Firestarter
Author: Stephen King
Rating: 9.5/10
Hi, everybody! I thought I'd kick off the reviews with a nice thriller.
Firestarter is a novel by Stephen King. It tells the story of eight-year-old girl Charlie and her father, Andy. When Andy was in college, he participated in an experiment for 200 dollars, because, being a college student, he needed the money. It was led by a government group called the shop. He was given a government formula called Lot 6, which gave him Psychokinetic powers. He eventually married another Lot 6 recipient, Vicky, who had a different type of psychokinetic power. Eventually, they had a child, Charlie, who had an altogether different form of psychokinetic talent-pyrokinesis. Charlie is taught at an early age that it is bad to use her powers, but when her emotions are strong enough, the power escapes. But, for the most part, things are going fine.
Until the government comes for them, that is. The government kills Charlie's mother, Vicky, and kidnaps Charlie. Andy saves her, and they retreat to an airport. Some time after leaving the airport, they hitchhike and meet Irv Manders. He takes them to his house to meet his wife, Norma Manders. Sadly, the government catches up to them, and Charlie's powers escape. This causes complete and total carnage, but, I had to admit, it did take care of the problem. When it is over, Charlie swears never to do it again. After that, they borrow Irv's car and travel to their lake house, where they relax for the winter.
Eventually, they are captured again, and kept in separate rooms. Charlie meets a man named John Rainbird, who was actually the man who led her capture. He becomes friends with Charlie, but in reality, it is all a facade in order to get her to light fires for their tests. John wants to kill Charlie, to see what a child thinks when she is dying.Andy becomes addicted to some kind of pill, which causes heavy problems.
Eventually, they escape, and SPOILER ALERT! John kills Andy. Charlie uses her powers and kills Rainbird, along with many other Shop agents. Charlie escapes to the Manders home, where she hides out for a while. SPOILER ALERT! Eventually, she makes it to the Rolling Stones editorial and tells her story to the world. With that many people knowing of her existence, she is safe.
Although the ending felt lacking,
Firestarter is a must-read.
Image from
http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/35/Firestarter.jpg/200px-Firestarter.jpg
