Firestarter

Title: Firestarter

Author: Stephen King

Published in: 1980

Date read: 2nd October 2019

Score: 4/5

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Fantasy

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"Firestarter" by Stephen King is a thrilling novel about a young girl with extraordinary pyrokinetic abilities, constantly on the run from a ruthless government agency.

The story centres on Charlie McGee, an eight-year-old girl who possesses the terrifying power of pyrokinesis – the ability to create fire with her mind. This power is a result of a secret government experiment conducted years earlier on her parents, Andy and Vicky McGee, who, as college students, participated in a drug trial involving a hallucinogen called "Lot Six." While Vicky developed mild telekinesis and Andy developed a powerful form of mind control (a "push"), Charlie inherited a far more potent and dangerous ability.

The government organization responsible for the experiment, known as "The Shop," has been secretly monitoring the McGee family for years, aware of Charlie's growing power. After Vicky is brutally murdered and Andy and Charlie barely escape an ambush by Shop agents, they are forced to go on the run.

Their flight becomes a desperate cat-and-mouse game across the country, as Andy uses his limited push ability to manipulate people and cover their tracks, while Charlie's power, often triggered by stress or anger, becomes increasingly difficult to control. The Shop, led by the ruthless and cynical Captain Hollister and employing a morally bankrupt assassin named John Rainbird (a Native American veteran with a chilling fascination for Charlie), relentlessly pursues them. Rainbird sees Charlie not just as a target but as a unique specimen to be studied and controlled.

Andy and Charlie endure a harrowing journey, constantly evading capture, until they are finally cornered and brought to a heavily guarded Shop facility known as "The Farm." There, they are separated, and the Shop begins a series of cruel and invasive experiments on Charlie, trying to understand, control, and weaponize her abilities. Rainbird, disguised as a friendly orderly, attempts to gain Charlie's trust.

Despite the torture and isolation, Charlie clings to her memories of her parents and her humanity. Andy, also imprisoned, tries desperately to reach his daughter and resist the Shop's manipulation. The climax of the novel is a spectacular and destructive conflagration as Charlie, pushed beyond her limits, unleashes the full, terrifying extent of her pyrokinetic powers. She burns down the entire Shop facility, exacting a fiery revenge on her tormentors, particularly Rainbird, and becoming an unstoppable force. The novel explores themes of government experimentation, the ethical implications of scientific research, the power of a child's innocence, and the destructive consequences of unchecked power.

Comments:
Great story throughout. Amazing character development in this, the father/daughter relationship is particularly well done. Love "The Shop", do places like this exist?

Books that we've read by Stephen King (68):
Carrie (1974), 'Salem's Lot (1975), The Shining (The Shining, #1) (1977), The Stand (1978), Night Shift (1978), The Dead Zone (1979), Firestarter (1980), Cujo (1981), The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) (1982), Different Seasons (1982), Christine (1983), Cycle of the Werewolf (1983), Pet Sematary (1983), The Talisman (The Talisman, #1) (1984), Skeleton Crew (1985), It (1986), The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) (1987), The Eyes of the Dragon (1987), The Tommyknockers (1987), Misery (1987), The Dark Half (1989), Four Past Midnight (1990), The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, #3) (1991), Needful Things (1991), Dolores Claiborne (1992), Gerald's Game (1992), Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), Insomnia (1994), Rose Madder (1995), The Green Mile (1996), Desperation (1996), Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4) (1997), Bag of Bones (1998), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999), Hearts in Atlantis (1999), On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000), Black House (The Talisman, #2) (2001), Dreamcatcher (2001), Everything's Eventual (2002), From a Buick 8 (2002), Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, #5) (2003), Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, #6) (2004), The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, #7) (2004), The Colorado Kid (2005), Cell (2006), Lisey's Story (2006), Duma Key (2008), Just After Sunset (2008), Under the Dome (2009), 11/22/63 (2011), Full Dark, No Stars (2011), The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5) (2012), Dr. Sleep (The Shining, #2) (2013), Joyland (2013), Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1) (2014), Revival (2014), The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015), Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #2) (2015), End of Watch (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #3) (2016), Elevation (2018), The Outsider (2018), The Institute (2019), If It Bleeds (2020), Billy Summers (2021), Later (2021), Fairy Tale (2022), Holly (2023), You Like It Darker (2024)