В маленьком городке Флин-Сити

There was a brutal murder of a child in the small town of Flynn City, Oklahoma.

Most of the evidence points to the involvement of the local children's baseball league coach, Terry Maitland. ⠀

Witnesses saw him put the boy in the van, saw him walking around the city in bloody clothes. ⠀

His fingerprints and DNA were found at the crime scene. ⠀

Terry is a respectable person and a good family man who does not at all look like a murderer with a sadistic inclinations - any resident of Flynn City will say that. ⠀

However, he is arrested.

However, Maitland has an irrefutable alibi. ⠀

At the time of the murder, he was in another city. ⠀

This is also confirmed by witnesses, surveillance cameras and even a news release on a local TV channel. ⠀

How could one person be in two places at the same time?

This book really has something to do with the Bill Hodges trilogy. It contains a huge number of references to "Mr. Mercedes". ⠀

If you haven't read it, half of "Outsider" will go to waste for you. ⠀

I was really looking forward to Holly Gibney's appearance and was not disappointed in her

The investigation itself is tense. I was really worried about Coach Maitland. All interrogations and comparison of facts are described in a very interesting way.

I didn't manage to guess who the culprit was until the very end.

The only negative - towards the end of the event, they acquire such a turn that one involuntarily wonders "what kind of nonsense am I reading?" But when I realized who this "stranger" really was, a lot became clear to me. I immediately remembered "The Dark Tower" and "Talisman".

I do not recommend it as an independent work. The sensations will not be the same.

Only after reading Mr. Mercedes' trilogy.