When Your Favorite Author Is a Stranger: Finally Reading Stephen King...

KayTell
May 7
5 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

To be honest, once I decided that my favorite genre to read and write was thriller and horror (after leaving fantasy), I just started saying Stephen King was my favorite horror author. Why not? I love all the movies based on his books, so I must like his actual books, right?

During the time I made the switch in genres, I started college and wasn’t doing much reading for fun. So, the truth is, I was calling him my favorite author even though I hadn’t read a non-academically assigned book in years. Between life and my last year of my master’s program (2024), it was a mix of being in a rut and just not having the time.

And let’s be honest—it’s easy to say Stephen King is your favorite horror author because he basically is the genre. That’s why his name is always bigger than the book titles. He is the brand. TikTok has helped me find new authors I’ll review soon, but I knew I needed to actually read King to see if all my years of casually claiming him as a favorite had any merit—or if people were silently judging me for it.

With that being said, The Outsider was my first Stephen King novel. My first thoughts were… okay, this is decent—he’s not horrible. I can see why he’s published. However, so far, I do not like his main characters. His side characters are way more interesting. In this story, I really enjoyed Holly. And the entire time I was reading her, I kept thinking, “Wow, her name is so familiar.” Turns out, he wrote a book named Holly, and she's the Holly. So about 80% through The Outsider, I learn this is part of a series—and I definitely did not start at book one.

The Outsider takes place in Flint City, Oklahoma, where a teenage boy is raped and mutilated, and the DNA of a beloved town sports coach is found at the scene. The book opens with the dramatic public arrest of this coach, which heavily influences how the town perceives him throughout the story. He claims he’s innocent. People saw him near the murder scene. But he says he was out of town, and he has news footage to prove it. So at this point, I’m thinking: oh, okay—there’s a monster that can frame people. And although I did enjoy the story, the fact that I never doubted that it was some kind of creature with a very specific ability took the edge off the thriller experience.

Somewhere in the middle, it felt like the reader knew way too much for the story to keep going at the pace it was. It dragged. That’s when I realized—or formed the opinion—that Stephen King books might not be long because the stories are super complex or layered. They're long because he talks too much. No one’s making him kill his darlings. And he’s Stephen King—he’s known for long books, so he gets to do that. And honestly, as a writer, I respect that. But as a reader? I was like, bro, this story should’ve ended 100 pages ago.

The most convincing character in the book was Holly. The coach—the main suspect—wasn’t even that interesting. The only thing that made him compelling was the accusation against him. Nothing about him made him feel complex. And not every character has to be complex, but if I’m going to loosely follow someone through an entire book, I want a little depth. This goody-two-shoes type of man has been accused of a brutal crime, and yet all I could imagine was him walking around like he was being accused of stealing candy from a baby. He was never really sad or angry—just mildly confused and slightly cocky because he knew he didn’t do it.

Now, I get it. As a beloved white man in that town, he probably believed justice would work in his favor. But still, the moment he saw people really not believing him, it didn’t feel like the tone shifted convincingly enough.

The lawyer—I forget his name—was spunky. He brought some light to the situation and was just the kind of low-key asshole we needed to make it feel like someone was actually defending the coach. The investigator was angry, which I didn’t mind at first, because something horrible was done to that child. But he was so angry, he was blinded. And I know—it doesn’t take much for someone to think a “creature” theory is a stretch. I understood his denial. But he was so convinced, it made the “whodunnit” aspect fall apart. I think the story could’ve benefited from more mystery, especially in the middle. The two POVs made it hard to enjoy either side fully.

Let me pause here and say—I did enjoy the book. My critiques are mostly based on how quickly I predicted what was happening.

In my opinion, if we’d had multiple people—maybe just one more—with strong reasons they could’ve done it but also strong reasons they didn’t, it would’ve made the story more engaging. A few chapters in, it just felt like I was waiting for everyone else to catch up, which made for an unsatisfying version of dramatic irony.

The guy in another town who had a similar experience was a good addition. He wasn’t as squeaky clean and gave us some contrast, but it didn’t feel like it added much to the current case. It helped explain the monster, but that didn’t really need a ton of explanation. I think something else could’ve been trimmed to make room for a stronger alternate suspect.

All in all, I enjoyed the novel and storyline, but I feel like way too much book was left after all the pieces came together. Once I understood the full picture, I just wanted to see if justice would come—and it took too long to get there. Don’t ask me how it ended, because although I read it, I was kind of over it by then.

Despite all my ranting about what could’ve been cut, I still enjoyed the read. Even if Stephen King is long-winded, it’s still interesting to see how his stories unfold. Some of the characters were a bit dry, but I’ll admit—I’m an animated person, so maybe that’s part of it.

Back to Holly—my favorite character. It makes total sense she eventually gets her own novel. It makes sense that she’s a recurring character in this series. After finishing The Outsider and realizing it’s part of a bigger story, I went and got Mr. Mercedes, the actual first book. Subscribe or follow me or whatever so you get the next review when it’s done.