Review: THE OUTSIDER, by Stephen King

THE OUTSIDER, by Stephen King

Audio book

Simon & Schuster 2018

Narrated by Will Patton

My Rating (out of 5)
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Stephen King has been writing successful novels since before i could read ,so there really isn't much I can say about his writing that hasn't already been said. He co-authored a book called THE TALISMAN, with Peter Straub, way back in the 80's, that still has a spot on my favorites list easily 20 years after first reading it.  One of my first forays into fantasy and probably the point when I realized that it wasn't exactly horror books I liked, but dark fantasy instead.

One of the most prolific writers of our time, I think you  would be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't come across his work.The majority of Kings books range from the gory to the darkly fantastical.  Some of his best books, in my humble opinion are the ones that go to the evil inside of mankind.  We often hear people utter terms like "monster" and "evil" when describing acts of men we hear about in the news  It is human nature i think to try and and explain away some of the horrific acts perpetrated by mankind by trying to distance ourselves from it by describing the perpetrator as such. A man or a woman could never hurt a child, - the person who did such a thing must be a monster.  We know on some level that these people are mere mortals, that is why we build prisons and jails and penitentiaries to house them and "punish" them.  But on another level, we still describe  them as otherworldly evil.

In this book, a young child is found murdered and defiled.  The police investigate, and they are sure they have the evidence to prove this apparent pillar of society is really a "wolf in sheep's clothing".  That their beloved community coach is in fact - evil. After all, you can't argue with fingerprints and DNA, right? But there are witnesses and evidence pointing just as clearly to his innocence.  Two families are destroyed. The family of the victim and the family of the suspect. How can the evidence showing guilt be as strong as the evidence proving innocence?  When the detective on the case goes looking for answers, he has to put aside all of his former beliefs, and re-examine the evidence with a mind open to what he believed was impossible.

This is the Stephen King I like.  I don't read all his work. I find some of it too gory for my own tastes.  But there is no arguing that the man can write good books. 

Paired with one of the most popular and prolific authors, is veteran audio book narrator Will Patton.  The man's voice can warm the cockles of your heart one second and give you the heebie-jeebies the next, which makes him a great fit for a Stephen King novel.

Happy Reading,
Christine