The Outsider

Executive Summary: I thought this book started a bit slow but got pretty good by the end. It didn't hurt that it's heavily connected to the [b:The Bill Hodges Trilogy 27406812 The Bill Hodges Trilogy Boxed Set Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1-3) Stephen King https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463042065s/27406812.jpg 47454319]Audiobook: Will Patton does a good job again. He does a few voices, but mostly I just think his general reading voice is a good fit for these sort of horror/mystery books King seems to be writing recently. With it's heavy connection to the Bill Hodges books, it was cool that they got the same narrator as that series.Full ReviewStephen King loves to tie his books together. Sometimes there are large connections, sometimes small. Most of them relate back to the Dark Tower, but not all. This book had been on my radar before, but I wasn't planning to read it so soon until I learned of it's connection to [b:The Bill Hodges Trilogy 27406812 The Bill Hodges Trilogy Boxed Set Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1-3) Stephen King https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463042065s/27406812.jpg 47454319]. I'm not sure how much of a spoiler it is to say what the connections are since it comes about halfway into the book, but I will say I'm not sure you'll enjoy this book as much if you haven't already read/enjoyed that series. It certainly includes what I'd consider major spoilers for that series even though I wouldn't go so far as to call this book a sequel to those. Needless to say I enjoyed the second half more than the first.If you plan to read those books eventually, you should probably read them first. If you don't care about this series you shouldn't feel like you have to (although I personally thought that series is some of the best stuff he's written in awhile). I found many of the main characters in this hard to like, especially the lead detective Ralph Anderson and the District Attorney. I should say that both had decent character growth in as the book went on however. For the most part the most sympathetic characters were the victims.This book starts off really dark, even for King and I found the description of the original crime very hard to listen to. In general I don't consider myself a fan of horror, but I'm a huge fan of Stephen King. I don't think all of his books are horror though. This one is probably almost as much thriller/mystery as it is horror, especially later on.Overall, I found this a very enjoyable read and anytime King ties a new book to one I've already read and enjoyed I tend to like it that much more.