Tag: Corruption

Stephen King – Firestarter | Review

Title: Firestarter

Author: Stephen King

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 512

Rating: 4*/5

 

Stephen King - Firestarter

Stephen King – Firestarter

 

This is one of Stephen King’s earlier books, and it’s one of those that I’ve put off for a while purely because there are so many other well-known Stephen King books on the market, but I feel like the basic idea of this book had still made its way into my consciousness. I’ll try to cover that without revealing too many spoilers.

Before the main story starts, when Andy McGee was a college student, he volunteered for a medical trial in exchange for $200. Only something went wrong, and many of the volunteers died. Others survived but were forever changed, often by inheriting strange powers. McGee himself earns the ability to ‘pushpeople, which is a little bit like using a Jedi mind trick to convince them of something. He also earns himself a girlfriend – and later a wife – by befriending a fellow test subject.

And then they have a child, and it’s this child that’s at the centre of much of the action. Charlie McGee is a little pig-tailed girl with a hell of a lot of power – if some of the characters are to be believed, she might even grow up to have the potential to split the earth in two. The book starts with Charlie and Andy on the run from some mysterious government entity, and the plot basically barrels its way along from there.

 

Stephen King

Stephen King

 

That’s all I’m going to tell you about the plot itself, but what I will say is that King does a great job of creating a sense of a constant threat from the government. It was so successful that the only thing I can think of that comes close to it is the threat and the conspiracy in Prison Break. It’s difficult to communicate just how real and how visceral the threat felt, but it was always there.

The characterisation was great here too, whether we’re talking about Charlie and her family or whether we’re talking about the bad guys that are trying to hunt them down. I particularly liked John Rainbird, an American Indian with a heavily scarred face from the Vietnam War, and I liked King’s revelation of how it actually came about and how that clashes with what the government would have you believe was actually happening in Vietnam. It also kind of reflects the corruption that’s shown by The Shop and its attitude towards the victims of the medical trial.

Overall then, I’d definitely recommend this, and while it might not be the best book to pick up if you’re new to Stephen King, that’s only because he has so many great books on the market. It’s a better option when you’ve read three or four of his books and you’re ready to dig a little deeper, but it’s up there in his top 10-20%. I really enjoyed it, and I think you will too – after all, it’s kind of hard not to. It’s just a gripping conspiracy thriller but with a lot of fire.

 

Stephen King Quote

Stephen King Quote

 

Click here to buy Firestarter.


Hunter S. Thompson – The Rum Diary | Review

Title: The Rum Diary

Author: Hunter S. Thompson

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 214

Rating: 8/10

 

Hunter S. Thompson - The Rum Diaries

Hunter S. Thompson – The Rum Diary

 

The Rum Diary tells the heartwarming and tragic tale of the adventures of journalist Paul Kemp in Puerto Rico, where he works at the Daily News by day and drinks rum at Al’s by night. Of course, there’s a woman involved, and the novel is also home to its fair share of institutionalised corruption – a very Thompson topic.

The author is better known as the writer of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and while his style is similar here in some ways, it’s also a little different – little touches, and the idiosyncrasies of some of the characters, make this a much more traditional novel, even though it’s still far from it.

It’s a strong recommendation from me, particularly if you’ve already read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and if you’re a fan of Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway and other writers of that era – Thompson’s style here reminds me a little of that, and it’s interesting to note that even though he sounds wiser here, it was written before Fear and Loathing, although it wasn’t actually released until 1998. I like a book with a story behind it, and you should too.

 

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson

 

Click here to buy The Rum Diary.