Firestarter

Title: Firestarter
Author: Stephen King
Published: 1980

I feel like I've been reading this book forever. I started it back when I was still living in Roanoke. If you've been keeping up with me that long, that means I started reading Firestarter in April at the latest.

I'm usually a speedier reader than this. And this should be no reflection on Mr. King's writing. This book may not have been as exciting as, say, Carrie or The Shining, but it wasn't boring.

My big excuse? I moved twice over the summer. So the book spent a lot of time in a box. Still, I suppose I could have finished the story in less than a week if I'd really put my mind to it. But I didn't.

The novel follows a young Drew Barrymore and her dad, the jerk from Major League. Just kidding, that's just who played them in the movie. Charlie McGee is a little girl who has an amazing ability. Spoiler alert: she can start fires... wait for it... with her mind.

Her father, Andy, and mother, Vicky, met in college while participating in an experiment involving a drug known as Lot-6. The drug gave them some psychic abilities, which were passed on to Charlie in an extreme fashion. A shady government agency wants to control and study and eliminate the family. After Vicky is murdered, Andy and Charlie take off.

Roughly half the book depicts the McGee's as they hid from the Shop (that shady agency I mentioned). Eventually they're caught, leading to the second half of the book. While in captivity, Charlie is manipulated into showing off her mental flamethrower. When she finds out she was manipulated and betrayed... Well, you know that thing they say about a woman scorned? Imagine that woman is a slightly unstable little girl who may or may not be able to cause a nuclear explosion with a stray thought.

Not my favorite of Stephen King's work, but a decent read nonetheless, despite the length of time it took me to complete it. Much better than the movie, which I actually saw many years ago. Not sure what I'll read next, but I know it'll be on my Kindle. No room for real books anymore.