Amazon Books

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.Amazon Books
The Outsider book

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.Amazon Books

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.Amazon Books

Top customer reviews

Either King is getting more comfortable with his ability to draw us in with a fewer words, or he's got a much better editor

May 23, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

Either King is getting more comfortable with his ability to draw us in with a minium of words, or he's got a much better editor than he did at the start. I can't quite pinpoint when his verbosity stopped, but it's a welcome change.Amazon Books

This is more in the Mr. Mercedes universe than the old Derry/Castle Rock/Things that go bump in the night universe of old. It starts out being a perplexing murder mystery, and it's not until later in the story that supernatural elements start creeping in. By that time, though, you're so involved in the story that the supernatural elements seem plausible...and then they start making sense. As the book quotes, Arthur Conan Doyle (via Sherlock Holmes) said "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." King manages to eliminate the impossible, slowly yet surely.Amazon Books

I've started measuring how good I think a mystery/horror book is by how tense I get when I read it. I was extremely tense reading this one, wondering just what the solution was going to be.Amazon Books

I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoyed the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, or 11/22/63.

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