The Outsider

Stephen King's imagination runs like a giant wheel ,which looks uniform on the surface but when you go for a ride you can actually feel goose flesh crawling over your body and the only noise which you can manage to hear is loud thudding of your own heartbeats. Basic tenets of King's writing are not very distinct but every time he tries to topple his performances by providing fresh plural elements which leaves us wondering that how he hits home consistently on the same canvass by using strokes which looks familiar, but yet so new. In this novel King reflects upon his comfort zone, as he explores the life of small town, kids troubling with the loss of their peers and above all a supernatural entity covered under the haze of rationality only to emerge with a mind boggling reality of its own.

 

Novel begins with the description of a gruesome murder of 11 year old, Frank Peterson whose body was recovered on the outskirts of Flint County, Oklahoma in a disturbingly mutilated, raped and partly bitten condition. Detective Ralph Anderson investigates the case but firstly struggles, thinking 'how he will able to report such grave incident to the parents of the child'. As the investigation moves forward, the conclusive evidence (fingerprints and DNA samples) points towards Terry Maitland,an English teacher by profession who also serves as a baseball coach to the kids of the Flint County.Like any other county ,Flint County is also knitted in a limited area with connected neighborhoods because of which Ralph already knows about Terry Maitland, as he once coached his son for the leagues. A town so small can hold its secrets but a crime so evident trembled the foundations of humanity. After obtaining warrant, Ralph immediately order the arrest of Terry Maitland, who happens to be at the baseball field, guiding his team. Two officers stops the match mid-way and arrests Maitland in front of a crowd of 1500.  Terry pleads not guilty, as his iron clad alibi states that he was not in town when the murder occurred, in fact he was attending a literary session at Texas and there is a CCTV footage to prove that. The whole book revolves around the question that "How can a man be at two different places at the same time".

 

At first the case appears to be an open and shut inquiry nonetheless,the whole picture of the puzzling mystery is way more terrifying than what it appears to be at the surface. There are shattered fragments which points towards an ominous happening but the system refutes probabilities without strict evidences and reliable witnesses, every development opens a new path but it always ends with a sheer thought of looming disbelief. Case starts untangling when Holly Gibney, a private investigator who works for an agency called 'Finders Keepers' joins the case. Holly who's doubtful about her skills as investigator, occasionally mourns the loss of her mentor cum partner Bill Hodges. Every time she tries to push herself forward by remembering how Bill would have approached the situation if he was in her place. She begins investigation by considering a possibility, of an invasion where human interference is absent and from there book dives deep to answer the riddling realities surrounding the case by exploring similar instances of crime, understanding Mexican mythos of El CuCo and reaching to the darkest corners where a shape-shifting monster dwells.

 

Novel thrills you like anything, brooding suspense compels you to chase the chapters sleeplessly, but the disappointing ending will make your efforts look futile. King's often criticized for writing bad conclusions and it’s really corroborative in this novel. Overall it’s a great crime novel which you can devour in a sitting or two.