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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.

Their case seems ironclad.Īs the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens.

At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.Īn eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. I give The Outsider four out of five stars.An unspeakable crime. Social justice seems to be on his mind even as the true supernatural horror of the story comes to the fore, letting King tread well-worn tropes with a freshness of perspective.Įven if you’ve previously made up your mind about King’s work, I think The Outsider is a good place to take a look at an artist who continues to grow. Mercedes, King has acclimatized his work to the modern age. There’s a modern aesthetic to the dialogue that was missing from his work a decade ago. It’s his choice of subject that feels fresh. He opens the story with real problems affecting real people and does so deftly and with empathy. When Anderson discovers that his irrefutable DNA and fingerprint evidence contradicts Terry’s irrefutable alibi, King presents us with a classic question: Is Terry the man his friends and family believe him to be, or was there always a stranger behind that familiar face? Convinced of Terry’s guilt and terrified for his own family, Detective Ralph Anderson only pushes the machine of justice harder. King shows the slow car crash of Terry’s reputation, family, and employment against the unstoppable accusation in every gory detail. Accused of a horrifying crime, Terry slowly grinds to pieces in the gears of the American justice system. The Outsider begins as Terry Maitland’s life unravels. It’s almost gratifying, then, to see him continue to grow with The Outsider, a novel that feels like well-worn territory for King, but told in a fresh, modern way. He is accomplished beyond the realms of most other authors. It’s a career that has crossed nearly every genre, even creating a series of stories that served as context for still other series in an MCU-like universe. Readers have had the life of King’s forty-five-year career to make up their minds about his work. Reviewing Stephen King almost seems pointless. This book review was part of a podcast discussion.

Stephen king book the outsider