The Outlier

Rating:
Summary: Stanton Delivers Page Turner with Complex Plot
Review: I gave this novel 4 stars only because I am saving the last star for a future book (of which I hope there will be many). R.J. Stanton has constructed a complex plot that kept this reader frantically trying to figure out who the murderer was, up to the very end. The Western Massachusetts setting was authentic and the characters were interesting and believable. This is a great read that is hard to put down. Prepare to neglect the rest of your life for a few days while you wrap yourself up in R.J. Stanton's world.

Rating:
Summary: Stanton Delivers Page Turner with Complex Plot
Review: I gave this novel 4 stars only because I am saving the last star for a future book (of which I hope there will be many). R.J. Stanton has constructed a complex plot that kept this reader frantically trying to figure out who the murderer was, up to the very end. The Western Massachusetts setting was authentic and the characters were interesting and believable. This is a great read that is hard to put down. Prepare to neglect the rest of your life for a few days while you wrap yourself up in R.J. Stanton's world.

Rating:
Summary: You will believe in him!
Review: Kudos to R.J. Stanton for lifting the character of the serial killer from the mire of contemporary popular fiction and realizing the man behind the monster. Stanton's beast is one of the more believable I have read in a long time. We track, sometimes with gruesome detail, his maturation from a troubled youth into a calculating killer. Victor's back bio could stand in place of dozens of cheaply prefabricated so-called 'motives' that have been endlessly churned out in countless 'thriller' novels. This is one book which truly does thrill. It is the reality of the killer, and the agonizing reflections of Sysiphus we see in the character of Roland Briggs that bring us deep within of the folds of this novel. And it is not a nice place to be.

Rating:
Summary: You will believe in him!
Review: Kudos to R.J. Stanton for lifting the character of the serial killer from the mire of contemporary popular fiction and realizing the man behind the monster. Stanton's beast is one of the more believable I have read in a long time. We track, sometimes with gruesome detail, his maturation from a troubled youth into a calculating killer. Victor's back bio could stand in place of dozens of cheaply prefabricated so-called 'motives' that have been endlessly churned out in countless 'thriller' novels. This is one book which truly does thrill. It is the reality of the killer, and the agonizing reflections of Sysiphus we see in the character of Roland Briggs that bring us deep within of the folds of this novel. And it is not a nice place to be.

Rating:
Summary: Chilling story of abuse and revenge
Review: Roland Briggs, sheriff of a small Massachusetts town in the early 1970s, must solve the area's first murders committed in fifteen years. Between personal problems -- an estranged family and a troubled affair with a married woman -- and professional problems -- memories of the job on a big city police force which continue to haunt him -- Roland strives to do his job right despite political pressure and the nagging feeling the wrong perp is being accused. Interspersed with this mystery through flashbacks is the history of the killer, Victor, through which his progress from an abused orphan to cold-hearted adult out for revenge is detailed.

I loved the characterization in this novel: in particular the exhausted, angst-ridden sheriff who tries to find justification in his actions during a torrid, illicit romance while balancing his responsibilities on the job. I liked also the point of view of the killer, and how Stanton portrayed his metamorphosis from scared, abused child sentenced indefinitely to a hellish life in a mental ward to a merciless killer determined to seek vengeance in the name of his mistreated siblings.

The Outlier is an eye-opener as well in its portrayal of the attitudes towards the mentally disabled in the 1950s and earlier. A book like this should make people angry, good as it is. Stanton researched well the history of mental health facilities in the early part of the century, and the vivid nature of the treatment of these people is sometimes unbearable to read. The mention of "eugenics" as it relates to the story is chilling. It's just something you have to read for yourself. If you're interested in stories of serial killings and crime, The Outlier is an engrossing read.