The Outsider

 

I am reading The Outsider by Stephen King. The first 150 pages or so I found disturbing. Not for the reason you might think. It is not scary, not creepy in a traditional horror way, but disturbing in a tragic way. The first hundred to 150 pages is tragedy on top of tragedy. The most disturbing thing to me (it is disturbing to me anytime I encounter it in any story) is a false accusation. A man is falsely accused and may well be convicted of a horrific crime. That kind of thing disturbs my soul. It makes the whole world seem wrong. I have always been disturbed by stories with that kind of thing. And why not? It happens in real life too. That makes it all the more horrific. In the Jim Crow South, all you had to do was make an accusation against a black man to set the lynch mob in action. No need to bother with a trial. But even if there was a trial, the outcome was a foregone conclusion, innocent or not. We see Vladimir Putin inventing charges against people and they get locked up (or worse). So, lying and false accusations make the whole world off kilter.

The Innocence Project has exonerated over 300 people through DNA testing. Over 300 people falsely convicted of a crime they did not commit. Some of them had been sentenced to death. Maybe that’s the reason, I don’t know, but reading a story where someone is being railroaded, affects me more than a knife-wielding monster jumping out of a closet. But, maybe that’s just me.

Back to The Outsider. After the disturbing events of the first 150 pages, The Outsider settles into a good old-fashioned mystery, although when Stephen King is involved, you can be sure of some supernatural elements. There is one supernatural element, but it is grounded in as much realism as is possible. It feels that way because the characters are grounded in realism. You understand them; you feel for them. The second half of the book not only tries to unravel the mystery, but bring about some sort of justice. We are so rooting for justice. There is a good police detective on administrative leave, who we initially dislike, but he grows on us and he assembles a team of outsiders (not the outsider of the title, just outside of the traditional law enforcement chain of command). And one member of the team is a bit quirky. It is always good to have a quirky character in your story.

Nothing can ever make up for the terrible thing that happened in the beginning, yet there is a satisfaction in the ending.

Star Liner