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Fiction. Horror. Literature. Thriller. HTML:Master storyteller Stephen King presents the classic #1 New York Times bestsellerâ??now a major motion picture! Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson were once college students looking to make some extra cash, volunteering as test subjects for an experiment orchestrated by the clandestine government organization known as The Shop. But the outcome unlocked exceptional latent psychic talents for the two of themâ??manifesting in even more terrifying ways when they fell in love and had a child. Their daughter, Charlie, has been gifted with the most extraordinary and uncontrollable power ever seenâ??pyrokinesis, the ability to create fire with her mind. Now the merciless agents of The Shop are in hot pursuit to apprehend this unexpected genetic anomaly for their own diabolical ends by any means necessary...including violent actions that may well ignite the entire world around them as Charlie retaliates with a fury of h… (more)
User reviews
This was an OK read, not King's best and not his worst. It lacks any of the sense of creepiness that he sometimes does so well, but, although it's not exactly a taut novel, it also lacks the bloat that characterizes a lot of his later work. There are some nice, well-done details about the way the characters experience their psychic abilities, but other, larger, aspects of the story are far less convincing. And the whole premise has a slightly tired, entirely unoriginal feel to it that's unusual for King, although I suppose it was less of a cliche in 1980, when the novel was first published.
That girl is Charlie McGee, also described as, "... the little girl in the red pants and the green blouse...". She and her dad Andy are on the run from the Shop, an 'evil' government agency. This is a really good story with a very satisfying
Good book, a little slow. Not my favorite of King's works.
7-year old Charlie and her dad, Andy, are on the run. In 1969, as college students, Andy and Charlie's mom met while volunteering in a psychology study, where they were pumped full of unknown drugs. As a result, Andy became able to "push" people's minds to do what he suggests to them. As
This was really good. It pulled me right in at the start and was suspenseful throughout. There was some going back in time to get the background story (some of which I've described here, but that's only the basics), and thinking back while I was reading, I did get a little confused on the exact timeline/order of events, but the exact timeline didn't really matter for the overall story, so it really wasn't a big deal. Firestarter is right up there with some of King's best, I think.
Firestarter has all the usual Stephen King hallmarks. Strong characterization, a good sense of pace and enough research to make
The characters are believable and well drawn. Charlie McGee is a believable eight year old placed under incredible stress. John Rainbird is a corrupt, evil and insane character who is nonetheless fascinating.
The plotting is expertly handled. It starts out in the middle with our heroes Charlie and her father Andy being chased by a shadowy government agency. The tale then both moves forward and flashes back at the same time. Like the beginning of The Gunslinger we don’t know why they are being chased or who is doing the chasing. The flashbacks work to fill in the story and they also show just how bad the bad guys can be.
The book rockets along to the inevitable explosive finale. He manages to make it all flow organically from the events this particular group of characters find themselves in. Reading the book, you never feel like he is making his characters act against their natures for the sake of his plot.
Also, he shows that he has done his research. He works to make the impossible (or at least improbable) forces of pyrokinesis and mental domination into something that is at least plausible enough in the story.
And yet, for all the good that is here there is something off or missing in the book. With both The Dead Zone and Firestarter it feels like King was moving away from the straight up horror of his earlier works into thriller territory and he was still on unfamiliar ground. He would nail it later with Misery, but with Firestarter he’s not quite there yet.
The book is worth a read and is better than his previous novel (The Dead Zone), but Firestarter is middle tier Stephen King. As with everything Stephen King writes, it is much better written than most pop novels, but stacked up against his own best work Firestarter falls a little short.
I liked this book. I don't think it was King's best and it certainly won't be going on to any of my lists of favorites or top reads of the year, but it passed the time and made my heart race at the more suspenseful parts so I'm satisfied. I thought the book got just a tiny bit redundant after awhile (wait, you mean they're still running? Again? Shock!) but some parts of the book were just brilliant. I thought the scene in which you see the experiment through Andy's eyes was just chilling. That was, far and above, the best part of the book for me. I thought their capture was good part of the book as well, but it didn't hold up to the experiment scene at all.
I recommend this book if you're already a fan of Stephen King (or the thriller genre - I wouldn't call this horror because it's not really scary) but otherwise, you probably won't be missing much by not reading this one. King has so many better books out. Read those instead.
after all, what would YOU do if your 2-month-old set the stove on fire because her bottle didn't come fast enough?
I do want to re-resd it but i am sure I can find it for the Kindle