Stephen King Releases Free Short Story ‘Laurie’ And Will Appear On Stephen Colbert Amid ‘Outsider’ Release

Stephen King’s latest novel, The Outsider, is set to hit book retailers on May 22, 2018. On Thursday, May 17, “The King of Horror” tweeted that he released the free short story, Laurie, on the Stephen King website as an “appetizer” for The Outsider. The new novel is described as one of the author’s most unsettling and compulsively readable stories. That’s a bold statement given the author’s lengthy career, and it has quickly become one of the most highly-anticipated books of 2018.

The story centers on Terry Maitland who is a little league coach, husband, teacher, father, and the prime suspect for the murder of an 11-year-old boy (the young kid’s violated corpse was found in a town park). Though Maitland has an alibi, Detective Ralph Anderson (whose son was once coached by Terry) and the district attorney have eyewitness, DNA evidence, and fingerprints that put Maitland at the scene of the crime. The investigation grows and answers begin to emerge. The ending promises to shock you as only Stephen King can.

The synopsis for the book doesn’t indicate anything of the supernatural, but this is Stephen King we’re talking about, so situations are often not as they appear. Kirkus Reviews recently covered The Outsider and described the tale as “the creepiest depths of the supernatural.” The review revealed that the 11-year-old victim was missing his entire throat, and one character described his throat as being completely gone, “nothing there but a red hole.”

I'm posting a brand new short story, if you want to read it–think of it as an appetizer to the main course, THE OUTSIDER, coming next week. The story is free. Read, print, share, whatever. Go to my website or click the link. Enjoy! https://t.co/tfHIWTPoNw

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 17, 2018

The premise for Stephen King’s new novel certainly sounds compelling, and the author will be making an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday, May 23, the day before The Outsider’s release. “The King of Horror” previously appeared on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and this will be his second appearance on Colbert’s Late Show. Fans are anticipating that Stephen Colbert will ask the author about The Outsider, and Stephen King will likely give a teaser as to what we can expect from his horrifying new story.