We didn't much care for 'Sleeping Beauties' (co-written by King with his son Owen)......that endless book became hopelessly wrapped up (literally cocooned) by its elaborate, complicated mythology.......
'The Outsider' arrives as the fourth book in the author's 'Finders Keepers' series, in which an unlikely assortment of professional and amateur detectives face down villains both natural and supernatural.
Holly Gibney, one of the most strangely endearing members of the oddball 'Finders Keepers' Scooby Doo gang shows up in this one........and not a moment too soon. Because the equally eclectic collection of law enforcement types in "The Outsider" have no clue about the depth of the evil they're dealing with....... until Holly figures it out for them....and prepares to do battle.
King sets up a grisly murder mystery that would stagger Agatha Christie.......in the case of a brutally raped and murdered little boy, piles of damning evidence all point to a beloved high school football coach.....DNA, fingerprints, eyewitnesses who saw him with the boy......
Except that there's also unimpeachable video camera evidence and witnesses that prove the coach was nowhere near the scene of the crime when it occurred........unless he had the ability to split himself in two and show up at both places simultaneously........
Ahhh......that's as far we go without risking spoilers.......but everything's in place for a King-lover's feast.......overwhelming dread, nightmarish scares......and an especially vile evil that takes a heavy, tragic toll among the innocent......
In other words, prime, king-sized King.......A Halloween treat arriving almost 3 months early......4 chilled stars (****).....nothing keeps us up later than an Uncle Stevie bedtime story....
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