The Fireman
Joe Hill
2016, 768 pages
Setting: Post-apocalpytic New Hampshire
Fiction
No one knows how you contract the Dragonscale. One day, you’re fine, and the next the whorls of black and gold adorn your skin and you are at risk of setting yourself aflame. Nurse Harper Grayson is hoping to hold out against the spore long enough to have her baby, but the odds aren’t in her favor. When her husband tries to kill her, she flees to the woods and to a survivors’ community that promises shelter. Harper knows that she is running out of time, but her best hope for survival lies with the mysterious Fireman, and his ability to control the spore.
Even though The Fireman is long, the pace rarely lets up. Harper is a compelling heroine, and the touches of reality that Hill weaves into the story make it more grounded than most post-apocalyptic novels. Harper and her friends aren’t concerned with saving the human race; they’re concerned with finding food, keeping themselves hidden from uninfected vigilantes and trying to survive for one more day. Despite this, they still have time to laugh, to argue and to hope for something more. The Fireman is a novel with a lot of heart, and the twist at the end was both logical and satisfying. This book is highly recommended.
Nora CascaddenConcord Public Library
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