59 pages • 1 hour read
Stephen KingThe Outsider
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Further Reading: The Detective Genre
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1841) by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1842) by Edgar Allan Poe
“The Purloined Letter” (1844) by Edgar Allan Poe
Sherlock Holmes may be the iconic and best known of the great classic detectives, but he wasn’t the first. Doyle described Edgar Allen Poe’s detective stories featuring C. Auguste Dupin as the model for all others. These three stories introduced all the elements we now associate with the detective genre, most notably the idiosyncratic detective with a brilliant but unconventional mind:
- “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” on SuperSummary
- “The Purloined Letter” on SuperSummary
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892)
Sherlock Holmes defined the detective genre and likely remains the most famous fictional detective to this day. Although Holmes encounters several mysteries that appear to be supernatural in nature, he always proves them to have mundane origins.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on SuperSummary
Further Reading: Occult Detective Writers and Their Protagonists
Whereas Sherlock Holmes reduced several apparently supernatural mysteries to their natural origins, other writers took the detective genre and added an occult twist. The following are some of the most successful authors and their detective protagonists:
- Sheridan Le Fanu: Dr. Martin Hesselius
- Bram Stoker: Dr. Abraham Van Helsing
- Algernon Blackwood: Dr. John Silence
- Seabury Quinn: Jules de Grandin
- William Hope Hodgson: Thomas Carnacki
Carnacki is perhaps the most popular and enduring of the occult detectives. Long after Hodgson’s death, other writers have picked up the character, producing hundreds of new stories.
Further Reading: Modern Occult Detective Writers and Their Protagonists
The occult detective genre hasn’t lost any of its popularity since its inception. For readers interested in modern interpretations:
- Douglas Adams: Dirk Gently
- Brian Lumley: Titus Crow
- Simon R. Green: John Taylor, Edwin Drood, JC Chance
- Mike Carey: Felix Castor
- Mercedes Lackey: Diana Tregarde
- Laurell K. Hamilton: Anita Blake
- Jonathan L. Howard: Johannes Cabal
- Jonathan Maberry: Sam Hunter
- Jim Butcher: Harry Dresden
- William Meikle: Thomas Carnacki
Further Reading: Elizabethan Drama
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1609)
The characters in The Outsider occasionally reference the famous line from Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth…”. Hamlet is arguably a mystery in the “howcatchem” (i.e., “how to catch them”) subgenre since the titular prince knows the perpetrator but must verify his guilt. Like Ralph in The Outsider, Hamlet struggles to reconcile faith and materialism to come to the truth.
Hamlet on SuperSummary
Further Reading: Contemporary Horror: Vampires Similar to The Outsider
The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro, William Morrow (2009)
The Strain is the first of a three-book series that spawned a four-season television series featuring vampirism caused by parasitic worms.
The Necroscope by Brian Lumley (2008)
The Necroscope is the first of an extended book series featuring leech-like vampires.
Further Reading: Thriller with Themes Similar to The Outsider
Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (2005)
Darkly Dreaming Dexter is the first book of a thriller series concerning the theme of vigilante justice; Lindsay’s books inspired the television show Dexter. The protagonist subverts classic detective trope; Dexter Morgan does indeed have remarkable cognitive powers, but they derive from homicidal psychopathy rather than the more benign quirks of a Sherlock Holmes or a Holly Gibney. The story explores the appeal and pitfalls of vigilante justice. Dexter, being a homicidal psychopath himself, has an implied moral authority to pass judgment on others of his kind.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter on SuperSummary
Further Reading: Nonfiction
Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene (2011)
This is a layman’s introduction to the logical and mathematical evidence for the existence of parallel universes. Greene discusses the probability that, as Bill Hodges said to Holly, “There is no end to the universe” (or, in Brian Greene’s philosophy, the multiverse).
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By Stephen King
