The Fireman

by Joe Hill

Nobody knew where the virus came from.
FOX News said it had been set loose by ISIS, using spores that had been invented by the Russians in the 1980s.
MSNBC said sources indicated it might've been created by engineers at Halliburton and stolen by culty Christian types fixated on the Book of Revelation.
CNN reported both sides.
While every TV station debated the cause, the world burnt.

Pregnant school nurse, HARPER GRAYSON, had seen lots of people burn on TV, but the first person she saw burn for real was in the playground behind the school.
With the epic scope of THE PASSAGE and the emotional impact of THE ROAD, this is one woman's story of survival at the end of the world.

Read by Kate Mulgrew

(p) 2016 HarperCollins Publishers

• ISBN10: 0062440233
• ISBN13: 9780062440235
• Publish Date: 7 June 2016 (first published 17 May 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Edition: Large type / large print edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 1152
• Language: English

Reviews

[alisoninbookland]

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Definitely glad I listened rather than read. Don't think I would have finished reading it.

Also maybe not the best book to listen to during a global pandemic.

Felt a bit too long. Could have cut out a couple hundred pages.

I did appreciate the idea that people are scarier than the disease.

Not particularly satisfied with the ending but glad I gave Hill a try.

[leahrosereads]

Damn lackluster endings all to hell! Seriously. This book was long enough that if the pacing was adjusted a bit, it could've been a 5 star book. But that ending ruined any chance of it.

And the pacing took another star with it.

The concept of this book was awesome! The Dragonscale spore was one of the more fascinating plagues I've read about in science fiction. I loved what we got from it, and I wish/hope that Joe Hill makes a companion to this novel just on the spore and survivors. A World War Z of this world if you will.

I think it would lend itself very well to see other survivors all over the world and how they coped with the Dragonscale outbreak. There were great human moments in THE FIREMAN, and I'd love to see more of this world and this spore and this "apocalyptic" setting explored.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Holy shitake mushrooms can Hill weave a story. He made events feel completely realistic from an overall worldview to the daily crumbling of Harper's little world. We learn a lot about Dragonscale thanks to Harper's time at the hospital, including the fact that the womb seems to protect the unborn child from the infection, and that a child was successfully delivered before the mother burst into flames. Harper and her husband made a pact to end it if they became infected and when scales begin appearing on him he wants to carry through with it. Only Harper is pregnant and that simply will not do.

Harper is determined to carry her baby to term. As we spiral into madness, Harper is forced to run and fate has her crossing paths once again with the Fireman. The tale that unfolds was original, complex and addictive as we find ourselves amongst people living and controlling Dragonscale.

A combination of horror, science-fiction, and psychological thriller I could not stop listening. Whether you listen to Hill or read his works you'll find his stories to be well paced, addictive and thought-provoking. He realistically captured humanities response to fear, change, and our desire to survive. The community Harper soon finds herself in, takes on an almost cult-like feel as the Dragonscale worked its way through its host. Danger, betrayal, and searches for provisions added suspense.

The characters are unique, well developed, complex and Hill highlighted their strengths and weaknesses. Harper is a powerful, level-headed protagonist who I came to admire. The Fireman while a bit of a mystery emulates the aspects one expects from a fireman from strength to a desire to save lives. From Harper's descriptions of him, I think you'll find him easy on the eyes. As we get to know the characters, even secondary ones we begin to feel part of the group and root for their survival. The author does a good job of giving us mundane moments, tender moments and a touch of normalcy reminding us that the world does go on, even as madness descends.

Kate Mulgrew narrates and does so brilliantly. She nailed the voice of Harper and the Fireman from their nuances to fears. We meet quite a few characters and she managed to give them all a unique voice. At over twenty-two hours, it was delightful to immediately recognize a character from the pitch of their voice.

Hill gave us plenty of villains including an overzealous hunter, mad husband, and power-seeking opportunists. He wove fear, horror, and heroism into the tale as he developed characters, and made Dragonscale a living breathing thing. Have you ever looked at a virus under a microscope? Some of them are beautiful and Hill shows us all sides of this fire-breathing virus.  He will make you think and perhaps wonder if somewhere beneath the Earth's surface, this virus lies dormant waiting to strike. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[inlibrisveritas]

Wonderful!

Full review to come

[pamela]

Joe Hill's new novel The Fireman is a strong addition to Hill's already fantastic bibliography.  It took a number of different formulas that had already been tried and tested in the horror genre and melded them together to make something poignant, throwing in pop culture references that don't seem to fit and yet only add to the strength of the novel.  What should be a grim and depressing slog through a plague ridden post-apocalyptic wasteland is instead turned in to a novel of hope, strength and the power of community.

The Fireman jumps straight in to the action.  The plague known as Dragonscale, which causes its sufferers to spontaneously burst in to flame, is already well under way when the book begins.  We get to know the characters in the reality that they inhabit while still getting a sense of their characters, without any unnecessary build up or exposition.  We immediately know who our protagonists are and the kind of people we're dealing with, all without them ever being caricatures of their archetypes.  Each character has a struggle that they must overcome, and even the antagonists are agonisingly human in their misguided beliefs and mental instabilities.  There are good characters and bad characters, but one gets the sense that if the story had been told from the other side those roles could so easily have been reversed.  The titular Fireman is certainly no prince charming, and yet he is a character with such hidden depth and sarcastic wit that we can't help but relate.  Nurse Willowes herself is a strong female character, fiercely protective, proud and yet equally aware of her own flaws.  Even the peripheral characters have enough depth and back story to make us care about them and relate to their struggles.

The way Hill deals with relationships in The Fireman is quite unique, and individual to each case.  He shows marriage in both its positive and negative aspects.  He doesn't dwell on sweeping romantic gestures and instead shows romance as organic and often mundane, but beautiful in the every day things that make up a relationship.  He shows how relationships can create strength but also weakness, how it can bind but also tear apart.  The characters remain individuals and unique as part of their relationships, whether they be romantic, communal or familial and ultimately it the actions of individuals that can make or break the ties that bind us.  The Dragonscale itself plays an interesting part in the portrayal of these relationships, responding to human connection in a way that gave the book the unique depth that it has.

This novel is so much more than its genre would suggest.  Hill is the master of humanising the supernatural and using it in such a way as to draw attention to ourselves and our own reality. The Fireman reads like a perfect blend of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, The Walking Dead and Adam Nevill's The Ritual,  all interspersed with Hill's signature wit and humanity.  The Fireman isn't neat, there are no perfectly tied up conclusions, people can be cruel and life unfair, but through it all the novel is full of hope and sympathy.  A perfect novel for an imperfect world.

Review also on my blog: http://iblamewizards.com/review-fireman-joe-hill/