Firestarter is the ninth book published by Stephen King; it is his eighth novel, and the sixth under his own name. The book was released by Viking in 29 September 1980.

PlotEdit

In 1969, a secret government agency called The Shop, made experiments with a chemical drug called Lot Six. Lot Six altered the chromosomes on the test subjects, to experiment with psychokinetic powers, such as telekenesis. Two of the test subjects, Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson fell in love, and later married. They had a child, who they named Charlie, who was born with Pyrokenesis, the ability to start fires with her mind. Eight years later, Andy, Vicky, and Charlie flee across America, constantly looking for sanctuary from a group of government agents from The Shop, who are trying to find them, capture them, and harness their powers for the military. John Rainbird, the leader of The Shop, kills Vicky, leaving Andy and Charlie alone. Eventually, Rainbird is able to track them down at a government facility, killing Andy in the process. Grief turns to fury as Charlie uses her now perfected pyrokenesis to light people on fire, blow up escape cars, and literally fight her way out of the building. Charlie leaves the building with nearly all of the agents dead, and goes to the Rolling Stone magazine to give an interview telling her story, because she sees it as an "unbiased source with no ties to the government".

AdaptationsEdit

The story was adapted into a film in 1984, with a made-for-television sequel following in 2002.