Thursday, May 24, 2018

The Outsider by Stephen King


36000789
3 Stars

WARNING: SPOILER-ISH
“Doesn’t look like a monster, does he?”

“They rarely do.”


First things first: I don’t know if I simply lucked out or if the library is officially terrified of me at this point and placed me first on the waiting list, but whatever the case I am truly grateful to have received this on release day. On the flip side, since I was fortunate enough to be one of the first to get my grubby paws on The Outsider, there aren’t a whole lot of opinions (from people who have actually read it) floating around out there. My assumption? Reactions will be pretty split between those who loooooooved it and make reference to “classic King” and whatnot and wrongreaders like me.

The story starts off with a bang – a little boy has been murdered (gruesomely!) in a small town. Everything – I am talking EV.ER.Y.THANG. – points to the local little league coach. Witnesses, DNA, you name it. A decision is made to go in fast and furious with a side of public humiliation added in for good measure and make an arrest at the big game in front of as many residents as possible. But then????? Dude has an alibi and it’s a solid one. Which led to me posting my one and only status update while reading this book . . . .



And then? Well, unfortunately for me the wheels kind of started to fall off when King brought back a main character from a place where he recently performed a literary hat trick and the story went from a crime thriller to a “horror” (I guess - I have a hard time using that word if a book isn't scary) and I noticed that he saves himself from having to flesh out characters by introducing readers to so many of them and I realized will go to my grave declaring the majority of King’s books could do with a good whacking (The Outsider could easily have been cut down to 350 pages and probably earned more Starzzzzzz from yours truly because you don’t really get anything except more pages with the additional 200 here - except a hand cramp if you opted for the hardback version rather than an e-Copy) and even the superbaddie wasn’t his own creation which was a little disappointing and last but certainly not least . . . . .



What can I say????



And also I cannot even type one text without a typographical error.

Yeah, I confirmed I liked it better the first time I read IT . . . .



(Glad to know he still shits the bed on the very-not-so-dramatic ending with this one, though – NOT.)

Hell, even the book warns you early on that . . . .

“I’ve been here before. It’s kind of like reincarnation.”

I’m sure many readers will delight in this trip down memory lane and I truly wish I could be more like them. I generally enjoy nostalgia as much as the next person and, despite not being an Annie Wilkes, I am Constant Reader enough that I pick up on (some of the more obvious) Easter Eggs that are scattered through King’s stories. This one was just too much of a regurge for me so 3 Starz it shall be (and if it wasn't King writing it, I'd probably give it 2).

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