Blurb:
A horrifying crime.
Water-tight evidence points to a single suspect.
Except he was seventy miles away, with an iron-clad alibi.
Detective Anderson sets out to investigate the impossible: how can the suspect have been both at the scene of the crime and in another town?
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date: 02/05/2019
Genre: Thriller/Horror/Supernatural
Pages: 496
My Chosen Format: Paperback
My Rating of ‘The Outsider’: 5 out of 5
Purchase: Amazon UK, Amazon US, Audible UK, Audible US
Review:
I was hoping that my first novel of the year would be a good one (I’ve finished three audio books this year so far but this is my first actual physical book) and, thankfully, King delivered. Hoping for a fantastic read and picking Stephen King was a bit of a double-edged blade. My history with his books has always been ‘excellent world building, excellent character building, great story and … lacklustre endings’. Fortunately, for me at least, The Outsider was one of King’s home runs.
I loved everything about this book from the concept, to the characters, to the cross-over characters from the Bill Hodges trilogy and even the ending. I will say that if you are intending to read the Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr Mercedes, Finders Keepers & End of Watch), do so before reading this or it will be spoiled for you. If you weren’t intending to read the Bill Hodges trilogy … shame on you.
As one would expect with King, this is not your ordinary thriller. There are supernatural/horrory elements, so if you were hoping for a genuine thriller, this probably isn’t the book for you. Fortunately, I went into this not only unaware of that fact, but totally cool with it being either a genuine thriller or one with supernatural elements. So I was destined to be happy either.
The premise of this book got me hooked straight away and didn’t let go. Even when it passed from the realms of thriller into supernatural thriller, my interest was held due to a mixture of the relationship built up with the characters, both old and new, the storytelling and King’s writing. For me, King is the sort of writer that, even when he writes a book you don’t particularly enjoy (for me that was Salem’s Lot & Needful Things) you can’t help but enjoy the world he’s building and the characters he’s fleshing out. I think, ordinarily, this is helped by everything happening in his small, fictional slice of New England. It’s a setting you’re familiar with and one you can see grow with every book.
Not that that was a factor here as it happened in Texas. But I digress.
The pacing of this book was never slow. Everything that was happening was interesting and continually adding to the story or to character growth rather than just padding out a word count. King’s style is a natural word count builder so he’s not one that typically needs to pad. It’s also one of the few books I’ve read where the overwhelming sense of helplessness bled through from the page and into me. Just putting yourself in the shoes of the person/s accused and seeing how pathetically woeful their chances of justice are makes you feel miserable for them.
I read through this in a little under a week and am already missing it. Its one of those reads that you can slip into for a few, or a few dozen, pages and just enjoy the sensation of getting lost in a good story. It’s rare that I praise King for his endings as, even those books I truly loved by him (Under the Dome & 11.22.63 to name a couple) tend to have more of a whimper than a bang at the end. King does, however, seem far stronger when writing endings for his Supernatural thrillers, something proven in the Bill Hodges trilogy.
Long may this man keep churning out stories!
Fantastic review! I’ve been meaning to read The Outsider for a while now and you have definitely made me want to pick it up now.
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As mentioned in the review, if you have the Bill Hodges trilogy on your list, do read those first as this contains fairly large spoilers 🙂
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Thanks for the warning! I did read Mr Mercedes, but it was years ago and I didn’t really enjoy it that much in the first place… I’m not sure I’ll ever continue it, so I’ll probably end up reading The Outsider first anyway.
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It features one of the characters from that trilogy, so as long as you know who they are and their little quirks it won’t be confusing at all.
The summary it gives of the Hodges trilogy will also leave you feeling happy you know everything with no need to read 🙂
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That’s good to know!
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I haven’t read much of King’s newer work, but this sounds fantastic. It’s definitely going onto my 2021 reading list! Great review 😁
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It’s certainly worth it but, as mentioned, it contains rather large spoilers for the Bill Hodges trilogy. So well worth reading that series first if it was on your King list 🙂
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I loved this book! Especially since it’s never slow or boring 🙂 Awesome review of it!
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It was such so fast-paced and constantly interesting. Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did 🙂
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Great review!! I read this back in 2019 and unfortunately I didn’t review it but I remember enjoying it. Also I haven’t read the Bill Hodges trilogy yet but I plan to eventually.
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I have only read the first two in the Hodges trilogy. Going to get to the third after the spoilers from this book have softened in my memory a bit 🙈
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Yeah I wasn’t to worried about the spoilers because I have a very bad memory so by the time I get around to reading the trilogy I want remember anything.
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I’m so jealous of you for that trait! I just know I’ll see a name/job description and think ‘ah, I remember everything that happens to said character’
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It’s nice when it comes to books but sometimes it’s annoying.
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This book marked my “return” to S. King after long years in which previous disappointments had kept me from his works: my only regret is that I read it before starting the Mr. Mercedes trilogy (of which I read the first book as of now), and therefore did not completely connect with the character of Holly, because I could not understand where she came from.
And yet this one was enough to encourage me to explore what I missed until now…
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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The Bill Hodges series is a great read 🙂 unfortunately, I wasn’t aware this featured spoilers, so book three has been ruined a little for me. I’ll get to it in the future, I’m sure.
It’s certainly a vast improvement on some of his older stuff (particularly the endings).
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Loved this book. King always grabs you from page 1 and pulls you in.
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Totally agree. He’s truly one of a kind
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