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Firestarter (Signet) | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Signet
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  145 reviews
Sales Rank: 88989
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0451167805
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780451167804
ASIN: 0451167805
Publication Date: August 1, 1981
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Product Description
Innocence and beauty ignite with evil and terror as a young girl exhibits signs of a wild and horrifying force.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 140 more reviews...
 Another Great Story August 19, 2008
Good Stuff- Not as long or complicated as many of Steven King's books- but a very good story that features the classic character development that makes King's works so enjoyable.
Absolutely Amazing--though a bit structurally unbalanced July 1, 2008
What can I say about Stephen King? That he is the most amazing writer I've read since Mark Twain? Or that he creates characters and dialog that are so true-to-life and inventive? That his prose soars like a Gulfstream? Yes, these and a lot more.
I've read King as a teenager, and now in my 30s, I decided to read some of the earlier novels I've bypassed before. Firestarter is the first of these novels, and when I read it, I nearly cried at some of the scenes. I just couldn't believe how well-written they were. Case in point: when the dad and the girl goes to the farmer's house, and the dad's trying to convince the farmer what his girl could do, and when the bad guys show up. That one brilliant scene--the dialog, the realistic action, etc.--encapsulates everything that is brilliant about Stephen King. John Grisham can't write such a scene. Neither can Michael Crichton or Dennis Lehane or, God help us, James Patterson.
The story itself, though, suffers a lot in comparison to King's preternatural writing talent. The government is experimenting on college students (yeah, right!) to give them extrasensory powers, and two people have a kid, and that kid can throw fireballs. Haha. Of course, the easiest thing the parents could've done is to alert the papers from the get-go, but noooo, they had to wait--well, the dad does anyway because the wife gets offed before the novel even begins--until it was too late. So logically, Firestarter, like all of King's novels, are on very shaky ground. And structurally, King can shrink it a bit--esp. the overly long denouement. So a point off.
But it doesn't matter. You don't read Stephen King for tight structure and high concept--that would be Dan Brown and Ira Levin--but for his prose, dialog, and character development, which are, again, amazing. You read Stephen King for the interaction between the dad and his little girl, and smile and curse the brillaint villain John Rainbird, the modern-day Injun Joe.
So read this book, and witness truly one of the great talents in the English language.
 Hot enough for you? November 27, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Firestarter begins with a man and his young daughter on the run from relentless pursuers. We soon learn that Andy McGee and his daughter Charlene, "Charlie," have mental powers that a government agency known as The Shop wants to study. Andy has the ability to "push" others and dominate their minds but can only use it periodically. Charlie has various abilities but the most powerful is to generate intense heat with her mind, heat intense enough to set virtually anything on fire. The Shop agents consistently show themselves to be as reprehensible as they are persistent and have already killed Charlie's mother.
Stephen King often creates interesting characters and Firestarter is no exception. Charlie is quite a remarkable little girl and I liked her quite a bit by the end of the story. Her part is small in the beginning but she starts coming into her own about half way through and just gets better and better from there. Andy is a genuinely good guy, he obviously loves Charlie and desperately wants to protect her. As his history is revealed, it also becomes obvious that he has consistently used his powers to the benefit of others, while most of us would probably be very tempted to use them more selfishly. The villains are no less interesting, and John Rainbird is especially chilling. I don't want to give away any major plot developments but the relationship between he and Charlie is riveting.
Firestarter is a pleasure to read. At just over 400 pages, it's taut and the story moves along at a good pace. It's almost impossible not to root for Charlie and Andy even as it gets harder and harder to see how they can end up with a happy ending. I found it more and more of a page-turner as the story progressed. As with most of King's early work, Firestarter takes a simple, but strong, idea and spins it into a great novel. I recommend it to anyone looking for a suspenseful story with good characters, whether they are established Stephen King fans or first time readers.
undoubtedly one of King's best. October 9, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think the reason king is so great is because he can create great emotions from his "constant readers". sometimes you really get to hate the bad guys in the book. I mean really HATE. this book is one of 'em. sometimes while reading this book you might just want to stand up and yell at the fictional villans, "Just LEAVE THEM ALONE, bastard!" like that. also, it's got a great deal of suspense. one of the most suspensive king books, actually. and it's really heartbreaking to see what andy(the main character) would do to save his daughter. what EFFORT he would give. this is one of the three king books that I almost cried while reading. last of all, it's short. no unnecessary sentences.
I really envied the protagonist while reading this book, not because of the situation he's in(hell, no:NOBODY'd like that)but because of his fantastic abilities. even if you're not a king fan, you should give this a try. it's worth it. trust me.
Another of the Iconic Early Books that Made King's Career August 6, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
In the growing pantheon of brilliant King novels transmogrified into inferior movies, FIRESTARTER holds an important place (sorry, Drew Barrymore, but you didn't light my fire until years and years later). In this book, it's easy to define why: King writes in-depth characterizations that never come across in the boiled-down, straight to the plot adaptations.
FIRESTARTER is, first and foremost, a relationship story between little, helpless (?) Charlie and her father. Both have extra-sensory powers--thanks to the US government--both are on the run--from the US government--and they have only each other. It's a story of desperation (not to be confused with the latter King book actually called "Desperation"). As these two characters lean on each other against an overwhelming, almost Koontz-like collective villain, the reader cares about what happens. In the movie, we're just waiting for Drew Barrymore to blow up the grownups.
(This review has been posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire book "Teeth: A Horror Fantasy.")
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