RaveThe Guardian\"The story switches from King’s graceful head-hopping third-person narrative to a transcript of official statements from key personnel in the prosecution’s case, a formal change that nods to the statements and newspaper extracts King used throughout his debut, Carrie. A well-researched, finely tuned crime-cum-legal case novel forms a good chunk of the book ... The supernatural elements have more than a little in common with some of King’s most beloved creations, especially in the vague way he conveys what they actually are. He has always understood that the mystery – the question – is scarier than finding out the truth ... That’s not to say the whole novel works. It takes a couple of hundred pages for the weirdness to get started, and the sense of the uncanny pervading the entire novel means that the more horrifying elements fail to surprise when they eventually arrive. But The Outsider gives King fans exactly what they want at the same time as cramming in new ideas, proving the least surprising thing of all: that his novels are as strong as they ever were.\
Joe Hill
RaveThe GuardianHill’s writing has matured along with his ideas. He plays out the apocalypse so quickly and efficiently, through small-town witnesses and television broadcasts, that it feels absolutely devastating. And in the aftermath, he juggles a huge cast of characters with aplomb, giving each their time to shine, yet still managing to keep the tension high throughout. It’s these more human moments that show his writing at its best: when Harper is thinking about the unborn child inside her, or helping to heal somebody, or dealing with the monster that her husband has become.
