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Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Outsider by Stephen King

111 reviews

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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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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ok_kenz's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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nervesofscared's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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tjt78's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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jackiea3's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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tillyjay's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

I honestly struggled to get past the first 60% of this book. The story is very slow and personally I found it rather boring. However, there was a turning point where I became interested which way the story would go. I think if you enjoy slow paced(but quick endings), supernatural books, then this is for you. 
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egyoder's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This whole review is a spoiler! General sentiment: good writing, underwhelming plot.

I really enjoy Stephen King's storytelling and character building, but overall found this pretty disappointing. It's really two separate books. The first half of the book is an excellent build-up to a great detective story, with a great premise and a lot of mystery. The second half is a monster story. 

Separately, I would enjoy both of these books. I love a good thriller where there's a perfectly natural explanation for everything, and have enjoyed King's supernatural villains. However, when half the book is like "there were tons of witnesses to the crime! but he has a perfect alibi! how could this be??" and the second half is like "it was a monster that can take on people's faces," the mystery ends up falling flat (because this is the most obvious explanation next to secret evil twin) and the monster story isn't much good either because it comes out of nowhere. 

I also found this book rather formulaic. The monster was just a bit too Pennywise. Jack's whole thing was just a bit too Trashcan Man. This book is set in 2018 but still reads like it's set in the 80s--but with references to iPads and Donald Trump, which feel jarring instead of realistic. AND they should market this as a follow-up to the Mr. Mercedes series... I had no idea, and felt a bit thrown off. 

I still do like King's writing a lot, and I enjoyed most of this book, but found it more of a letdown than I'd hoped.
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thecosylibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I was excited to read this with it being a spin-off of the Mr Mercedes trilogy. It started off slow, but being used to King’s writing style I knew it was going to be worth the wait. The mixture of mystery and horror certainly kept me reading and the idea of never being able to know everything there is about the world. In the words of Bill Hodges, ‘The universe is never ending’. 
Be prepared for graphic descriptions and the crossover of realism with myth & legend.
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