The Outsider
Book - 2018
1501180983


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From Library Staff
An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation...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 t... Read More »
Graham F.: "Stephen King is a master of spooky and tense fiction mixed with everyday reality. How can a you commit a murder in one place and coach a baseball game at the same time? Let’s find out!"
An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation...An eleven-year-old boy's 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.... Read More »
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Add a CommentThis is the first book I have read by Stephen King and I enjoyed it throughout. It is a great read for around halloween time because of its horror aspects. Although it was quite a decent sized book with 500+ pages it really hooks the reader and keeps you wanting to read more. The book does contain a bit of gore but the suspense and mystery of the book is very captivating and interesting. I would definitely recommend it to others if they have a stomach for gore and murder mysteries. I would give this book a 4/5. @BookHoi127 of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library
I had already watched the TV series, this was so much better. The first 2/3 of this was outstanding. As I get with King, his storytelling can go a bit sidewards at times. At the end if the day another killer story from this guy.
Well, what bodes well for this book is that it clocks in at 550 pages and I hammered through it pretty quickly. so, it kept me turning pages and I'm quite familiar with the SK universe and find it generally easy reading. I didn't find too much originality in this story. The initial setup is very reminiscent of The Dark Half and of course the set up for the showdown was a little too similar to IT. However, where the book succeeds is in the execution, the little details and the humor. I think it would have been easy to have the Ralph Anderson character fall into all kinds of redneck cop stereotypes and just be a bad guy throughout, but it turned out to be a character with depth and humanity and you feel him living with his mistakes at the onset of the case. I like the re-introduction of the character of Holly because it reminds me of Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers. But I don't like it because it reminds me of End of Watch (bleh). This book is just fine. However, If you want SK at his best from the last 15 years, you should be reading Revival.
I have not read all of Stephen King's novels; this one I am a fan of.
I've always been a huge SK fan, however a lot of his newer stuff is just so-so to me. This one is one of the better ones! Dark and twisty, loved all of it. Loved how he added Holly from the Mercedes trilogy into this one.
Anyone looking for this book let me know.
This was a gripping and fantastic read! A great story and definite page turner, it appeals to the masses with wonderful entertainment value.
Besides a few moments, it lacks the substance of a great novel, but that wasn't what I was looking for with this story and neither should you.
I'm happy I listened to this instead of reading it, as many people found it too long winded of a read, I feel like that isn't as big of a problem on audiobooks in general. In more recent years Mr. King has steered more towards police or detective procedural stories with a sci fi twist, such as the trilogy Mr. Mercedes (which he tied into this story as well) and he's done so again with The Outsider. If you're like me and enjoy checking out the book before the screen adaption, give this is a listen as it has now been adapted into an HBO show starring Jason Bateman.
This book was way too long-winded. It was pretty intriguing at first, but Stephen King apparently needs an editor to tell him the basics of how to write a compelling story. Which is concerning. Don't repeat the same exposition 37 times by different characters. Don't treat your audience like they are stupid by telling them what to feel or by repeating things over and over. There's far too much time spent establishing that each male character either has a wife or doesn't, they each drink coffee, death depresses them, etc. A bit disappointed.
This could have been a much more engaging novel if it was half the length. An aggressive editor might wipe out 75% to get to the meat of the story. Example: a character is looking through newspapers to find a bit of information. He doesn't find it but the reader has to read through recaps of story after story that the character does find that are completely unrelated in any way to the plot. Filler that is completely disrespectful of the reader's time and common sense.