and unsettling, but the nature of the mystery became so clear so early that wrapping up seemed less compelling. I found myself reading just to get through it. The climactic scene was intense but brief and felt more like inevitable exposition when it arrived.

Still, I enjoyed the book, and may go back and check out the other novels that apparently share one of the best characters, an investigator who put me in mind of the neuro atypical detective in the tv show The Bridge (I have no idea which character came first and cast no aspersions). King is a fine writer of mystery / crime fiction, and I take no issue in mashing that up with his gritty supernatural storytelling overall -- it just wasn't that compelling to me in this case. It's not particularly short, and I think the story would have read more crisply with a trim.

Three stars. Not King's best, but not bad at all. A worthy summer read for a road trip or a rainy weekend.