Book Review: Stephen King's 'The Outsider'

Hodder & Stoughton

The Stephen King renaissance continues apace, from the sublime (the IT adaptation) to the ridiculous (the farcical big screen version of The Dark Tower). The horror maestro's 5,224th novel - he's a bit like the Fall of commercial fiction - finds him going full True Detective: small town Little League coach Terry Maitland is accused of the murder of an 11-year-old boy, and Detective Ralph Anderson (whose son was once coached by Maitland) sets out to investigate.

The catch is that while DNA evidence points to Maitland's culpability, he has a cast-iron alibi, in the form of CCTV footage of him at - meta alert! Ð a Harlan Coben book signing. This is the cue for some vaguely supernatural shenanigans,while there are the obligatory nods to the current political tumult Stateside. Pregnant with a meaning that never fully arrives, The Outsider is not exactly top-flight noir, although King aficionados will be in heaven - or should that be hell?