The Outsider by Stephen King

The Outsider by Stephen King

It was extremely difficult for me to decide whether I could read this book. I have a big aversion to horror, cannot watch a single scary movie for fear of being up all night. Every time the TV goes fuzzy I freak out, wondering if a dark haired girl is going to crawl out of it. But I figured that since I made it through Stranger Things, I could get through this book. And I’m glad I did because, having never read a Stephen King book, I was desperate to see why King is the king (pun intended) of fiction.

 

At one stage I considered stopping as it got a little too spooky and I had trouble sleeping that night. But I soldiered on and came to realise the baddie wasn’t that scary at all. The beginning of the novel is a real page turner as the plot unfolds and you find out why the main suspect isn’t guilty. But towards the end it starts to drag on, with a lot of details being repeated. I feel like this is a book that could’ve afforded to have a third of it cut, but hey, he’s Stephen King and he can do what he wants.

It was interesting to see that he went against all the rules I’ve recently learned of being a good writer (no contractions, omniscient POV, very little action/description of characters). But this isn’t King’s first rodeo so obviously those rules don’t apply.

It’s an easy read I’d definitely recommend, especially for thriller fans.