The Outsider

By Stephen King Hodder & Stoughton, 496pp, £20

Terry Maitland is a respected highschool English teacher and Little League coach – and he’s just been arrested in front of most of his small Oklahoma town’s population, accused of committing a heinous crime – the rape, mutilation and murder of a young boy. Multiple witnesses say they saw him abduct the boy in his car. Only trouble is, Terry swears he was at a book festival an hour’s drive away. And he too has multiple witnesses to back him up, and even video evidence of him at the Q&A session. Can a man really be in two places at once? And why is the town so quick to turn on Terry, who – up until now – was incredibly popular? King sets to explore the answers to both of these questions as the novel unravels and, of course, exposes some shocking dark secrets behind many of the community’s central characters. Brutally descriptive, this is not one for the faint-hearted, but for King fans, especially those who enjoyed his Mr Mercedes detective series, The

Outsider is a crime masterpiece that will have you gripped throughout.

Laura Hannam