Outsider: A Novel of Suspense by Linda Castillo

 Once again we are delighted to have Kevin Tipple back with a review.  Please check out his own blog, Kevin's Corner,  for more reviews, recommendations, and news for both readers and writers.  

 

 

She was lucky to have escaped with her life when the intruders came for her that cold and snowy night. She had been ready and had a plan, but as often happens with plans, things went sideways from the point her door crashed inward. She fled into the night and by sheer luck survived and got to the vicinity of Painter’s Mill, Ohio. There is one person there she knew long ago that might help her now: Kate Burkholder.

 

That one person is Chief of Police Kate Burkholder. Many years ago, Kate Burkholder and Gina Colorosa were friends. Good friends who first met by happenstance, bonded, and soon went through the academy and joined the force together. Once employed as police officers, their inner natures took over, and what had been a close friendship frayed and then broke irretrievably.

 

All these years later, Gina Colorosa is a wanted fugitive and in a world of trouble. She desperately needs Kate Burkholder’s help. Can Gina be trusted?

 

Outsider: A Novel Of Suspense by Linda Castillo is the latest in her long running series featuring Kate Burkholder. It is also a heck of a good read with a lot going on at different levels. Part mystery, part police procedural, and with a lot of reflection about how our inner nature as well as our experiences shape us to be the people we are now, the read powers along at a steady pace to the inevitable violent conclusion deep on a snowy winter night.

 

Even when you see it coming one hundred pages out, that final confrontation is very intense. Outsider: A Novel Of Suspense by Linda Castillo is an intense very good read and is strongly recommended.  Unlike earlier books in the series where it was best to have read the preceding books, this one can be read and enjoyed by readers new to the series.

 

Outsider: A Novel Of Suspense

Linda Castillo

https://www.lindacastillo.com/about_linda.html

Minotaur Books (Macmillan Publishers)

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250142894

ISBN#: 978-1-250-14289-4

ARC (available in hardback, eBook, and audio)

320 Pages

 

 

 

 

I received an ARC of this book by way of winning one in a Goodreads contest.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2020

The Outsider by Stephen King

Reviewed by Kristin

Stephen King is a master of intricately crafted horror novels.  He is known for being an author who makes you shiver in your seat and peer into the shadows, just in case.  Now please understand, I don’t really like to be scared by my mysteries.  I hadn’t read a King novel in years, maybe not since I was a teenager.  But for some reason I checked out The Outsider audiobook, popped it into my CD player, and rediscovered the enjoyment of a spine-tingling tale.

When a horrifying crime rocks Flint City, Oklahoma, fingers are quickly pointed at Terry Maitland, a popular Little League coach and high school teacher.  Eleven year old Frank Peterson has been brutally violated and murdered, and several witnesses identify “Coach T” as the blood-covered man who came out of the grove of trees where the boy’s mutilated body was later found.  Detective Ralph Anderson quickly and publicly arrests Terry, starting a series of events which divides the town.  With witnesses, fingerprints, and DNA evidence, the case seems to be locked up tight.  But what about the witnesses who also swear that Terry was with them in a neighboring town at an English teacher’s conference—at the exact time of the murder?

Before long, more crimes are committed.  Could this be a serial killer?  A copycat?  How is the murder of Frank Peterson in Flint City connected to crimes in Texas, Ohio, or even further afield?

The driving force of The Outsider is the strong characterization.  King has published more than fifty books, weaving the threads of crime and horror together to create complex stories that dig deep into the human psyche.  His characters draw us into a world where horrible things happen, but a strong protagonist is also there to pursue justice.  One of the characters who really grabbed me in this King novel was Holly Gibney.  Holly is a private investigator who meticulously explores the whereabouts of suspects at any given time, and is willing to accept possibilities outside the range of “normal.”

King also keeps you guessing to the end:  Is the perpetrator a bad human, or something supernatural?  I kept thinking back to his early novel Christine, where the giant hulking car seemed to have a mind of its own.  (I remember nothing else about Christine, but some things just stick with you.)

Verdict:  Not my usual reading fare, but a very interesting foray into a spooky but real world where terrible things happen, but the good guys come out on top in the end.