656 pages
English language
Published April 19, 2020 by Pocket Books.
"An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories. An eleven-year-old boy's violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City's most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad. As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King's propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it …
"An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories. An eleven-year-old boy's violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City's most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad. As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King's propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. 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."--
An eleven-year-old boy's violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City's most popular citizens: Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson orders a quick and very public arrest. The case seems ironclad, especially when Anderson and the district attorney are able to add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. But Maitland has an alibi, and it turns out his story has incontrovertible evidence of its own. How can two opposing stories be true? -- adapted from publisher info
A truly excellent mystery/thriller! Some people may not like the new King but books like this show he's still as creative as ever!
4.5 - I really enjoyed this book. Only thing that keeps it from a 5* was the frequent, detailed descriptions of the crime and crime scene - I could very much have done with less mental imagery of it. But the story went in a direction I was not expecting, and I really liked the whole cast of characters towards the end. I want to read the Bill Hodges books now, though I definitely need a few palette cleanser books first!
Suspenseful, with King's usual good character development, and an interesting story.
I feel like the pacing for this book was backward. It started off extremely suspenseful. Then about 1/3 way through the book the pace fell off and things slowed down considerably. The rest of the book was good, just not as good as the beginning.
This was an enjoyable read. I've read soooo many Stephen King books in my life at this point but I can honestly say I usually find the experience rewarding. This book immediately captures your interest and imagination and keeps you turning the pages. The characters are interesting enough, if somewhat formulaic if you've been reading Stephen King as long as I have. The plot, too, is somewhat formulaic but you can forgive Mr. King because he makes the experience so enjoyable. The ending is kind of abrupt... you would expect the "antagonist" to put up more of a fight or somehow be more of an adversary. Also, the ending was kind of corny and unbelievable but you can forgive that too because the whole of the reading experience is so much fun.
So all in all a good book. Not one of his best but definitely much better than some. …
This was an enjoyable read. I've read soooo many Stephen King books in my life at this point but I can honestly say I usually find the experience rewarding. This book immediately captures your interest and imagination and keeps you turning the pages. The characters are interesting enough, if somewhat formulaic if you've been reading Stephen King as long as I have. The plot, too, is somewhat formulaic but you can forgive Mr. King because he makes the experience so enjoyable. The ending is kind of abrupt... you would expect the "antagonist" to put up more of a fight or somehow be more of an adversary. Also, the ending was kind of corny and unbelievable but you can forgive that too because the whole of the reading experience is so much fun.
So all in all a good book. Not one of his best but definitely much better than some. Give it a go.
Oh lord this was a slog. From the conventional alcoholic villain to a slapdash OCD caricature who says ‘frack’ with zero irony
не найкраща історія від кінґа, але — все-одно неможливо відірватися.
Na samym początku książki mamy do czynienia z bestialskim zabójstwem oraz gwałtem dokonanym na młodym chłopaku. Biorąc pod uwagę, iż wszystkie znaki na niebie oraz ziemi wskazują na trenera dziecięcej drużyny baseballowej, zostaje on aresztowany w trakcie meczu ligi miejskiej, na oczach 1,5 tysiąca widzów zgromadzonych na stadionie. Wszystko byłoby jasne, gdyby nie fakt, iż podejrzany w dniu zabójstwa chłopca, uczestniczył w spotkaniu autorskim z pisarzem Harlanem Cobenem, które odbywało się w innym mieście.
W tym miejscu moglibyśmy szykować się na interesujący kryminał, jednak King i tym razem zaskakuje czytelników, serwując im zwrot akcji w kierunku powieści grozy. Do gry wprowadza Holly Gibney, drugoplanową bohaterkę jego trylogii o Panu Mercedesie.
W moim odczuciu, prawie 300 stron stanowi zbędny balast w tej książce. Tym bardziej, że jak się przekonacie, w pewnym momencie następuje ujawnienie prawdziwego sprawcy, co u wielu czytelników może wzbudzić mieszane uczucia.
Niestety jest to jedna z tych książek, …
Na samym początku książki mamy do czynienia z bestialskim zabójstwem oraz gwałtem dokonanym na młodym chłopaku. Biorąc pod uwagę, iż wszystkie znaki na niebie oraz ziemi wskazują na trenera dziecięcej drużyny baseballowej, zostaje on aresztowany w trakcie meczu ligi miejskiej, na oczach 1,5 tysiąca widzów zgromadzonych na stadionie. Wszystko byłoby jasne, gdyby nie fakt, iż podejrzany w dniu zabójstwa chłopca, uczestniczył w spotkaniu autorskim z pisarzem Harlanem Cobenem, które odbywało się w innym mieście.
W tym miejscu moglibyśmy szykować się na interesujący kryminał, jednak King i tym razem zaskakuje czytelników, serwując im zwrot akcji w kierunku powieści grozy. Do gry wprowadza Holly Gibney, drugoplanową bohaterkę jego trylogii o Panu Mercedesie.
W moim odczuciu, prawie 300 stron stanowi zbędny balast w tej książce. Tym bardziej, że jak się przekonacie, w pewnym momencie następuje ujawnienie prawdziwego sprawcy, co u wielu czytelników może wzbudzić mieszane uczucia.
Niestety jest to jedna z tych książek, które są bardzo rozwleczone i tak naprawdę 300 stronicowy opis ma się nijak do rozwiązania zagadki. Autor dość zgrabnie wplata w fabułę obraz Ameryki podzielonej, skłóconej, budzącej demony rasizmu.
As others have said, this book started out as a great murder mystery which seemed to become too difficult for King to create an ending for, so he just slapped in a monster... There is even line in the book which reflects the fact that King didn't think of the ending before starting.
Oh yeah! Stephen King is back. Well, it's not like he went anywhere, but I think you know what I mean. For a bit there he started getting awfully precious with his plots and musings and the book would ramble on and on and on without really advancing in any satisfactory manner, just getting lost in the love of language and verbosity and words and stuff, much like this sentence you're currently suffering though right now, and then he'd realize this thing is getting pretty long and it's getting awfully late and it's time to put this story to bed.
Not The Outsider, though. This one has the right amount of words to tell the story, no more and no less. There's still a love of the sound of words and the way we use them, but it never overwhelms the storytelling. Well-paced, plausible long after the more fantastic elements …
Oh yeah! Stephen King is back. Well, it's not like he went anywhere, but I think you know what I mean. For a bit there he started getting awfully precious with his plots and musings and the book would ramble on and on and on without really advancing in any satisfactory manner, just getting lost in the love of language and verbosity and words and stuff, much like this sentence you're currently suffering though right now, and then he'd realize this thing is getting pretty long and it's getting awfully late and it's time to put this story to bed.
Not The Outsider, though. This one has the right amount of words to tell the story, no more and no less. There's still a love of the sound of words and the way we use them, but it never overwhelms the storytelling. Well-paced, plausible long after the more fantastic elements of the story should have lost us, and an awfully delicious creepy good time.
Fun escapism. King at his best. Even better if you've read any of the Finders Keepers books, because Holly makes an appearance here.
The police and DA's office think they have an easy open and shut case guaranteed to lock Terry Maitland away, but for every bit of proof they have, there is mounting evidence that he could not possibly be the killer. This turns into a whodunit of epic proportions but with a deeply disturbing supernatural element to spice things up even further. For me personally, the last decade or so of Stephen King books have been pretty hit or miss. This one is a hit and I mean right out of the ballpark. There were literally no points in the story that dragged. If anything it barreled along at a break neck speed leaving me barely able to catch my breath from one shocking development to the next.
5 stars
