PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Stephen King has been writing for longer than many of us have been alive. His first book, Carrie, was published in 1974, and since then, the Master of Horror has gone on to pen 56 novels and over 200 short stories, and that’s just the stuff that he’s let see the light of day. Over the 40 plus years since his horror career kicked off, King has written about aliens, vampires, parapsychology, killer diseases, gypsy curses, bloodthirsty animals, killer clowns and even other dimensions, not to mention his 7 book magnum opus, The Dark Tower. Lately, King has turned away from the in-your-face monsters and has been concentrating on more human-with-a-side-of-supernatural stories, especially in his hard-boiled detective tales, Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and End of Watch. On May 22, a brand new King novel called The Outsider hit the shelves, and as an avid King fan, I just had to check it out. Did this new book stand up to the Stephen King stories of yore?
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Synopsis for The Outsider:
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?
What Works
There are some pretty original and entertaining things going on in The Outsider. Let me start with the creature itself. I’m not going to tell you all what the monster is (I will tell you that it has straws for eyes *shivers*), but I can guarantee you that Stephen King has never written about this thing before. It is completely original in the King universe. I love it when a story introduces a new monster that I’ve never heard of and gives me even more reason to sleep with the lights on at night. This one is so terrifying because it will make you question every person convicted of every crime EVER. Maybe Scott Peterson didn’t do it. Maybe Casey Anthony was actually innocent. Could Charles Manson have been set up?
Another cool and interesting aspect of The Outsider is how the cops, lawyers, private investigators and the criminals all work eventually together to catch the creature. I can’t even remember the last time this happened in any format, never mind a book. It was also made clear from the beginning that no one is a straight up good or bad guy. Everyone has faults. Good guys make bad decisions. Bad guys come around to be good guys again. Sure, there’s the Outsider, but monsters don’t count. There is one guy who ends up being pretty bad, but it’s doubtful that he would have done the things he did without being influenced by the creature.
What Doesn’t Work
A lot of The Outsider is very repetitive. Characters discover clues or question evidence and then turn around and have entire conversations about those very same things with several different people, reiterating the exact information over and over until it becomes eye-rollingly annoying. For example, I understand that the reader is supposed to believe that Detective Ralph Anderson has a close relationship with his wife, but does he have to explain every revelation to her in mundane detail, especially after we just read about it all a page or two ago? Do we have to be hit over the head with repeated conversations every time someone new is brought up to speed? This bogged the book down and made it almost a chore to read at some points.
This is a personal thing, but I wasn’t a fan of Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers or End of Watch (yes, I read them, but they’re were one-and-dones for me, which is very rare when it comes to Stephen King books). I feel like I can get my detective novels from so many other places, so to go through police investigations, evidence gathering and general cops and robbers storylines from the same author who brought me Captain Tripps, The Man in Black, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Annie Wilkes and The Overlook Hotel makes me feel cheated somehow. Obviously, what we want to read and what Mr. King feels inspired to write are not always one and the same. However, in my personal opinion, The Outsider could have been about a bunch of everymen solving the mystery of the evil and otherworldly Outsider and less on what Holly Gibney is doing now and it would have been so much better.
Final Thoughts
Stephen King’s The Outsider has a roller coaster of a story, some gut-wrenching imagery, more than a few likable characters and one of the most unique and terrifying monsters I’ve seen in a very long time. Although it could have used some tightening up, the story itself was exciting once it got going. Although it may not be residing on my Top 10 Stephen King Novels bookshelf, it was still worth a read, especially to learn more about that insane creature. If you’re a Stephen King fan and you loved Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and End of Watch, you’ll absolutely love The Outsider.
