A review by jazhandz
Firestarter by Stephen King

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This book essentially has four types of scenes: action, good guys, bad guys, and weird interactions between the good and bad guys. I happen to like these four scenes and think this was done decently well, although the first half was stronger and I would happily chop 70-odd pages out of the middle. It’s fine! Perfectly serviceable King book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Kidnapping, Violence, Death, Gun violence, and Addiction

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Police brutality, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Rape

- adult/minor relationship insofar as Stephen King-typical adult men having feelings for little girls - eye horror and gore - medical experimentation - police brutality insofar as a government agency threatening civilians; it’s not the actual police but it checks a similar box imo - if you are afraid of snakes think twice about this one - King-typical racism ableism sexism etc throughout. the transphobia is only tagged bc it is, somehow, plot relevant.