jazhandz 's review for:

Firestarter by Stephen King

3.5

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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

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

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

- 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.