The Outsider

This was my first Stephen King novel, a whopping 576 pages (ambitious much?).  I was already familiar with King's work in other media (I watched The Shining late in life), but I obviously had no clue about the author in his element. I've been somewhat curious for a while, but I either did not have an opportunity or, as is usually the case, was distracted by something else.

Thus when this little number fell into my lap, I prioritized it on my reading list. And I'm proud to say I devoured this monster in three days.

I find it fascinating reading one book immediately after another with different authors. It's like interviewing a variety of people; some will be colorfully expressive, others tightly precise and the rest flowing in between. Now more than any other time, I've been noticing the voice in the books I'm reading.

Except for this book.

When I said I devoured, it probably was more like inhaling. Unlike all the others I've read, I didn't get a feel for the voice. Rather than an interview, this was more like watching a show. I didn't see words; I was watching the plot unfold. I can see the inside of the Andersons' house, the baseball field where Maitland was arrested. I know the unique pitches and tones of the characters' voices so well that if I actually heard one, I could immediately match it to a name and face. At least that's the experience, which is exactly what this novel is -- an experience. Suffice it to say I have no clue about King's voice. I couldn't even keep notes on particular quotes or passages that I found remarkable.

Except for one:

"Holly paused, looking down at her hands. The nails were unpolished, but quite neat; she had quit chewing them, just as she had quit smoking. Broken herself of the habit. She sometimes thought that her pilgrimage to something at least approximating mental stability (if not genuine mental health) had been marked by the ritual casting off of bad habits. It had been hard to let them go. They were friends."

This was the only passage that made me pause to whip out my little notebook and scribble it quickly so as not to lose the reading momentum I was in. I love this passage with every fiber of my being. It illuminates a character while pointedly speaking to my bad habits making me so enviously in awe of the skill it takes to thread simple words into an elegantly powerful description. The last line really gets me.

On top of that, he managed to trick me too. Up until probably a little past the halfway point of the story, I was convinced I was watching a riveting but normal crime episode like those found in Criminal Minds or CSI. I had completely forgotten there are supernatural elements in King's works. He really had me going for so long that even the hints toward the supernatural were largely ignored then viewed skeptically before being accepted completely. All of it done as smooth as butter.

If Megan Miranda's talent and hard work can clearly be discerned from All the Missing Girls, then you can just feel all that and King's experience in The Outsider, the work of a veteran writer.

Bonus: the supernatural wasn't heavy yet he still managed to creep me the hell out.