As you know, a new Stephen King book is out, which, cool and yay. To start with, yep, I liked The Outsider. I was engrossed from basically page two or three, even though it’s more dabbling in the crime and mystery genre, a la those three books that form the trilogy that he wrote over the past few summers.
Which is fine as far as it goes, it’s not like those books failed to delve in the paranormal and existential horror that is his stock in trade. And even if it didn’t, I love him for his grasp of human psychology in the face of adversity probably more than the majority of the bare plots anyhow.
The problem with the book is that I know exactly what it was, but to explain it would be just a massive spoiler of the central mystery, which I am willing to say went nowhere near the direction I expected when I was on that second or third page, all engrossed as I said to begin with.
So, I guess comment spoiler?
The Outsider is pretty much exactly the same plot as It, except dressed up as a crime novel like I said, instead of a combination coming of age / portrait of a small town novel like the original. (Which of course I liked a lot better, but this wasn’t bad, or even lessened by the comparison. It’s just extremely familiar.)