Rating: 
Summary: Go King, go!
Review: Eight-year-old Charlie McGee was born with the most destructive power a human being has ever commanded and now the government wants her for its own insane reasons. The premise is scary, the plot is as gripping as any other King novel, and the action is fast and furious as Charlie (a young girl) and her father are on the run from a government agency that has discovered their supernatural powers. But the very fact that they attack her makes Charlie so angry that she uses her power to destroy the manipulators. This is another King masterpiece, only this time the book is action-driven as opposed to suspense driven (though the suspense is always there), and the author superbly captures the essence of a eight year old's torn loyalties between not wanting to hurt anybody yet not wanting her or her father to get hurt either. For value for money, King outstrips all other commercial writers. With 'Firestarter' you'll get 101 cents to the dollar - that's a guarantee.
Rating:
Summary: Fast paced thriller
Review: Firestarter was one of my favorite King books. Unlike many of his novels, you don't have to wade through 200 pages of background information in this one before things get started. This book is fast paced and full of adventure. A young girl and her father are on the run from a government agency that has discovered the two have certain supernatural powers. The chase consumes the entire novel and climaxes in a satisfying ending.Many times, King either starts off fast and peters out at the end or drags his feet 500 pages to an exciting ending. This story sets a good pace and continues it all the way to the end. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: One of King's better efforts
Review: I enjoyed this story about an extraordinary young girl born of parents with odd telekenetic powers. King's style is in good form here and the trademark elements of his writing are evident: the compelling, deep characterization and the way he can inspire a sense of horror without having to write endless pages of gore.
Rating:
Summary: Never play with fire
Review: Once gain, the book is a lot better than the film. The film has the general line of action, has the main knots of the plot, but the book gets into the deeper minds of the father and the daughter and it gives the story a lot more credibility. The general line is once again the evil experimentation by the army or some secret services of some drug devised by some crazy doctor. The results are a strange power for the father who was submitted to the expriment, and an even greater power for the daughter who was born from the union of the couple who both were submitted to the drug. The secret services want to study this power in order to produce some news soldiers who would fight without weapons but with their minds. But the very fact that they attack her father makes her so crazy that she uses her power to its full might and destroy this world of manipulation of human beings. But it goes one step farther. The girl is finally safe when she goes to the Rolling Stone magazine and reveals the whole story. The press is all powerful, when they want to be, to stop such scandals and gross over-use of power. This magazine is a far better choice than the one in the film, because it shows that what we could call the pop margin of society is the real protection the whole society has against the abuse of political or military or occult power. The film is also a lot deeper as for the mother and the indian agent. Once again, read the book first and foremost. It is great. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
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Summary: A story burned into my Mind
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: this has to be one of the better books by stephen king that i have read(i've only read a few) the story was incredible as well as deep. You have Charlie an 8-yr. old with a great power and here father on the run from a covert government agency who want to harness heerr power for it out means. Then her father who would risk his on life to help her escaped the people who are in charge.this is on of the best book i've read this year. i would recommend this to anyone regardless of if they are a horror fan or not. The book grab my attention from the get-go and i have enjoy it since.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Thrilling and Suspensful Novel
Review: Charlie McGee appears to be like every other child her age. She attends school in the small town where her father is a professor and her mother is a homemaker. She plays with dolls and Barbies just like all other five year old girls. The only thing that sets her apart from the others is that she has a large power inside her. This power, aside from being very strange and unknown, can also be deadly to Charlie and to the people around her. Charlie's parents Vicki and Andy McGee were involved in a drug test ten years ago, not seeing any real side effects immediately. They had small powers to "push" people into doing things, and some others, but they did not realize the extent of their powers until they had their daughter. Soon afterwards, strange things began to happen. Things would mysteriously catch on fire around the house, things well out of the way of matches. To their astonishment, their beautiful daughter had the power to light fires on command. Soon, the government began to put two and two together, realizing that this could be very dangerous, and at the same time very useful to them. After killing Vicki, Charlie and Andy are on the run, trying to save themselves from the "Shop", themselves, and the strange power lurking inside of Charlie. This book kept me on the edge of my seat, and I could barely put it down. I can honestly say that it is the best Steven King novel that I have ever read. I highly recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best, by a long shot
Review: Cujo, if I remember correctly, was written in a drug induced haze. This book, however, is the one which reads more like that. It's not that this is a bad piece of literature--it's a fairly well crafted premise by any standard. It just doesn't have the "pop" that some of King's other work possesses. Where his best work either recreates the universe in the image he desires (The Stand, the Dark Tower series) or fits seamlessly into the world we know (The Dead Zone). This book is outlandish and unbelievable by any stretch. That doesn't make it bad, but it does deprive it of a lot of the impact that some of King's other work holds. Overall, all the elements that you'd expect to find in a Stephen King book are here. The characters are, for the most part, fairly deep, and he spins the story with his usual talent and flow. While the existence of The Shop and the nature of Charlie's talent may be a little tough to swallow, he pulls them off fairly believably. If you're looking for a novel about psychic ability (of which I consider this one of the best, even to the point that I'm thinking about using some of his ideas to alter the game rules of some role-playing systems) than you need look no further. If you're looking for a deeper meaning, however, or a classic, you need to try some of his better work. Just as a side note, I do find it amazingly difficult to believe that nobody noticed this little girl after the final resolution at the end of this book, if we're to believe the Tommyknockers. I think King may have some explaining to do on that point.
Rating:
Summary: Classic King
Review: Anti-Hawks pro-Doves paranoia plotline about a covert military organization training up chemically-created psychics/ telekinetics, etc. for war. The Vietnam War generation expressed a loathing for most everything military and King is a voice of that culture, so dominant today. But to expect anything else from King is futile and it would be equally silly to criticize King on that basis. Within this framework, King has crafted a tight and energetic read. The protagonists start out on the run and, from there, the story rarely slows. The action is not constant but certainly never far away. The main antagonist is a Native American and I doubt that, if King had written the story today, he would have been as politically incorrect. Most modern authors balance out one or two bad minorities with that many or more good ones, but King's Native American is the only member of the "oppressed classes" in the book (at least of major characters). Of course the antagonist also claims to be a victim, but his protestations do little to exculpate him in the reader's eyes. I've been reading King for the last 18 years (since I was 13) and this is easily one of his better works.
Rating:
Summary: poignant story
Review: this is very thin by king's standards for a book. however, in the short timespan it manages to convey the story magnificently. there are a certain feeling of paranoia in the way this is written and i think it struck a chord in many of us who are wary of the government's "big plans". you feel pity to charlie who are hunted like so much of rabbit that it made her wise beynd her years. i admire her father, who to me really portrays the most perfect father ever lived. he was willing to go trough all hell just to keep his daughter free. there are moments of sadness and bleakness scattered amply through out the book and i can't forget the marvellous finale. i salute king for managing to write this extremely wonderful story of love and freedom.
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