He has always understood that the mystery – the question – is scarier than finding out the truth.īut even then, the titular Outsider is not the strongest presence of evil in this book. The supernatural elements have more than a little in common with some of King’s most beloved creations, especially in the vague way he conveys what they actually are.

Then, as so often in King novels, the rug is pulled out from beneath the reader’s feet: the airtight case remains airtight, but so too does the alibi, until Anderson, with the help of Holly Gibney, on loan from the Bill Hodges trilogy, starts to unpick Terry’s story.įrom that point on, the novel visits some very odd places – and I mean that as a compliment. Unnecessary cameo aside, it’s a genuinely intriguing mystery, one that uses many of the tropes of both so-called “grip-lit” thrillers and more conventional forensics-driven crime fiction. They are then presented with a curveball: Terry doesn’t just have an alibi, he has been caught on video at a talk by Harlan Coben in another town at the exact time the murder took place. The story switches from King’s graceful head-hopping third-person narrative to a transcript of official statements from key personnel in the prosecution’s case, a formal change that nods to the statements and newspaper extracts King used throughout his debut, Carrie.Ī well-researched, finely tuned crime-cum-legal case novel forms a good chunk of the book, as Detective Anderson and the state prosecutor amass their evidence. The Outsider gives King fans exactly what they want at the same time as cramming in new ideas (As seemingly every character says at one point: “He coached my son / grandson!”) The case is driven by Detective Ralph Anderson, a man who liked Terry and can’t believe that he would commit such an atrocity, but who also knows that all the evidence points to him being guilty. When Terry Maitland – baseball youth coach, family man, all-round good guy – is accused of the horrific murder of a young boy, he is arrested and the town turns against him.

From description alone, The Outsider sounds as though it could be King by numbers.

Stephen king the outsider review