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\"First published in 1981 by the Viking Press\" on CP. First Edition First Printing Hardcover of Cujo By Stephen King. Book is in good condition with some age coloring at top and bottom. Dust Jacket is clipped with a crease on front flap and chipping at top and bottom of spine. Covered with Brodart protective cover.
In the summer of 1980, the middle-class Trentons have recently moved to the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine from New York City with their four-year-old son, Tad. Donna has recently had an affair with a local man named Steve Kemp. After she ends the relationship, Steve spitefully reveals the affair to her husband, Vic. In the midst of this household tension, Vic\'s advertising agency is failing due to a scandal over a cereal. Vic is forced to travel out of town, leaving Tad and Donna at home alone.
Blue-collar Joe Camber is a mechanic who abuses his wife, Charity, and their ten-year-old son, Brett. Charity wins a $5,000 lottery prize, and uses the proceeds to bargain with Joe to allow her to take Brett on a trip to visit Charity\'s sister in Connecticut and show him the possibility of a better life. Joe acquiesces and secretly plans to take a pleasure trip to Boston with his friend, alcoholic Gary.
The Cambers\' dog Cujo, a large, good-natured Saint Bernard, chases a rabbit in the nearby fields and inserts his head in a small cave. A bat bites him on the nose and infects him with rabies, against which Cujo is not vaccinated. Cujo enters the prodromal phase, becoming lethargic and irritable. After Charity and Brett leave town, Cujo kills Gary and Joe.
Donna, with Tad, takes their failing Ford Pinto to Joe for repairs. The car breaks down in the Cambers\' dooryard, and as Donna attempts to find Joe, Cujo attacks her. She gets back into the car but becomes trapped when Cujo continues to attack them. The interior of the car becomes increasingly hot in the summer sun. During one escape attempt, Donna is bitten in the stomach and leg, but manages to escape back into the car. Tad becomes catatonic with fear and begins to have seizures.
Steve Kemp goes to the Trenton home to attack Donna, then ransacks it when he finds it empty. Vic returns to Castle Rock after failed attempts to contact Donna. The police suspect Steve of kidnapping Donna and Tad and also send Sheriff George Bannerman out to the Cambers\' house, but Cujo kills him. Donna, after witnessing the attack and realizing Tad is in danger of dying of dehydration, battles the weakened Cujo and kills him with a baseball bat. Vic arrives as the fight ends but Tad has already died from dehydration and heatstroke. A veterinarian removes Cujo\'s head for a biopsy to check for rabies prior to the cremation of his remains. Charity receives a phone call and learns of Cujo\'s rampage and her husband\'s death.
Several months later, the Trenton and Camber families are trying to move on. Donna has completed her treatment for rabies and her injuries have healed. The Trentons\' marriage has survived, as well as Vic\'s business, and they mourn Tad together. Charity, now working in order to support herself and Brett, gives Brett a new, vaccinated puppy. A postscript says that the hole Cujo chased the rabbit into was never discovered. It also reminds the reader that Cujo was a good dog who always tried to keep his owners happy, but the ravage of rabies drove him to violence.
