{"id":11672,"date":"2018-05-21T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=11672"},"modified":"2018-05-21T11:18:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T15:18:14","slug":"the-outsider-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/the-outsider-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Bev Vincent Reviews The Outsider by Stephen King"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Stephen<\/p>\n

Reality is Thin Ice<\/span>
\nThe Outsider<\/em> by Stephen King<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Reviewed by Bev Vincent<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of the themes of Stephen King\u2019s 1986 novel It<\/em> was the notion that adults lose the ability to believe in the kinds of things they embraced as children. Mike Hanlon contemplates this issue when he\u2019s planning to summon his childhood friends back to Derry to confront the monster they defeated but did not destroy nearly three decades earlier. He wonders if they\u2019re up to the task because their former ability to believe in the power of certain talismans gave them the strength to hurt Pennywise.<\/p>\n

The inability to believe plays a major part in The Outsider<\/em>. The book starts out as a solid procedural that makes use of contemporary forensic procedures, with a touch of Agatha Christie thrown in. Then things take a turn for the strange. Flint City, Oklahoma Detective Ralph Anderson (no relation to the little boy from Storm of the Century<\/em>) is forced to confront two contradictory but incontrovertible facts. He has an ironclad case against Terry Maitland, a popular English teacher and Little League coach, in the sadistic, cannibalistic murder of 11-year-old Frank Peterson. Eyewitnesses who know Maitland see him pick the boy up in a nondescript white van, place him at the crime scene, and establish his actions after the murder, wearing blood-soaked clothing. His fingerprints are everywhere, and the DNA evidence, when it comes in, is the final nail in the coffin. Anderson has Maitland—a man he\u2019s known for years, who coached Anderson\u2019s boy in baseball—dead to rights.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Anderson is so sure of his case that—with the blessing of the District Attorney, Bill Samuels, who wants to expedite the process—he has Maitland arrested at a pivotal moment in a Little League semifinal game in front of over 1,500 people, including Maitland\u2019s wife and two daughters. Anderson doesn\u2019t trust himself to make the arrest personally, afraid he might strangle the man. They arrest him without interviewing him in advance because they were afraid Maitland would get spooked and run. They wanted to publicly shame him, get him off the streets in case he decided to kill again, and also demonstrate to the residents of Flint City that justice has been served. Anderson wants people to be able to sleep again.<\/p>\n

Except Maitland has an alibi. At the time of the murder, he was in Cap City with three other English teachers, attending a mid-summer conference where crime writer Harlan Coben is the featured speaker. Not only do the other teachers vouch for Maitland\u2019s presence during the crucial hours, security footage shows him in the hotel and the event was videotaped. Maitland can be seen asking Coben a question. He couldn\u2019t have been in Flint City, an hour away. Additional forensic evidence confirms that he was in the hotel.<\/p>\n