Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Outsider

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Outsider by Stephen King

222 reviews

treebs's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was a fan of this book the 1st time I read it, but didn't realize at the time it was book #4 in a series! I'm now reading the rest of the series and just got back to this one. Parts of it made so much more sense this time around! Definitely make sure to read the Mr. Mercedes trilogy before you read The Outsider!!

Great book as always with King. Some super graphic scenes so definitely not for the faint of heart, but you could say that about most of his work.

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abudd2348's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The book keeps you on your toes. Just when you think you understand whats happening, King comes in with a well placed plot twist to leave you second guessing your initial thoughts.

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meesasoup's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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reading_ivy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

story was unfolding a bit slow for my liking but nonetheless a great stephen king book!

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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I read this for my book club, and it was alright! It felt like two books really, one a whodunnit, law and order type of thing and then the second something out of Supernatural. Even the focus characters were almost totally different to the point where I honestly wasn't that shocked when

the two guys (the prosecutor aaaand I don't remember the other guy lol) died during the climax of the book

.

I learned from book club that one of the characters that was basically the MC during the second half is a reoccurring character in King novels, as were some of the other characters, which explains A LOT. One of my complaints while reading was that a character would say something with no context or explanation, and yeah that makes sense now lol. I did appreciate his dog at The Shining movie by one of the characters, I lol'd at that.

There was definitely some language and one character in particular that felt... offensive. Sure, the town is small and conservative, but that's not a blanket excuse that makes it all okay. Especially the one character, it feels like a lazy caricature of Native Americans. The murder that starts the book off is also explained in... gruesome detail and involves a child, so be wary of that.

The one thing I will say to King's credit is I have never disliked reading one of his novels. They are incredibly readable.

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