The Outsider by Stephen King

The Outsider series finale! I finished the book last night.  My initial rating was 3 1/2 stars on Goodreads (equivalent to X on the Sexxy rating system). But I’ve since updated that rating to 4 stars (XX seizing rating). It was a really good read. Addictive page turner. Dialogue and plot weren’t great at times, but overall a damn good story.  The reason I updated to a higher rating was b/c my wife asked how I liked the book and when I told her my thoughts on it it made me realize how much I liked it and why. In most SK books the villain, monster, naughty paranormal entity, etc you are given a description, tons of scenes & dialogue, and a sense of who/what they are.  But in “The Outsider” the heavy is kept in shadows. Barley any scene time except for some ethereal emanations and/or referenced by the novels’ other characters. No knowledge of the killer is given to the reader. The readers are kept in the dark as the characters are.  It’s fricken eerie. 

If it’s a serial killer, or a monster, or supernatural entity, it’s there. You know it’s there b/c it’s been fleshed out and brought to life. Scary for sure.  But with The Outsider, you don’t know anything about it. Speculation, myth, hints, whispers, nothing more. It’s suspenseful and creepy. 

There is a being out there that can become anyone. Not in a Talented Mr. Ripely way, but actually become the individual; appearance, thoughts, DNA, fingerprints.  It becomes a person when it scratches that individual. But it can also “mark” an individual and control them to do its bidding. Kind of like a Renfro (I think that’s the characters name) from Dracula. So this thing can virtually be anyone. And when it does complete its transformation, it does the most heinous and horrific acts to its victims, mainly kids. It leaves the innocent person’s fingerprints and DNA. Witnesses, reliable witnesses, people that know the accused personally testify they saw the accused. So the innocent person is jailed, tried and found guilty. Even if there’s contradicting evidence (witnesses placing the accused somewhere else during the crime). Often times, the innocent individual commits suicide or is killed in some seemingly random way. It mind-fucks the innocent individuals’ family into suicide or some other act that will get them killed. And The Outsider feeds off all that anger, suffering, sadness and violence

I def rec the book and the HBO adaption. HBO did a great job of staying true the novel and gave it a very eerie and creepy quality. Actors are all great in it. 

XX rating

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Book 1 2020: The Sisters Brothers

The Sisters Brothers

By

Patrick DeWitt

****There will be some light spoilers***

This was a fun book to read. Had all the right elements of humor, drama, action, and wit. I realized, while reading the book, that I’ve never read a ‘western’ before. Unless “The Dark Tower” series counts?  Which I think is not really a true western but more a western fantasy?  At any rate, this being my first western novel I must I say I quite enjoyed it. DeWitt wrote the antiheroes, The Sisters Brothers, in a natural way. Not trying to sell us on a sappy sad-ladened past in order for us to sympathize and root for them even though they were doing bad things. They suffered some as children and to be sure there is an element of tragedy, but we’re not burdened with the cliche roughneck men but deep down big softies angle. They are hardened men. They go about their business with neither joy nor remorse. Though Charlie does enjoy his work, it is more this how things are and I’m very good at what I do, rather than sadistic killer.  Eli is the more sensitive of the two, but he is by no means a sad sack. Eli does begin to question what they do and grows tired of the hitmen lifestyle. Charlie loves the way things are. Killing is 2nd nature to him. He loves booze and women. He’s not so keen on giving up his “career” as Eli is. The story is told from Eli’s POV and plays out in a series of events as they track down their intended target They are hired to kill a man, Hermann Warm, that has “wronged” their employer, The Commodore.  Along their path they have some adventures and misadventures and some awkward romance between Eli and two different women.  Eli makes the decision to be done with it all, but Charlie has no desire to quit. When they reach the hotel room of their contact, Morris, they discover that Morris isn’t there. But he did leave a journal behind. In it they discover the truth about the man, Warm, they are supposed to kill. He did not wrong The Commodore at all. He was a victim to The Commodore’s greed and cruelty.  Warm had invented a way to find gold by not the typical painstaking prospecting process, but through chemistry. He approached The Commodore to be a partner in the venture. The Commodore promises to back his expedition/experiment only to renege on the deal and threatens to kill Warm if he doesn’t give him the formula. Warm escapes and heads to California via the Oregon Trail. 

Morris, they learn from the journal, decided to leave the employment of The Commodore and partner up with Warm. 

By the time they reach their target they have come to the decision to change their livelihood. But doing so meant more killing. In the end there is redemption, but at a price. I like that DeWitt did not muddle the conclusion up with a BS cheesy cliche happy ending. 

The familial dynamic of the brothers was well done. I enjoyed the writing and dialogue. It was a fun read that seemed to go by quickly b/c the story was so enjoyable. 

This my first book by DeWitt and it won’t be my last. I highly rec it. 

XXX rating

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