The Outsider

As always, I feel that my namesake is the number one author for creating characters you not only feel for but fear for. The premise of this book is startlingly good: How can a person be in two different places at once and murder someone?

The first part of this story is set in the here and now, not in the supernatural. It is only as the investigation deepens that we begin to see the horror that is The Outsider. The protagonist, a person we can all relate to, finds it very difficult, if not impossible, to believe that the… show more.

Stephen King introduced the innocent, unfiltered but extremely observant Holly Gibney in the phenomenal Mr. Mercedes.

King himself says, “...she more or less stole the book, and she stole my heart.” I completely agree, so much so she was a massive influence on Tilly Bradshaw, the super-sheltered, super-intelligent nerdy sidekick from my own Washington Poe series. She’s the first of three sidekicks in this list who will go on to get a book of their own.

Holly is out September 2023 and it’s the book I’m most looking forward to this year.  

Fans of Stephen King’s horror will be happy. Fans of Stephen King’s suspense will be even happier. This book is undeniably long, but is absolutely impossible to put down. Another purchase I made in an airport, I found it completely riveting. This is one of those books that you will think about long after you put it down. Stephen King is masterful and his writing in this story is as close to perfect as any book I’ve ever read. 

What if a thing could replicate a living person and cause havoc on humans in a doppelgänger body? As with most King stories, you get the chills and thrills here. However, what readers don't talk enough about with King are his characters and why we care about them. And he's in top form here in not rehashing characters as some authors do—they are so unique and on point. 

A vintage King story. Very good.