History Literature / TheOutsider

* The [[Literature/TheOutsider1928 1928 H.P. Lovecraft story]].

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_outsider_by_stephen_king.jpg]]
''The Outsider'' is a 2018 novel by Creator/StephenKing.

A child's violated corpse is found in the park. Eyewitnesses and DNA evidence quickly point to Terry Maitland, Little League coach, who is promptly arrested. As the case unfolds, Maitland insists he was out of town, something that is backed up by video footage. Could Maitland have been at two places at once, or is something more sinister at work?

Preceded by the Mercedes Trilogy: ''Literature/MrMercedes'', ''Literature/FindersKeepers'', and ''Literature/EndOfWatch.''

If you are looking for the acclaimed work of literary philosophy by Creator/ColinWilson, that's a different book entirely. Also no relation to the Creator/HPLovecraft [[Literature/TheOutsider1926 short story]] or the sci-fi {{webcomic}} ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}''.

''Beware of unmarked spoilers.''

Adapted into an Creator/{{HBO}} miniseries in 2020, also called ''Series/TheOutsider''.

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!!The novel provides examples of:

* AdultFear:
** The idea that a person that you’ve known for years and trusted your children to be around could secretly be a child rapist and/or murderer. This is repeatedly mentioned, by both Ralph and people who saw the Outsider disguised as Terry in their statements to the police.
** Having one's life radically altered by the actions of another party is a rare and more mundane danger explored in the early parts of the book. While most people who undergo this can fortunately say they don't have their life and reputation destroyed so quickly and comprehensively as Ralph did to Terry, the consequences aren't just between them. How does this splash back on their loved ones? And what if the motivation wasn't malice, but misplaced anger?
* AgentMulder: Ralph Anderson's wife, Jeannie, is very quick to conclude they must be dealing with something supernatural, since no natural explanation can be given for how Maitland could be in two places at once. Due to her experiences with Brady Hartsfield, Holly also has no trouble believing that something supernatural might be at work.
* AgentScully: Anderson himself however is quite skeptical, and keeps trying to find a logical explanation before finally realizing Jeannie is right.
* AlmostDeadGuy: Between [[spoiler:Anderson and Maitland after the latter gets shot. Ralph tells Maitland he won't make it, and urges him to [[DeathbedConfession confess now while he still can]]. Maitland, however, uses hist last breath to once again state his innocence, and ask Anderson [[ArmorPiercingQuestion how he's going to clear his conscience]].]]
* AntiHero: Detective Anderson starts the story off this way, presented as something of a gung-ho CowboyCop whose ethically-questionable arrest of Terry Maitland causes catastrophic damage to the lives of almost everyone involved in the Frank Peterson case. At the same time, he's also a loving and devoted family man, and the aftermath of the colossal fuckup in question is what pushes him to become TheAtoner, as described below.
* TheAtoner: Detective Ralph Anderson becomes this after [[spoiler:Maitland's death]], as it very likely could've been avoided, or at least not been such a fiasco, if he hadn't made Maitland's arrest such a public affair to begin with.
* {{Blackmail}}: The outsider seems to give officer Jack Hoskins skin cancer when he investigates a barn the former had been using as a hideout, and orders him to kill Ralph Anderson and the others for him in return for getting cured. In reality, it's not cancer but a skin rash.
* CallBack: Due to Holly's presence, the events and characters of the Bill Hodges trilogy are brought up. Most notably, the Happy Slapper is utilized to great effect.
* CatapultNightmare: Ralph has one near the end of the book, in which [[spoiler:he sees the worms that were in the Outsider's head come out from under a fingernail and then flood out of his mouth]].
* CellPhonesAreUseless: There is no cell phone reception at the Marysville Hole, or miles around it. Hence why the protagonists can't call for help when they are under attack by Hoskins. The Outsider knows about this, and thus doesn't believe Anderson when he claims that they called for backup.
* CoolOldLady:
** June Gibson, the Peterson's elderly neighbor, who saves Fred Peterson after his BungledSuicide by performing mouth on mouth resuscitation.
** Claude Bolton's mother, who not only provides Ralph, Holly, and their other cohorts food and company but proves key to them finding the Outsider's hideout.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: While Frankie Peterson's murder is not shown on-page, police interviews and autopsy reports make it horrifically clear that his death was a brutal, gory mess. Later on, another case that is eventually connected to the Outsider comes to light, involving twin girls who may have had it worse than Frankie.
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Ralph's son Derek]] has been dead for years in the HBO miniseries.
* DecoyProtagonist: In amazingly similar fashion to Janey in ''Literature/MrMercedes'', [[spoiler:Terry Maitland is shot and killed halfway through the novel]]. Just as it happened all those books ago, his place as {{Deuteragonist}} is taken by Holly.
* DestroyTheEvidence: When Anderson finds a book in Cap City that has Maitland's fingerprints on it, DA Samuels tries to coax him into destroying it (which woud be easy since Anderson examined the book at home, and hasn't filed it as evidence yet). However, despite this new evidence even further undermining their case against Maitland, Anderson refuses and officially files the book as evidence.
* EldritchAbomination: Even in the context of the universe of the Mercedes Trilogy, the Outsider is freakish, monstrous, and unknowable.
* EmotionEater: In addition to eating flesh, the Outsider gains sustenance on negative emotions.
* EvilTwin: The Outsider effectively functions as this to whoever he is impersonating.
* EyeScream: When Anderson is forced to shoot Ollie Peterson, his first shot misses because someone bumps into him at the last moment. The bullet instead strikes a shoulder mounted camera, resulting in the lens exploding and glass shards ending up in the eye of the camera man.
* FacialHorror: The Outsider does this in different ways. Its face resembles something like putty with straws for eyes before it starts taking on the form of its next target, which is how it first shows itself to [[spoiler:Terry’s younger daughter]]. Earlier, when Ralph sees it at the courthouse before Terry’s arraignment, it appears to be someone with a badly burned face.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Although she saved him, June Gibson quickly comes to regret her heroic deed and believes it would be better if she had let Fred Peterson die. He already lost his entire family, and now he's in a coma from which he might never wake up, and if he does his life will never be the same again due to the brain damage he suffered from near-suffocation.
* GenreShift: Within the novel, the story starts as a detective story, then gradually shifts towards a horror story involving a monster. [[spoiler:For the ''Mercedes Saga'' as a whole, this story completes the gradual shift from hard-boiled detective stories set in a realistic world to more paranormal stories, by introducing the first EldritchAbomination whereas the previous books all had human villains.]]
* HistoryRepeats: Holly once again bashes a terrible villain's brains out with the [[ImprovisedWeapon Happy Slapper]]. [[spoiler: Not so lucky as Brady Hartsfield is the Outsider, though; Holly dead-out beats him to death with it]].
* HumanoidAbomination: The Outsider can pass as human right down to the DNA, but he is clearly something quite different. He wields a variety of outright supernatural powers, and between transformations he looks human only in general shape, with poisonous, burned-looking skin and "eyes" that look more like bundles of straw than anything. It's never even made clear if "he" is the right word to use for a creature like that.
* IdenticalStranger: Discussed: Ralph Andersons' wife, who loves detective novels, suggests they might be dealing with one of these, hence why Terry Maitland could seemingly be in two places at once. Ralph counters her argument with that a lookalike would still have different fingerprints and DNA, to which she offers the theory that maybe it was the double who went to the writer's conference in Cap City while Terry stayed in Flint City and committed the murder. Ralph also dismisses this since that would mean the double successfully fooled three of Terry's colleagues who went to the same conference.
* KnuckleTattoos: As the Outsider takes on Claude Bolton's form, it manifests his "CANT" and "MUST" finger tattoos. It also twists their purpose; while Claude gave them to himself in prison as a self-enforcement of his vow to stay clean, the Outsider uses them for intimidation, especially to Jack Hoskins.
* LaughingMad: Arlene Peterson, Frankie's mother, finally loses it after a busy day of people coming to their house to remember her son, console her, and celebrate that the killer has been caught. She goes into frenzied, hysterical laughter, starts throwing leftovers around, and dumps a tray of lasagna one of the visitors brought on her head while laughing how Frankie may be gone, but she won't have to cook for months. She finally stops when the excitement gives her a heart attack, and is able to apologize to her husband before passing out.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: If you haven't read all three novels of the Bill Hodges trilogy, you will be spoiled on nearly everything of importance.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: When the protagonists track the Outsider to Marysville and learn he has chosen Claude Bolton as his new appearance, they are forced to keep Claude in the dark about their plans since everything Claude knows, the Outsider knows. Claude realizes this danger and willingly allows himself to be locked out of the loop.
* TheLostLenore: Holly misses Bill Hodges and frequently thinks of him.
* MaskedLuchador: The Outsider is a kind of boogeyman in Mexican folklore, called ''el Cuco'', and references are made to an old, extremely cheesy series of films about a team of ''luchadoras'', one of which features them fighting the creature.
* MissingReflection: The Outsider does not show up on camera. Anderson first notices this when he can't see a severely burned and disfigured man on any of the news footage about Maitland getting shot, even though he clearly remembers such a man being present.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Anderson makes his public arrest of Terry with the best of intentions. Howie Gold, likewise, argues against Terry wearing a bulletproof vest with the intent to help him (on the grounds a bulletproof vest would make him look guilty). [[spoiler: Both of these things directly contribute to Ollie Peterson, the victim's older brother, shooting Terry dead.]]
* NotSoDifferent: The Outsider tries to justify his behavior by comparing himself to humans eating cattle. Holly and Ralph have none of it however.
* OnlyAFleshWound: Averted during the shootout between Hoskins and the protagonists. Officer Yune Sable is shot in the elbow, breaking it and dislocating his shoulder from the whiplash of the impact. Ralph lampshades how in movies Yune would just shrug it off and continue, but in real life, even though no vital organs were hit, Yune is out of the game due to his injury.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted - there are three separate characters in the novel named June: the little girl who witnesses the Outsider disguised as Maitland shortly after the Peterson murder; the Petersons' next-door-neighbour; and a minor character whose name is provided briefly as part of a family group.
* OnlyBadGuysCallTheirLawyers: Discussed. After his arrest, Terry naturally demands his lawyer, to which officer Yates responds that Terry wouldn't need one if he were innocent.
* PoisonousPerson: When the Outsider is in the process of changing form, his skin becomes poisonous to touch, though it only results in a severe skin rash like poison ivy or a sunburn. He uses this against Jack Hoskins.
* PsychicLink: The Outsider links his mind to the person whose appearance he copied, allowing him to access their memories and knowledge.
* RapeAsDrama: The Outsider rapes and murders children.
* RapidDNATest: Justified; in a letter from Dr. Edward Bogan to Detective Anderson, the former admits that usually DNA tests take weeks or even months to be performed due to the long line of samples waiting analysis, but given the nature of the crime and the apparent solidity of the case against Maitland, they will put the ones connected to the Frank Peterson case at the head of the line.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Holly gives the Outsider this in response to his claims that he kills to survive, pointing out he doesn't need to hurt children and could just feed off adults, and is nothing more than a petty pedophile or sexual sadist.
* TheRenfield: The Outsider blackmails Jack Hoskins into becoming his bodyguard. Holly even compares him to Renfield from ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''.
* TheRunaway: Merlin Cassidy, a 12 year old kid from New York who ran away from home to escape from his abusive stepfather, stealing money and cars along the way. The police encounter him in El Paso while investigating how the white van that the Outsider used to capture Frank Peterson ended up from New York in Flint City.
* ShootTheFuelTank: Jack Hoskins ends up shooting the gas tank of the SUV that Ralph, Holly, Howie, Yune and Alec used to get to Marysville hole when he fails to kill them all from his ambush. It takes several shots, but eventually the SUV goes up in flames. (Not that it does him any good, since Holly guessed he would try that.)
* {{Skinwalker}}: What the Outsider is is never fully explained, but it comes very close to the historical description of the infamous Native American skinwalker, a manipulative demonic shapechanger with the capacity for telepathy. It also takes at least one element of the {{Wendigo}}, being a monstrous cannibal.
* StealthSequel: ''The Outsider'' was advertised as a stand-alone novel, but with Holly Gibney's appearance at around the halfway point, long-term King fans will recognise it as a low-key fourth entry into the ''Mr. Mercedes'' series, minus the original protagonist Bill Hodges. With the announcement of King's 2020 novel ''If It Bleeds'' as "the second Holly Gibney mystery", it pretty much confirms ''The Outsider'' as the jumping off point for a ''Mr. Mercedes'' spin-off series.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: When footage that proves Terry Maitland was in Cap City at the time of the murder shows up, Anderson insists on trying to get forensic evidence from the hotel Terry stayed at, to which DA Bill Samuels points out how unlikely they are to get any since it's a big city hotel and it's been almost a week since Terry's visit. Later, Howie Gold proposes the exact same idea to Terry and his wife Marcy, to which Marcy likewise points out how unlikely it is they could find any, citing the exact same reasons why. The novel even lampshades how her words echo those of Samuels without her knowing it.
* TakeThat: Holly mentions that she likes [[Creator/StanleyKubrick Kubrick]]'s earlier films, definitely better than ''Film/TheShining'' (Stephen King several times mentioned that he didn't like Kubrick's adaptation of his novel).
* ThisIsReality: See OnlyAFleshWound above. When Yune gets shot in the arm, Anderson notes that in real life there is no such thing as "just" being shot anywhere--any bullet wound is very serious.
* TraumaCongaLine: For Fred Peterson. First his youngest son Frank is brutally murdered. Then [[spoiler:his wife succumbs to a heart attack. Then his second son, Ollie, goes to the courthouse and kills Terry Maitland, resulting in Ollie himself getting shot as well. This becomes too much for Fred, and he decides [[DrivenToSuicide to hang himself]], but his attempt [[BungledSuicide fails]] and only results in him ending up in a coma. His fate is left ambiguous.]]
* TheUnreveal: What the Outsider is or what his origins are are never explained.
* VigilanteExecution: Ollie Peterson decides to take it upon himself to avenge his brother despite the alleged killer being innocent after all.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:We never find out if Fred Peterson awakens from his coma but given his condition, it's probably unlikely]].
* TheWormThatWalks: Mysterious red 'worms' come out of the Outsider's head after [[spoiler:Holly bludgeons him]].
* WouldHurtAChild: The Outsider kills children by tearing out parts of their flesh and drinking their blood.
* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:Howie Gold]] suffers this fate when being shot by [[spoiler:Hoskins]].

If you are looking for the acclaimed work of literary philosophy by Creator/ColinWilson, that's a different book entirely and the TvTropes page hasn't been attempted yet. Also no relation to the Creator/HPLovecraft [[Literature/TheOutsider1926 short story]] or the sci-fi {{webcomic}} ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}''.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_outsider_by_stephen_king.jpg]]

If you are looking for the acclaimed work of literary philosophy by Creator/ColinWilson, that's a different book entirely and the tvtropes page hasn't been attempted yet. Also no relation to the Creator/HPLovecraft [[Literature/TheOutsider1926 short story]] or the sci-fi {{webcomic}} ''Webcomic/{{Outsider}}''.

A child's violated corpse is found in the park. Eyewitnesses and DNA evidence quickly point to Terry Maitland, Little League coach, who is promptly arrested. As the case unfolds, Maitland insists he was out of town, something that is backed up by video footage. Could Maitland have been at two places at once or is something more sinister at work?

If you are looking for the acclaimed work of literary philosophy by Creator/ColinWilson, that's a different book entirely and the tvtropes page hasn't been attempted yet. Also no relation to the Creator/HPLovecraft [[Literature/TheOutsider1926 short story.]]

* IdenticalStranger: Discussed: Ralph Andersons' wife, who loves detective novels, suggests they might be dealing with one of these, hence why Terry Maitland could seemingly be in two places at once. Ralph counters her argument with that a lookalike would still have different fingerprints and DNA, to which she offers the theory that maybe it was the double who went to the writer's conference in Cap City while Terry stayed in Flint City and committed the murder. Ralph also dismisses this since that would mean the double successfully fooled 3 of Terry's colleagues who went to the same conference.

If you are looking for the acclaimed work of literary philosophy by Creator/ColinWilson, that's a different book entirely and the tvtropes page hasn't been attempted yet.