Firestarter

By Stephen King

Innocence and beauty ignite with evil and terror...

First, a man and a woman are subjects of a top-secret government experiment designed to produce extraordinary psychic powers.

Then, they are married and have a child. A daughter.

Early on the daughter shows signs of a wild and horrifying force growing within her. Desperately, her parents try to train her to keep that force in check, to “act normal.”

Now the government wants its brainchild back—for its own insane ends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Aug 1, 1981
• ISBN: 9781101138090

Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

Reviews for Firestarter

[antao-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

(Original Review, 1980-09-21)The popularity of "occult" novels haunts the science fiction community. We of all people are expected to pay serious attention to stories based on semiliterate misreadings of religious apocrypha. Not based, mind you, on either testament of the Bible, but on superstitions which Catholic, Protestant and Jewish theologians can tell you are mostly transformations of ancient pagan beliefs that have not yet been shaken off the skirts of genuine religion.Books like "The Other" and "Rosemary's Baby" are exploitation novels at a level undreamed of by even the editors of Spicy Space Stories or Gruesome Demoniacal Monthly. And literarily they haven't the faintest connection with any form of the Speculative Fiction genre. So now you're expecting me to say something bad about Stephen King's "Firestarter" (Viking, $13.95). And I could - it's sloppily written, it's plotted to wring every hair-raising potential out of creaking stairs, branches tapping on windows in deserted houses, lurking watchers in the shadows and all that other Gothic stuff - and it drags its feet. But those are details. Go get it. Tell 'em I sent you. It's good.King is a bright young man who has figured out how to become a consistent best-selling author. That objective has caused him to bend his appreciable writing talent to the writing of books filled with old horror-movie clichés, in the correct expectation that this would sell them to makers of new horror movies. But underneath it all, he's fundamentally different from the other "occult" wordsmiths, whom he has outdone in popularity with earlier novels like "Carrie," "Salem's Lot" and "The Shining." He is a Speculative Fiction writer, which means that though he throws in the horror scenes with unabashed persistence, he is in the meanwhile asking hard, logical questions and offering at least partial answers.I don't mean to scare anyone away from him, but the fact is that King is obviously too good for the trash bestseller market. The story in this case centers on "Charlie" McGee, a little girl who can start fires just by wanting to. The daughter of two former college students who volunteered for a hallucinogen-testing program, she and her father are hunted through a long hide-and-seek sequence by The Shop. The Shop is a clandestine federal agency which makes the worst excesses of the CIA look benign. The Shop has already killed her mother in an overanxious attempt to interrogate her. After it captures Charlie and her father, it ruthlessly handles them in ways that eventually force her to bring out her powers in a violently melodramatic climax.But under all that page-turning foofaraw are some very sharp characterizations, and some relatively deep considerations of power and its uses. There's also a portrait of a relationship between Charlie and her father that goes quite a bit farther into parent-child love-fear that you will ever see in the eventual movie version. Readers won't find much new in the "scientific rationale," but they might find something more in the book than they expected.I still feel very equivocal about it; it's borderline SF in the popular tradition, like CARRIE and THE DEAD ZONE, but in some ways I found it weaker than either --- unlike THE DEAD ZONE, FIRESTARTER wasn't convincing enough to keep me from arguing with it every few pages. King seems to be "discovering" writing techniques gradually and putting them to work one at a time to make each book a little more complicated than the previous one. I also thought the ending was an awful copout, but there was just enough surprise in it that I won't spoil it here.P.S. The government cover-up is important, but it's not the sole motivation of the book; given the treatment, I'd say "horror" is as good a description as "SF". The government cover-up is in effect part of the horror (there's this homicidal seeker after truth, see . . .).

[mitralibrary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very good read!!

[anagarika0sean · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful! Classic King. A fantastic read.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"...the little girl was pyrokinetic- a fire starter."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 climax and ending! Rereading this as a father of a young daughter really changed, and deepened, my appreciation for this book! Also, I did some "tests" in college too, so that really, creepily, deepened my connection with the story, and with Andy. Sadly, I don't have his powers. That I know of...

[beebowallace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked the idea of how little pieces of reality were woven together to form the basis of the novel. Excited to see the movie!

[mainrun · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I first read this book in the 1980's. Due to Stephen King being Stephen King I saw lots of trailers for the movie, but did not know how the story went. For that reason, when I entered this book into LibraryThing, I rated it two stars. It is A LOT better. I changed the rating to four stars. I had just finished watching seasons one and two of Stranger Things, which is five star material as I have re-watched a few episodes. There are many blatantly plagiarized things from FireStarter in Stranger Things. Millie Bobby Brown (11) = Charlie McGee (Drew Barrymore) 6,743 members; 3.64 average rating; 12/20/2017

[mahsdad · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Listened to this audiobook from the library, using Hoopla.Classic King. Kinda horror, kinda scifi, kinda family in peril chase story. Book jumps right in, showing, main character Charlie and her father Andy, on the run from mysterious organization. We find that the organization is a secretive government organization (called the Shop) who want Andy and Charlie because they happen to have psychic powers. Charlie is the firestarter and Andy can "push" people with his mind to influence them (kinda like a cross between Scanners and the Force). In true King fashion, we jump back and forth to find out their backstory, where we learn that Andy and his future wife were part of a drug experiment when they were in college that gave them these psychic powers. When they later get married and have a child, we find that their abilities are passed along in full (and more) to their daughter. Andy and Charlie are eventually captured and taking to a facility where they separate the two and try to find the secret to Charlie's ability and how they might control her. Needless to say, again in true King fashion, things come to a head and do not go well at all for the Shop. Its a good, fun, pulpy read. Just what you'd expect from 80's era Stephen King6/10S: 3/26/15 F: 4/9/15 (15 Days)

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was okay with the paranormal aspect of this story because it wasn't really the point. It's a story about people who want to take a little girl away from her father, and his efforts to protect her. And that was a good story.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked Firestarter. It's not a plot I've read Stephen King doing before (yet, anyway), although I suppose there's shades of Carrie. It's more science fiction/thriller than horror, definitely.

It's much denser than the books I've been reading lately by King -- Cell and From A Buick 8. More description, more stopping and starting, a longer time frame. It worked, for me, I got caught up in the story, I didn't want to put the book down, I got close to the characters and worried about them. Or steadily got to loathe them more, in the case of John Rainbird.

I liked Andy a lot. I liked the fact that he was trying so hard to save Charlie, but he was just an ordinary guy, and I liked that he didn't lie to his kid. I also liked that he couldn't just use his powers however he wanted, that there was a price both for him and for the people he tried it on, that things could go wrong.

Charlie herself is a sympathetic figure, too. I don't think I really got as close to her as I did to Andy, because she's a little scary, too. Her powers are, after all, barely held back a lot of the time. Her conflict about using them was well-written, though.

Worth reading, if you like Stephen King's writing and you don't mind looking outside the horror genre. Maybe not quite as fast-paced as some of his others, but it also doesn't do too much in the way of slow build-up -- the minute you meet the main characters, they're already on the run. The flashback technique is unsubtle, but hey, it works.

[jimmaclachlan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not much of a King fan, but find I like his earlier books better than his later ones. This is less wordy than some & the premise is interesting. Plenty of action without too much wandering.

[kbroun_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This Stephen King thriller is an entertaining read. King has created an interesting cast of characters, ranging from a giant homicidal Native American to a sweet young girl with the power to burn things with her mind. As is common with King (think of The Stand), the book seemed unnecessarily long. Some parts, especially flashbacks, seemed repetitive and unnecessary. Although the protagonist is still a child, young adults should have no problem relating to her character. In fact, I believe teen readers will enjoy the fact that the most poweful character in the story is also the youngest.

[alcracka · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Drew Barrymore is exactly the same age as me; my crush on her started with ET and never went away.

[srboone · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A lackluster tale with a great central character, but blase villians.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the 1960s, Andy McGee volunteered to be the subject of a psychological experiment in which he was injected with an experimental hallucinogenic substance. He got two things out of that experience: a meeting with the woman who would be his wife, and an ability to influence people's minds. Now, he and his wife (who received some minor telekinetic abilities) have a daughter whose abilities far exceed either of theirs: she can start fires with her mind. And the evil government organization that originally ran the experiment is very, very interested in that little girl.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.

[tayitude-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I borrowed this from a friend. I liked it.

[cassie.peters1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. Charlie is a great character.

[aryadeschain-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well, I can't complain. I really can't. This book is actually pretty good. It's about a man who takes part of an apparently simple experiment in exchange of some money and years later finds out that the company is behind him and his family because his daughter seems to have a special "talent": the ability to set things afire with her thoughts.
In spite of my slow rhythm to read it, it is fast paced and easy to understand. The beginning of the story already makes your heart beat faster, but I kinda expected more from the middle of the book until near the end of it. More action, more drama, more emotion, but the story actually gets pretty mild nearby the end. Then, unexpected things happen and it slowly gets back to the fast paced narrative. There are no loose threads in this book, which nice. Characters are pretty acceptable, but nothing that will make you fall in love with them.
A pretty nice book to entertain you for a couple of nights.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charlie's parents underwent an experiment in college that they thought was harmless, and they needed the $200. Now Charlie's father has the ability to control minds, her mother has mild telekinesis, and Charlie, well, she can start fires with her mind. The outfit that gave the experiments is now looking for Charlie and her family. Good book, a little slow. Not my favorite of King's works.

[csweder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The best thing, perhaps, about this book is that it starts with a family who the CIA tested on in the 70s by giving them LSD and other drugs. It gave the parents limited powers, but more importantly, the children of those who had been experimented on, supernatural powers. What I love about that is that the CIA really did run tests on people.

[edward.lorn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can find absolutely nothing bad to say about this book. Firestarter is up there with 'Salem's Lot, The Shining, and It. This one isn't as creep-up-on-you scary as the aforementioned novels, but Firestarter is terrifying. To image a world wherein Charlie McGee exists is a scary thought indeed.

This is one of the few King books that has absolutely zero lulls in the narrative. When the pace does slow, King shows off his superhuman character development skills. He doesn't simply make his character dev engaging, he makes it entertaining as well. You have fun while getting to know these characters, and before you know it, page one turns to page four hundred and you want to start all over again. Books like this are the reason I'm rereading this man's entire catalog.

Notable names:
Patrick Hockstretter (Carrie)
The Shop (Tommyknockers, The Stand, and is mentioned throughout the Dark Tower series)

In summation: In my opinion this is one of King's hidden gems. People don't talk about it as much as they do his more massive novels, but Firestarter is one of his best, and deserves your attention.

[kmoynihan_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was the first King book I ever read, and it is still one of my favorites.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Reason for Reading: I am re/reading King's works in chronological order. This was the next one in line.I came to this book with no great excitement as memory of it was fairly clear. I was 12 or 13 when I read it and don't remember it having any special effect on me, except that I did fairly enjoy it. I have since, of course, seen the movie, and think this drastically affected my re-read. I don't really remember the movie much except for the big fire scenes, the girls hair standing out on end as if charged with electricity and the simple fact that the little girl, Charlie, was 9yo Drew Barrymore. As soon as Charlie is introduced on page one, I had an image of Drew Barrymore in my head that would not let go, and when characters spoke of what a pretty woman Charlie would grow up to be, I immediately thought yes, she has grown up to be a beautiful woman and the current Drew Barrymore's image would enter my head. I couldn't separate the two. This is only from seeing the movie once in my life in 1984, when it originally came out. So this did affect my reading.Also, this book just doesn't live up to what King has written so far up to this point. It certainly wasn't scary or even thrilling. A father and daughter on the run from a government agency "The Shop", for almost half of the book was not exactly exciting. I can't say I took any particular liking to Andy McGee either. His choices didn't seem logical to me. After they are caught, the secret government agency stuff is intriguing but something that has been done a lot by this time (2012) and just didn't have me thrilled. Mildly entertaining, at the most. John Rainbird, is supposed to be an evil terrifying character but I also couldn't get an image of him in my mind. Native actor Tom Jackson kept popping into my mind as an image of the character but he's too nice to play such evil and I couldn't remember who played him in the movie. Now I've just looked it up on imdb and found out that George C. Scott played the Indian! (yikes! no wonder I couldn't get a clear picture!) It took me a week to read this book, and by my reading standards that is incredibly slow. The story is ok, but nothing more. I'd say this is King's first low point in his career after the steady climb of his first five excellent novels (under his own name.)

[usnmm2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think this is one of his best. Sci fi, goverment conspiracy,goverment coverup,goverment secrect experimentation of drugs. Has it all.

[andyray_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How could one not be drawn to the predicament of the little girl?King seems to go hot and cold on his ability to draw characters. In this book, he did an adequate job. Maybe more than adequate, actually.

[stefany_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I read this one the first time in junior high, I distinctly remember not being able to finish it. After re-reading it, I have absolutely no idea why. King has put together a moving, engaging story with characters that you care about and some very well-written antagonists.If you don't know already, the story is basically about a couple who participated in a research project in college where they were injected with drugs that produced some psychic powers, these drugs have had some residual effect on the participants and the couple have some mild psychic powers. These powers are then passed on to their daughter Charlie. The main plot line concerns Charlie and her father trying to escape from the government agents that are trying to capture her in order to study her.The story moves along at a fairly brisk for the first third or so and then does slow down a bit. It's during these slower times though that we get to know the characters and get insides looks at the bad guys as well and see to what lengths they will go to get what they want. There are a couple of moments of tension and excitement in this section, but mostly King is setting things up for the last climactic section of the book.I was very satisfied with the climax and ending of this novel and truly enjoyed the book. It may not be one of King's better works, but it is definitely an enjoyable read.

[chellsway · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story begins as a man and his daughter running from a confidential branch of the government that deals with paranormal activities. With the mother of the child murdered the father is forced to survive with with his daughter and her murderous talent. I admire this book I could not put it down for several days because Mr. King makes you one with the book running aside with the sprinting man stealing with the little girl. Mr. king also has a way of munipulating the mind making you angry or sad when he wants you to be by using words. I have read many of Mr. King's books and enjoyed them all but Firestarter is and will be burned into my mind.

[anniehidalgo · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An oldy but goody. In the Stephen King - evil government experiment wreaks havoc genre that he used to do more of, back in the '70s and '80s. When I think of untoward secret governmental experiments, this book does come to mind. That, and his short story, "The Jaunt" (I think that one's in Skeleton Crew, but it could be in Night Shift). If you like one, you'll like the other. Both highly recommended.

[rebeccaann_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When Andy was in college, he participated in an experiment in which he allowed himself to be place under the influence of a hallucinatory drug: Lot Six. What he wasn't told was those drugs would influence his being on the cellular and chromosomal level, giving him powers. Powers that others want to both use and study. What he also didn't know is that his daughter, Charlie, would also inherit his powers, but in the form of pyrokinesis. Now they're on the run from the Shop, a government organization out to get Charlie and harness her fire starting ability.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.

[barpurple · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of the few early King books I hadn't read. An interesting concept. Strangely enough this one didn't set me on fire. Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun!

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.25 stars7-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 a baby, Andy and Vicky learn that Charlie can start fires with her mind when she's upset. Now, Charlie and Andy are running from the people who originally started all this in motion with the drug tests done on the unsuspecting students in '69.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.