Carrie
Stephen King
 The book uses false documents to frame the story of one of the worst disasters in American history--the destruction of the town of Chamberlain, Maine by high school student Carietta "Carrie" White. For years, Carrie has been abused at home by her unstable Christian fundamentalist mother, Margaret White. She does not fare much better at Thomas Ewen High School; she has been a social outcast since first grade, and has been the focus of bullying due to her religious beliefs, her outdated clothing and her plain appearance. At the beginning of the novel, Carrie has her first period while showering after gym class. Carrie is terrified, having no concept of menstruation; her mother never spoke to her about it, and she believes that she is bleeding to death. Instead of sympathizing with the frightened Carrie, her classmates throw tampons and sanitary napkins at her. As Carrie is aided by her gym teacher, Rita Desjardin, a light bulb in the shower burns out. The next day, Miss Desjardin viciously berates the girls involved in the shower incident and orders them to serve a week's detention in the gym. One of the girls, Chris Hargensen, refuses to attend and is suspended for three days, and is also banned from Ewen High's prom. Meanwhile, Sue Snell, one of the girls who joined in taunting Carrie, feels remorse for her prior actions and offers to become her friend. Meanwhile, Carrie gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers, trying to keep them under control. With prom fast approaching, Sue sets Carrie up with her handsome boyfriend, Tommy Ross. Carrie's mother tries to force her not to go, but Carrie uses her powers to help stand up for herself. Chris and her boyfriend, Billy Nolan, hatch a plan to humiliate Carrie in front of the entire school. Chris has Billy fill two buckets with pig blood, and rigs them over the stage on a rafter hidden out of sight. On prom night, Carrie is tormented by her mother begging for her not to leave the house. Carrie leaves anyway and arrives with Tommy. Carrie is nervous at first, but everyone begins treating her equally. Soon Carrie begins enjoying herself and Tommy begins to become attracted to her. Meanwhile, Sue continually worries about what's happening at the prom—and at the same time worries if she's pregnant. Carrie and Tommy are elected prom king and queen after Chris's henchwoman, Tina Blake, exchanges fake ballots for the real ones. Once on stage, Chris drenches Carrie and Tommy with the pig blood. Everyone begins pointing and laughing. One of the buckets falls on Tommy's head, mortally wounding him. Carrie runs off the stage. She is tripped, gets back up, and rushes outside. Contemplating her life in solitary confinement, she remembers her power and goes back to exact revenge on everyone who tormented her. She locks the doors and turns on the sprinkler system. But after viewing two kids die of electrocution, her mind finally snaps; she decides to set fire to the gym. She leaves the prom-goers and chaperones to die in the fire, including Tommy. Miss Desjardin and a few other students manage to survive the destruction by fleeing through the fire escape. Carrie decides to take out her pent-up anger on Chamberlain. She blows up a gas station and sets her entire neighborhood on fire. She also destroys the town's fire hydrants, preventing any attempt at putting out the fires. Notably, Carrie goes to a church and prays, all the while manipulating a series of power lines outside, killing several civilians surveying the event. Sue rushes to the school and watches it explode, which destroys a portion of the town. Carrie makes her way home and confronts her mother, who has now gone completely mad, and tells Carrie of the night she was raped and conceived Carrie. Carrie's mother then stabs her in the shoulder with a carving knife. In retaliation, Carrie kills her mother by stopping her heart. Mortally wounded, Carrie then makes her way to the local roadhouse where her father got drunk and raped her mother the night she was conceived. Chris and Billy, who happened to be making love inside, receive word from Billy's friend of what has happened to Chamberlain, and Billy plans on leaving town with Chris. They exit the roadhouse just as Carrie arrives, and attempt to run her down with Billy's car, but Carrie telekinetically sends the car crashing into the roadhouse, killing Chris and Billy. Carrie then collapses in the parking lot from blood loss. Sue then goes to the roadhouse where she finds Carrie in the parking lot. Carrie talks telepathically with Sue and blames her for the prank, but after scanning Sue's brain, she finds out that Sue had no idea of the prank and that she had set her up with Tommy to apologize for the gym shower incident. Carrie does not forgive Sue, but believes her and then cries out for her mother before dying from the stab wound in her shoulder. Terror-stricken, Sue runs away from the roadhouse and after distancing herself from it, she collapses and has her period, meaning that she miscarried if pregnant. Four months later, Chamberlain has become a ghost town. By then, 440 people have been confirmed dead--including more than half of Ewen High's senior class--and 18 are still missing. The 'Black Prom' incident hits the nation harder than the assassination of John F. Kennedy. After interviewing the survivors of the prom, science begins to take telekinesis seriously plus many schools across the country start to crack down more on bullying. Miss Desjardin and school principal Henry Grayle both resign, consumed with guilt over not reaching out to Carrie sooner. In 1986, Sue writes a memoir of her experience entitled My Name is Susan Snell, which warns the reader not to forget about the events that took place in Chamberlain, otherwise something like it may happen again. The book closes with a letter written by a woman in Tennessee whose niece is developing telekinetic powers.