Bakers Dozen 2013: 8

Fire-Starter by Stephen King

So many of you know this famous book by Stephen King which was made into a movie starting a very young Drew Barrymore.  Now I haven't read a huge array of Stephen King novels, but this was the first one that I had ever read by him and I think this book was pivotal in getting my start reading books other than V.C. Andrews.

Now I shouldn't really have to talk about the plot because everyone should have at least some idea of what this book is about but if not I'll briefly explain it.  The novel starts off with Andy meeting his wife Vicky for the first time during a government experiment for extra cash.  The fall in love and get married and give birth to a little girl, Charlie.  Now one of the side effects of this experiment is that Andy and Vicky end up with some special abilities, but because they aren't natural they are very painful to do.  But Charlie's abilities come natural to her.  She has the ability to start fires with her mind.  Vicky ends up getting murdered and Charlie and Andy are on the run from the government, whom want to see the full extent of Charlie's powers.

So this book kind of touches on a lot of different themes.  One is of course government abuse of power.  Which is kind of scary to think about.  I mean you just trying to figure out a way to make a few bucks and you take this crazy drug that has a LSD effect and give you powers and now the government wants to kill you in order to protect their ass.  Yeah kind of scary.  Another is of course to thought of people with special powers or mutants.  Which can also be another terrifying thought that there are people out there that have the power to cause harm without moving a finger.   So I think of the reasons I put Fire-Starter on my list was because this helped me to start reading different authors.  There are a few parts of the book that I can recall off the top of my head so this book definitely left a lasting impression on me.