Stephen King's penchant for paranormal and mental abilities is widely known. Here we offer you a small selection of his books on this topic.
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There have long been stories in which the development of superpowers is accompanied by the onset of adolescence. During puberty, supernatural talents suddenly emerge that prove to be a reaction to oppression and abuse, cause identity crises or even lead the young protagonists to the threshold of loss of control. This narrative pattern is currently particularly common again and is gaining popularity. We have known Stephen King's penchant for the supernatural and mental abilities since the eighties.
King's first work: "Carrie"
Stephen King has a soft spot for children with superpowers. Four books that confirm this assumption. © stock&people/Imago
Carrie experiences the feeling of feeling like all the other girls only once - when she receives an invitation to the school prom. But the evening takes a terrible turn when a cruel prank leads to disaster. Because Carrie is gifted with an uncanny gift. Now she is seeking revenge.
Carrie has always been different. Because of her awkward nature, she is an outsider at school and is teased mercilessly. At home, she suffers from her mother's religious fanaticism.
Blurb/Lübbe
Stephen King "Carrie"
2020, Bastei Lübbe, ISBN 13-978-3-404-18006-6
Price: paperback €12, e-book €7.99, number of pages: 304 (different from format)
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Stephen King "Fire Child"
With "Feuerkind" he published a grandiose story, which was also made into a film. A reboot of the film at that time was shown again in cinemas. (Firestarter 2022)
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The girl Charlie can start conflagrations with her thoughts alone. Her parents demand that she never use this power. But does this also apply when one's own life, the life of one's family, is threatened?
Blurb/Heyne
Stephen King "Fire Child"
2007, Heyne, ISBN 13-978-3-453-43273-4
Price: paperback €9.99, e-book €9.99, number of pages: 560 (different from format)
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Stephen King "The Institute"
The institute in Maine houses other children who have similar paranormal abilities to Luke: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris and ten-year-old Avery. They are all located in the front building of the institute. Luke learns that before them, other children have already been brought into the "rear triangle" after a series of tests and never returned. With each passing day that Luke's new friends are moved out of the front building, his desperation and desire to escape for help grows. No one has ever escaped from the strictly shielded institute.
A detailed review of the novel can be found here.
In a quiet suburb of Minneapolis, shady intruders silently murder Luke Ellis' parents and put the stunned twelve-year-old in a black SUV. The whole operation takes less than two minutes. Luke wakes up far away in the institute, in a room that looks like his, except that it has no windows.
Blurb/Heyne
Stephen King "The Institute"
2020, Heyne, ISBN 13-978-3-453-44106-4
Price: paperback €12.99, e-book €9.99, number of pages: 768 (different from format)
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Other novels with children who have special abilities
"Doctor Sleep" (promotional link) is also a novel that deals with the topic of the "supernatural". Grown-up Danny, who suffered as a young boy at the hands of his ghost-possessed father at the Hotel Overlook and was riding his tricycle, once again struggles with the shadows of the past. But this time he is drawn into a conflict between good and evil. Twelve-year-old Abra also owns the Shining. Like its famous predecessor "The Shining", children have the extraordinary gift of being able to anticipate thoughts and predict future events.
There is also a child with special abilities in King's short story "Children of Wrath" (promotional link). Young couple Burt and Vicky are on a car ride through the vastness of Nebraska when they suddenly run over a boy. To their horror, they discover that the boy was already dead and was deliberately thrown into the street. Determined to report the incident to the authorities, they pack the lifeless body into the trunk of their car and make their way to the nearest town. You'll arrive at Gatlin, an abandoned town where no one seems to live anymore. But soon they have to realize that all the adult inhabitants have been brutally murdered by the children, who follow a bloody cult. Among the few children who have not yet succumbed to mass delusion are the siblings Job and Sarah. Sarah has "the second face" and is able to see the future and depict it in pictures.
