The Outsider: A Book Review

When you have a three-month-old and a three-year-old, finding time to read is tough. I used to fly through novels in a day or two, but it took me about a month to finish Stephen King’s newest novel, The Outsider. This has nothing to do with the quality of the book and everything to do with the fact that I’m an extremely busy human being who is raising two boys, has a few shows she likes to watch, is writing her third thesis (I’m sure I’ll blog about that), managing TWO blogs, and engaging in a few top secret creative projects.

That being said, I’ve now finished the book! And, when I read a book I like, I like to talk about it. That also being said, I’d like for other people to read this book, so I won’t be giving spoilers because I’m not a total asshole.

Before I get into talking about the book, there is something you should know about me and Stephen King. I’ve been loving Stephen King for twenty years which makes me feel very old, and I’ve read almost everything he’s written. My favorite book of short stories by him in Different Seasons. I mean, it has the stories that went on to become Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, and Apt Pupil, sooooo it’s definitely one of the best short story collections of all time. More importantly, you should know that my 100% all-time favorite King novel is It. It kills me. I read it for the first time when I was twelve and the second time last year before the new movie came out (I was 30). Reading that particular novel and those two ages was really profound for me since the novel goes back and forth between the group of friends being 11 and 38.

It’s important to know that It is my favorite book by King because that really influences how I feel about The Outsider.

First, here is the basic, non-spoiler summary that the book sleeve gives:

An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.

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? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.

Well, I don’t know if I was shocked. As an avid Stephen King reader, I kind of predicted where this novel was going pretty early on. Did that take away from my enjoyment of the novel? It didn’t. In fact, my only wish is that this novel came out a year earlier.

You see, I re-read It last summer because the new movie was coming out in September. After I finished reading it, I was yearning for something in the same vein, but couldn’t really find anything (at least not anything I hadn’t read). But here is the thing about The Outsider: if you love It, you’ll probably love this book. Not to accuse King of ripping himself off, because the stories are very different, but The Outsider feels like It if they had ignored the kids story and just focused on the adults.

The novel is about a group of adults coming together to try and understand something that isn’t understandable to adults, because they’ve grown up and adhered to reason as the main source of reliability. How they grapple with the unexplainable and horrific to defeat the bad guy is VERY reminiscent of It.

As a parent (especially a mother of boys), this novel was definitely hard to read at certain times, but King is really masterful at two things: tragic coming-of-age stories and stories where adults have to fuck off being adults for one second and look at the world from another angle. This novel falls into the latter.

It’s obviously well written because the man can write, but, more importantly, it’s a really interesting story and the man knows how to write a page turner. Is it his most original work? I mean, no, probably not. Like I said, it hints at It quite a bit, but it’s a really enjoyable read.

Side note: Bravo recently released a SHITTY five part miniseries based on the Joan Lindsay book Picnic at Hanging Rock. Don’t bother with that shit. Read Picnic at Hanging Rock. It’s my second favorite book and it’s amazing. I’ve also recently read The Beguiled. It was good. Should I do a blog of book recommendations? Because Lord knows I’ve got some! Let me know!