Each killing of a child triggers an explosion of revenge murders and grief-stricken suicides that obliterates an entire family unit.

The Outsider is yet another exploration of King's favorite theme, the murder of children as an expression of the dissolution of the American family-in this case literally. But the result is curiously-and annoyingly-uneven, as if different production crews took over on alternate days undoing one another's work. It's a serious piece of work, with talented writers like Richard Price and Dennis Lehane doing the adaptation. Mercedes (even borrowing a crossover character) in its blend of the horror and noir detective motifs. Based on King's 2018 novel, it's a sort of kissing cousin to Mr. The Outsider, the latest float in the King parade, lies somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. On the other hand, Spike's remake of The Mist was so lobotomizingly awful that it killed off the entire network. Mercedes trilogy into a riveting, post-modernist take on pulp detective novels. AT&T's Audience Channel turned King's Mr. Hulu's miniseries adaptation 11.22.63, King's tale of time travelers on Lee Harvey Oswald's trail, made up in sheer, story-telling power, whatever it lacked in political acumen.

To say that Hollywood's King-mania has been profligate and promiscuous is certainly not to say it's been all bad. (Still the nation weeps in rage at the false promise of 1992's Children Of The Corn II: The Final Sacrifice.) And, oh my God, is there more to come. And that's not even counting King comic books, dolls, or the horde of mutant Children Of The Corn spinoffs. By my admittedly addled count, King published 20 books during the past decade, while a dozen were adapted into movies and nine more into TV shows. If you have recurring nightmares of a world populated by drooling zombie clones of Stephen King, a word of caution: They may not be dreams at all.

The outsider review book