Firestarter by Stephen King (1980) is a novel of science fiction and suspense. Upon publication, the book became a bestseller and was nominated for several awards. The story concerns the pursuit and capture of a father and daughter with telekinetic and pyrokinetic abilities, which they gained during a botched experiment by a secretive government organization. Its themes of Government Overreach and the Failure of Authority, The Impact of Psychological Manipulation, and The Ethics of Scientific Experimentation on Living Subjects resonated though popular culture at the time and continue to remain relevant to contemporary readers. The novel has been adapted into film twice, in 1984 and 2022, and into a television miniseries in 2002.

Today, King is widely recognized as a pioneer of contemporary American horror. He has published 65 novels and over 200 short stories and has won several awards for horror and fantasy, as well as a National Medal of the Arts from the US National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to literature. Firestarter was King’s eighth published novel, the sixth under his name.

Other works by this author include The Shining, Misery, The Outsider, and The Green Mile.

This study guide refers to the 1980 Signet edition.

Content Warning: The novel displays severe fatphobia. The guide quotes an anti-gay slur and discusses the book’s racist portrayal of Indigenous people. It also discusses the grooming and sexualization of a child in the novel. Additionally, the portrayal of some characters relies on harmful stereotypes about disability and disfigurement.

Plot Summary

The narrative begins in New York, with Andy and Charlie McGee fleeing agents from the Shop, an enigmatic government agency. The Shop wants to kidnap Charlie to study her burgeoning pyrokinetic abilities. They also want to suppress knowledge of her and Andy’s telekinetic abilities, which are a direct result of a secretive pharmacological experiment. Andy, aware of the Shop’s malicious intent, uses his psychic ability—which he calls a “push”—to convince a cab driver to take him and Charlie to a rural motel, finally evading pursuit.

In Virginia, at the Shop headquarters, Captain “Cap” Hollister decides that Andy will have to be killed to take Charlie into possession. The leading expert on the case warns him that if Charlie’s pyrokinesis grows unchecked it could cause damage on the scale of a nuclear weapon. Wary of Charlie’s power, he brings in an enigmatic Shop assassin, John Rainbird.

Andy and Charlie narrowly escape the motel before agents from the Shop arrive, having tracked down the cab driver Andy pushed in New York. A farmer named Irv Manders picks up the hitchhiking father and daughter, and, taking a liking to Charlie, brings them to his farm. The Shop agents are not far behind. Shortly after Andy reveals Charlie’s pyrokinetic ability to Irv, the Shop agents arrive at the farmstead and surround the house. In a frantic rush, Irv is shot and Andy fired upon. In a panic, Charlie unleashes her ability, killing several agents and setting the farmhouse ablaze.

In another part of the country, Rainbird prepares to assassinate the man in charge of the trials that gave Charlie her abilities. Rainbird has ulterior motives, and forces the doctor to reveal all of the information he has about Charlie before Rainbird kills him. Upon learning of Charlie, Rainbird imagines she has significance to his existential angst and plots to kill her, but only after growing close enough to encourage her intimacy.

Charlie and Andy flee to Andy’s grandfather’s abandoned cabin and are able to stay there undetected for several months. The Shop discovers them, however, and Rainbird plays a primary role in bringing them both to the Shop.

After several months of captivity, Andy has become addicted to the drugs he is continually fed, while Charlie refuses to comply with the Shop’s demand to display her ability. Rainbird, under the cover of being a custodian, cultivates Charlie’s trust. He becomes a father figure in lieu of Andy, who has been prevented from seeing Charlie. Rainbird encourages Charlie to display her powers, but only under the condition that she be allowed to see her father.

Andy, using his psychic abilities, weans himself off of his drug addiction and begins plotting his escape. He eventually pushes Cap, forcing the release of he and Charlie. However, Rainbird becomes aware of the plan. In a climactic confrontation at the Shop headquarters, Rainbird kills Andy in front of Charlie. Charlie, incensed at her father‘s death and Rainbird’s betrayal, finally unleashes her pyrokinesis to its fullest extent, destroying the Shop facility and killing many people. When she’s able to calm herself, Charlie once again escapes.

After a period of convalescence at Irv’s farm, Charlie realizes she must reveal the insidious nature of the Shop. She makes her way to New York City, to the offices of Rolling Stone, to finally reveal the truth of what happened to her and her father.