Stephen King Book #9: Firestarter. 4/5

Book #9. Firestarter.
First published September 29, 1980.

For whatever reason, Firestarter is one of the Stephen King books that slipped past me over the decades, and I had never read it until I finished it this afternoon. Part of the reason for this journey is so that I can fill in all of those gaps and read those things that I have not read before.

And so I went into this with eyes open, not knowing a single thing about it. The obvious thoughts I had initially is that that is was a re-imagining of Carrie. While this is slightly correct, it is a whole lot more than that, and on a much wider scale. From the introduction of Andy McGee and his daughter Charlie in the opening pages, with the two obviously on the run from people working for some shadowy organisation, Firestarter immediately drags you in, and opens up questions that you must know the answer to. And the only way to do that is to delve further on into the story. And you are hooked.

One thing that kept me moving for quite some time as I wondered just how this was going to pan out was the HOW of Andy and Vicki’s relationship, because it isn’t revealed immediately about how they got together, or how Charlie came to be, or how they eventually came to be on the run. King holds that information back until you are a good third of the way in, and mentally I was constantly asking myself these questions, even as the action with Andy and Charlie was beginning to build to its first cataclysm. And fair enough too, because I guess there was a period that if I hadn’t put myself on this challenge, I could have put this down and moved on to another book. But by the time the death of Vicki and the kidnapping and eventual retrieval of Charlie from The Shop is explained in full, I was fully invested into the book, and needed to know how it was all going to go down.

What I like about the first half of the story is that The Shop is not treated by King like governmental departments can be in fictional films and such, as bumbling Clouseau’s. For the entire chase of the first half of the book, they are aware of where their quarry is, which is a much more realistic scenario than is portrayed in other media at time. Even in the confrontation at the farm, the agents work as you would expect, disbelieving of that which they don’t understand until it is too late. I like that realism that isn’t always apparent with other writers. Given the unrealistic situations he writes about of course.
The second half of the story leads to fire and destruction, with Charlie being drawn into showing off her abilities somewhat against her will, while Andy at first believes his abilities have evaporated, only to find that when he finds he needs it, they are still there for him to draw on. The level of Rainbird's obsession with Charlie, and his hopes with her once The Shop has finished learning everything they want from her, increases as well.
While the ending is not a complete surprise, I'm not sure it is as satisfying as the chase leading up to it. By the time Andy and Charlie were captured, I was in a verily hurry to get to the conclusion to find out what happens, and while I didn’t skip pages nor take a peek at the last couple of pages, I read in a speed-reading fashion that gave me most of what I needed to know, but may not have gleaned everything that happened subconsciously. I don’t think there is any doubt that I will get more from this book when I read it again down the track sometime. But the anticipation I felt getting to the barn and the final confrontation was probably not fully sated by the events that occurred. Perhaps that was a given, and as I said once it had been read it appeared an obvious one.

I enjoyed the journey. The chase for the first half which also set up the back story, and the battle and pulling of wills in the second half leading to its conclusion. While it may not have been perfect, King's writing and characterisation never fails to inspire. And when this is all over, I look forward to reading it again and see what I missed this time.

Rating: The fire storm is coming.  4/5