I'm an avid reader of horror, and I truly believe King paved the way for a lot of contemporary horror authors. That being said, after a decade of avoiding King in favor of new, different, more diverse voices in the genre, coming back to a King novel felt like revisiting an old family member. A fond reunion with a beloved uncle. But just like seeing Uncle Steve over Thanksgiving, reading this novel was filled with moments where I couldn't stop myself from cringing, feeling some ick, and sighing deeply. But at least he didn't vote for Trump? The story delved into something that felt more like a crime procedural than a horror novel with frustratingly stupid people at the helm. It doesn't really get much better until the monster of the novel is at least mostly unmasked, and the paranormal aspects of the story are centered. These parts were fun, and felt more like classic King work. I liked the story well enough, and while the characters were mostly generic, they were easily relatable and that was enough to endear yourself to them. I didn't love the portrayal of Holly. She does seem to be an established character in the wider King Expanded Universe, so there's a lot I could be missing from her. I do tire of the gifted neurodivergent detective character trope though. It's the Adrian Monk curse, and I think Holly suffered from it in this one. Anyway, if people are into pulp, I'd recommend it. It was fast paced, an easy read, nothing to really digest. But I don't think I'll be thinking about it for much longer than this post. 

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.

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.

I could never sit here and pretend that I'm not a big Stephen King fan--have been since I was a kid--and that I didn't want to love this a lot. And I did, in a sense! There's a lot of that classic King feeling at work here. Unfortunately, I'm also older now, and Stephen King is older now, and it's hard not to look at his politics and how they shine through in his work and feel exhausted. And I mean this in a leftist sense--I am far from the type to be angry about the mention of a gay character or a little Trump dig. It's just... Well, he's such a lib about it. 

In a surface sense, it comes out in the character actions. A cop gesturing to another cop with a derisive thought about voting for Trump, like we're not in the POV of a cop. Gesturing heavily to a Trump sign in a rural area as a sort of brush to tell you what type of place this is. Little things from a man whose heart is in the right place but who doesn't quite Get It. 

But it's also in the politics of the book, of its creature. I don't want to spoil too heavily, but

the creature itself being An Outsider, a being of evil that comes in and infects a town with paranoia and hate and fear,

is first of all my kind of obvious in its metaphor, but it's also just... Not how things work in a way I find to be a nasty sticking point for me.

The bad things that happen to children and others aren't just some evil shape in the dark, they're the people we trust, the people we think we know, and to make the Big Bad some wicked creatures from the dark rather than the terrible, terrible truth. And it's very much the message people like Trump try to spill, this racist idea of invaders from other lands, but there's clearly an idea here that it's Trump and the rhetoric he brings without any deeper thinking about where these monsters are built from

. It's just a little too baseball and apple pie for me, I guess (if you've read the ending, you get what I mean, I hope). 

Still... Well, he's still Stephen King. It's still gripping and interesting and tense. The guy's still got it, I just wish he spent a little more time thinking about this little community he's created on the page and where the darkness really lurks because, while it's a fiction novel and not a depiction of the real world, it still matters. It still solidifies certain ideas. It still means something.