Book Review: The Outsider by Stephen King
I've read a lot of Stephen King: The Shinning, IT, Salem's Lot, Insomnia, The Stand, The Dark Tower Series, Pet Sematary to name a few (and I've read more). I LOVE Stephen King. He's one of my literary idols! But lately I haven't been able to get into his newer books. I picked up Cell when it came out in 2006 (yes, I know it's not "new" anymore, but in my mind it is) got about halfway and just never finished the book. Then Under the Dome in 2009 which I had no interest in reading (though I might give it another chance). 11.22.63 published 2011...*shrug*. I can't tell you why these books didn't capture my imagination or intrigued me enough to want to pick them up and finish them; and many many more.
Maybe I was just in a different book faze at the time...The Wheel of Time comes to mind or I'd just written the newer books off as 'not as good as his old stuff' in my mind; which is a terrible thing, seeing as this is one of my favorite authors of all time! I even read a review about cocaine King vs. sober King...
However, this new novel The Outsider reminded me so strongly of the horror Stephen King of the 70's through into the 90's (that I'd come to glorify), so much so I had to buy it and read it, even if i'm a little late on the uptake. The writing blurb immediately set my mind whirling with promises of dark evil, and it delivered. It also doesn't hurt that the HBO show is getting amazing reviews as well (god, I'm terrible).
*Spoilers Ahead!*
"Reality is thin ice, but most people skate on it their whole lives and never fall through until the very end." -Stephen King, The Outsider.
The novel opens like a classic murder mystery police procedural. A teacher and little league coach, Terry Maitland is arrested by police and detective Ralph Anderson in front of the entire town at one of his little league games. He's accused of the terrible brutal murder of an 11 year old boy, Frank Peterson. The police have hard forensic evidence that Terry Maitland is the murder. His DNA and fingerprints are found all over the murdered boy, and the van that had transported the boy to the murder site in a local park. Terry Maitland did it...except Terry Maitland didn't. Terry Maitland has an air tight alibi with video footage; and later it's discover that he also has left a fingerprint on a book he was thinking of buying. Ralph is beginning to have doubts. How can Terry be in two places at once?
Stephen King has a panache at writing villains. He terrified the living daylights out of me with Pennywise the clown and all of the forms IT took to scare, terrify, and torture The Losers Club. The Vampires from Salam's Lot literally had me shaking in bed, the book held up to my nose, knees close to my chest, unable to tear away from their sinister evil until I knew how the protagonists were going to get out alive. And Danny Torrance navigating the Overlook Hotel, which kept me on the edge of my seat, the hairs on the back of my neck tingling late into the night unable to sleep.
And it's not just the supernatural entities that he sculpts either, but the men and women that slowly lose their sanity to the paranormal circumstances that they've suddenly come into contact with. King crafts possibility and a sense of realism into his horror, and he does the same in The Outsider.
The creature at the end, the symbolism of walking down to your doom in a dangerous cave system knowing that people have gotten lost and died, and the otherness of what the outsider really is- reignited my passion for Stephen Kings horror and his literary universes.
I'm delight once again to being reading him again. He hasn't lost his touch as a great crafter of suspense and the supernatural, and I plan on pick up more of his 'newer' novels in the foreseeable future. If you haven't read The Outsider (and didn't run away cursing me about spoilers) pick it up, it's worth it.
Maybe I was just in a different book faze at the time...The Wheel of Time comes to mind or I'd just written the newer books off as 'not as good as his old stuff' in my mind; which is a terrible thing, seeing as this is one of my favorite authors of all time! I even read a review about cocaine King vs. sober King...
However, this new novel The Outsider reminded me so strongly of the horror Stephen King of the 70's through into the 90's (that I'd come to glorify), so much so I had to buy it and read it, even if i'm a little late on the uptake. The writing blurb immediately set my mind whirling with promises of dark evil, and it delivered. It also doesn't hurt that the HBO show is getting amazing reviews as well (god, I'm terrible).
*Spoilers Ahead!*
"Reality is thin ice, but most people skate on it their whole lives and never fall through until the very end." -Stephen King, The Outsider.
The novel opens like a classic murder mystery police procedural. A teacher and little league coach, Terry Maitland is arrested by police and detective Ralph Anderson in front of the entire town at one of his little league games. He's accused of the terrible brutal murder of an 11 year old boy, Frank Peterson. The police have hard forensic evidence that Terry Maitland is the murder. His DNA and fingerprints are found all over the murdered boy, and the van that had transported the boy to the murder site in a local park. Terry Maitland did it...except Terry Maitland didn't. Terry Maitland has an air tight alibi with video footage; and later it's discover that he also has left a fingerprint on a book he was thinking of buying. Ralph is beginning to have doubts. How can Terry be in two places at once?
Stephen King has a panache at writing villains. He terrified the living daylights out of me with Pennywise the clown and all of the forms IT took to scare, terrify, and torture The Losers Club. The Vampires from Salam's Lot literally had me shaking in bed, the book held up to my nose, knees close to my chest, unable to tear away from their sinister evil until I knew how the protagonists were going to get out alive. And Danny Torrance navigating the Overlook Hotel, which kept me on the edge of my seat, the hairs on the back of my neck tingling late into the night unable to sleep.
And it's not just the supernatural entities that he sculpts either, but the men and women that slowly lose their sanity to the paranormal circumstances that they've suddenly come into contact with. King crafts possibility and a sense of realism into his horror, and he does the same in The Outsider.
The creature at the end, the symbolism of walking down to your doom in a dangerous cave system knowing that people have gotten lost and died, and the otherness of what the outsider really is- reignited my passion for Stephen Kings horror and his literary universes.
I'm delight once again to being reading him again. He hasn't lost his touch as a great crafter of suspense and the supernatural, and I plan on pick up more of his 'newer' novels in the foreseeable future. If you haven't read The Outsider (and didn't run away cursing me about spoilers) pick it up, it's worth it.
Comments
Post a Comment