REVIEW: The Outsider

The Outsider
Author: Stephen King

Stephen King is pretty much hit or miss for me. Some of his books I absolutely love. And others (like Dreamcatcher, for example) I had to DNF....unreadable, in my opinion. His last couple of books have been enjoyable for me....so I put myself on the library wait list for The Outsider and waited weeks for it to be my turn for the audio book. This book was well worth the wait. I was not disappointed. The story is suspenseful, creepy and classically King-esque.

An 11-year old boy is murdered in a completely horrific and terrifying way. The police have a suspect, a local youth baseball coach. Terry Maitland has never done anything illegal or broken any laws, but his fingerprints and DNA point to him as the killer. Local authorities believe they have an open and shut case. But.....at the time the boy was killed, Terry Maitland was hours away at a conference for teachers. Witnesses saw him at both places...at the same time. How can a man be in two places at once?

This story is warped and disturbing yet mesmerizing, as only Stephen King can spin a tale. What starts out as an investigation into a brutal murder morphs into something much more dark and evil. Once I started the audio book, I listened while driving, while gardening, while cleaning.....I couldn't stop listening! I breezed through 18+ hours of this story in just 3 days. I was hooked on the story. It's been awhile since a King novel completely sucked me in.....loved it!

Narrated by Will Patton, the audio book is almost 19 hours long. Patton reads at a nice speed and manages different voices, the required King-esque creepiness and the acting required with great skill. I'm sure it's not easy to bring something as demented, strange and awesome as a King novel to life...but Patton did a great job! I really enjoyed the performance! I have hearing loss, but was easily able to hear and understand the entire book.

Warning: This book contains some graphic descriptions of child murder and rape. If that's something you can't handle, it might be best to pass on this one.  For King fans -- this story is classic.