Christine (novel)

Christine

The first edition cover.
Author	Stephen King
Cover artist	Craig DeCamps
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Horror
Publisher	Viking
Publication date	April 29, 1983
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	526
ISBN

Christine is a horror novel written by Stephen King, published in 1983. It tells the story of a vintage automobile apparently possessed by supernatural forces. A film adaptation, directed by John Carpenter, was released in the same year; this adaptation starred Keith Gordon, , Alexandra Paul and Harry Dean Stanton. In April 2013, PS Publishing released Christine in a limited 30th Anniversary Edition.

While riding home from work with his friend, Dennis Guilder, nerdy teen Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham spots a dilapidated red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury parked in front of a house. Arnie makes Dennis stop so he can examine the car, despite Dennis's attempts to talk Arnie out of it. The car's owner, Roland D. LeBay, an elderly man wearing a back brace, sells the car—which he had named "Christine"—to Arnie for $250. While waiting for Arnie to finish the paperwork, Dennis sits inside Christine. He has a vision of the car and the surroundings as they were 20 years ago, when the car was new. Frightened, Dennis gets out of Christine, deciding he dislikes Arnie's new car.

Arnie brings Christine to a do-it-yourself auto-repair facility run by Will Darnell, who is suspected of using the garage as a front for illicit operations. As Arnie restores the automobile he becomes withdrawn, humorless and cynical, yet more confident and self-assured. Dennis is puzzled by the changes in both his friend and Christine; the repair work proceeds haphazardly and the more extensive repairs do not appear to be done by Arnie himself. Arnie's appearance improves in tandem with Christine's.

When LeBay dies, Dennis meets his younger brother, George, who reveals Roland's history of violent behavior, saying that he was always angry and blamed "the shitters" for everything bad that ever happened to him. George also reveals that LeBay's small daughter choked to death on a hamburger in the back seat of the car; and that LeBay's wife, depressed by the loss of her child, apparently committed suicide in its front seat by carbon monoxide poisoning.

As time passes, Dennis observes that Arnie is taking on many of LeBay's personality traits. He also begins dressing like a 1950s greaser and wearing his hair in a 1950s "duck's ass" style. Dennis also sees that Arnie has become close to Darnell since going to work for him, even acting as a courier in Darnell's interstate smuggling operations.