Book Author: Stephen King
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Suggested reads:
Anything is possible. Anything at all. The world is full of strange nooks and crannies.
Table of Contents
A horrific crime and an ironclad case but with an ironclad alibi everything might not be what it seems.
⚠️TW: Mention of themes related to the following can be found in this book: sexual assault, child abuse, and violent murder.
Who will love it?
To those who love paranormal murder mysteries or who want to explore this genre of mystery thriller, this book will hook you right at the start.
If still not convinced, read the full reading notes below.
Where to grab a copy?
This pundit highly recommends finding a copy you can borrow (e.g., from a friend or library) instead of immediately buying a new book. Trees are generally used to make the paper in the books we read, so let’s be mindful.
If not possible, that’s only when one should consider buying a new book, and make sure to support your local bookshops. Online shopping must only be your last resort.
Happy reading!
Full Reading Notes
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Click here for the blurb.
The sleepy Flint City is perturbed by the discovery of a young boy's violated dead body. All eyewitnesses and forensic evidence point to one of their city's most upstanding citize - Terry Maitland, Little League coach, teacher, and loving husband and father. As far as Det. Ralph Anderson and the rest of the prosecution is concerned, they have an ironclad case. But Terry asserts his innocence along with his own ironclad alibi.
As the investigation continues, bizarre details and unexplainable evidence starts to make Det. Anderson question if they have the right guy. As more tragedy unfolds, he vows to find out the truth, even if it means testing the limits of his belief of the natural world.
Why read “The Outsider”
Other than the mental exercise murder mysteries provide, this one I particularly like because of how it also tries to show that the tragedy goes beyond the crime. In this case, the death of a young boy.
Both the victim and the suspect have family and loved ones whose lives are also upended because of these crimes. How the plot expands from this to become a horrifying paranormal mystery is just brilliant.
Drawbacks of “The Outsider”
I’ve been reading SK for a while now. I started with Eyes of the Dragon way back 2007, and been hooked with his work since then. One thing that always bothered me though is how the narrative turns into a drawling monologue. It can be effective for character development but sometimes it just becomes too distracting that I find myself skipping chunks of paragraphs. Also, whether the monologue is of the character or of the author is not clear with how these monologues go.
It’s the reason that it takes me way longer than normal to finish his books. This one though I “read” through an Audiobook so the narration helped a great deal.
Nonetheless, the overall plot and storytelling were convincingly horrifying enough to distract me from all the drawbacks and have me hooked on this book.
-The ArKivist
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