The Outsider, is part mystery and part supernatural horror. This novel draws you in and from the beginning, the middle is a little over explanation that slows it down a bit, but is still pretty interesting, and it ends with a great tense finale. Soon to be a 10 episode HBO miniseries Featuring Ben Mendelson and Jason Bateman.

The plot is: Terry Maitland is a patriarch in the community a little league baseball coach and english teacher, accused of committing a horrendous crime against Frank Peterson an eleven year-old boy. Eyewitnesses place Terry with the boy earlier and later with blood splattered on him, the only problem in the case is Terry has an airtight alibi with him over an hour later. How can one person be seemingly in two places at the same time.

What I liked: The mystery is set up really well, Ralph Anderson is a fantastic character, I really like his moral code. The ending was written very well, filled with tense scenes and shocking moments. I like the nods to events that happened to the Bill Hodges Trilogy (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of the Watch).

What I disliked: The middle over explains, and ends up having to put new information with a lot of characters that have bits but not the whole picture, which leads to information that the reader already know repeated. The twist was okay, but I wanted a little bit more, I think it is explained well and I really liked the history to further the mystery of the supernatural, but I saw it coming a little too early.

I will say this story under anyone other than King would be laughable of feel like a fan fiction version of Supernatural, but with the way the subject is taken so seriously and creepy makes it worth while, it’s not great Stephen King, but it’s good Stephen King, and I will take that a lot over other works.

I recommend This one for fans of Stephen King, fans of mystery, and horror. If you are a fan of King’s Bill Hodges Trilogy, two character’s from that story are in this one, and other’s are mentioned, and I will offer a warning you should read that trilogy before this one, because events that happen in that trilogy are discussed, the ending for Mr. Mercedes will be spoiled. I rate this 3.8 out of five stars.

The Official Teaser Trailer to the Outsider Buy Stephen King released on January 12th 2020