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Sarah (7800 KP) rated The Outsider in Books

Jul 13, 2018  
The Outsider
The Outsider
Stephen King | 2018 | Thriller
9
8.7 (31 Ratings)
Book Rating
King does it again
My main worry about this book was that it didn't sound enough like King - on paper it almost sounded like a bog standard crime thriller. Fortunately though that wasn't the case!

This is yet another brilliantly written King novel, filled with intrigue, suspense and a lot of fairly gruesome horror. The characters are, as always, well written and the story centres mainly around the lovable detective Ralph Anderson (although chapters centred around other characters offer some nice variety). The central supernatural plot is one that I've seen/read before in other works of fiction, but it definitely doesn't get boring seeing it from King's point of view. There are some unexpected links to some other of King's stories - one obvious and direct, but another link for me was more of a similarity to a previous character - neither of which is a bad thing.

My only criticisms of this book are fairly minor. The first is that the ending seems fairly rushed in comparison with the slow build of the rest of the book. And the second is that although it is a very good and enthralling read, it doesn't quite have the impact of some of his older epic novels (The Dark Tower series, The Stand, Needful Things etc).
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Mar 19, 2021  
Sneak a peek at the science fiction novel SCORCHED EARTH by Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays on my blog, and enter the giveaway to win signed copies of all three books in the trilogy!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/03/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-scorched.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
The year is 2188 and the Earth—long-ago abandoned for Mars by the plutocrats—is scorched by poverty, disease, and environmental collapse. What these wealthy elite don't know is that on his last trip upuniverse, Detective Crucial Larsen stumbled onto a secret that could destroy them. But he doesn’t intend to use it. Fighting back against the ruling Five Families of Mars is a fool’s game destined for failure—or worse, he thinks. Plus, he never wants to set foot on that damn planet again. Then Melinda, his long-lost love and a staff scientist on Mars, begs for his help clearing her fiancée of a murder charge. Crucial jumps on the next q-rocket, hoping maybe this time he can patch things up with Mel. His investigation ultimately leads back to the radiation-blasted sunbelt, where cannibal lizard-people—a climate change mitigation genetic experiment gone terribly wrong—hold the key to a different future, if only Crucial can stay alive long enough to unlock it.