From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box comes a chilling novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman.The fireman is coming. Stay cool.No one knows exactly when it began or … cool.
No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.
Harper Grayson, a compassionate, dedicated nurse as pragmatic as Mary Poppins, treated hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burned to the ground. Now she’s discovered the telltale gold-flecked marks on her skin. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob’s dismay, Harper wants to live—at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term. At the hospital, she witnessed infected mothers give birth to healthy babies and believes hers will be fine too. . . if she can live long enough to deliver the child.
Convinced that his do-gooding wife has made him sick, Jakob becomes unhinged, and eventually abandons her as their placid New England community collapses in terror. The chaos gives rise to ruthless Cremation Squads—armed, self-appointed posses roaming the streets and woods to exterminate those who they believe carry the spore. But Harper isn’t as alone as she fears: a mysterious and compelling stranger she briefly met at the hospital, a man in a dirty yellow fire fighter’s jacket, carrying a hooked iron bar, straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted . . . and as a weapon to avenge the wronged.
In the desperate season to come, as the world burns out of control, Harper must learn the Fireman’s secrets before her life—and that of her unborn child—goes up in smoke.
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This book… I remember reading reviews on Amazon of Joe Hill’s first book, in which somebody opined that Joe was certainly not his father (who is Stephen King if you didn’t already know). It was such an unfair comment, IMO–comparing Mr. Hill’s first or second book with Mr. King’s 50th or 51st… Then, Mr. Hill wrote NOS4A2… Then, he wrote this, and to my mind, any doubt that Mr. Hill “has it” should be laid to rest, buried, and then maybe dug up and staked to make sure they don’t rise again.
This book is terrific. It’s sad. It’s poignant, it’s imaginative, it’s tragic. The characters are living, breathing people as you read, and the world is perfectly believable. And original? I mean, it’s got a plague that makes people burst into flames… And it mentions Martha Quinn.
Bam!
Take that, doubters!
You should read this book. Twice, maybe three times.
I will recommend any of Joe Hill’s books to him and sing his praises from the rooftops. The Fireman and NOS4A2 are two of his novels that will always be my favorites. The Fireman, while not horrifyingly scary, is thrilling and an eye opening look at the end of the world. It’s a roller-coaster ride of hope and despair, love and loathing. You’ll get so attached to some characters it’s dangerous, and, in the same vein, be absolutely disgusted by others.
I love when authors sneak clever life lessons into seemingly throw-away bits of text… I stumbled across this tidbit of profundity in Joe Hill’s latest:
“The hens are clucking. Harper thought it would be a toss-up, which term for women she hated more: bitch or hen. A hen was something you kept in a cage, and her sole worth was in her eggs. A bitch, at least, had teeth.”
It’s an AMAZING book. I love him – how can you not, he’s literally the spitting image of his father and writes just as well. His horror is as fabulous as you’d expect (especially Nos4a2), full of sneaky insider references to his/his father’s books – a clever construct I love because I’m well versed in their catalogs, but costs you nothing if you miss.
The book isn’t his usual fare. It’s his Green Mile: brilliant, thoughtful, forcing us to face the worse aspects of ourselves through a masterfully crafted and thoroughly enjoyable tale – a tale that can be read uncritically and enjoyed, but that gains something incredible if you catch what’s been snuck in… In a nutshell, a mutated spore causes people to literally burn up; the book is about realizing there’s only one way humans deal with things they don’t understand and can’t control/buy their way out of: exceedingly badly. The quote comes as the heroine is, once again, brutally confronted by this. It’s one of many such quotes, sprinkled in deftly… Don’t miss this one!
Full review: http://blog.jill-elizabeth.com/2016/06/02/the_fireman/
I am a fan of Joe Hill as well as his father Stephen King. This has been my favorite book thus far by Joe Hill though! Post-apocalyptic, zombie and virus type books are some of my favorites, but this added such an interesting spin on the post-apocalyptic/virus story! I couldn’t put it down!
Ok, this is probably a love it hate it book. No middle ground. Me? I loved it. Weird disease end of the world, cool characters, and enough drama and trauma to fill a soap opera. It’s a bit slow going at the start, but soon hooks you in and drags you along to the finish.
Joe Hill definitely follows in his famous father’s footsteps, but with his own style and passion. An interesting and fascinating end of the world story of coping and survival.
“The Fireman” Is a very original book. The main characters are very relate able and likable. I love reading a good book that I have a hard time putting down, and this was definitely one. Every time I thought I could put it down, there was a little foreshadowing that made it impossible. I am eagerly awaiting Joe Hill’s next book.
4.5 stars!
Dragonscale! It’s a disease, a plague really, that etches one’s skin with what looks like black hieroglyphics. Unfortunately, at some point the hieroglyphs light up and burst into flame and when they do, it’s all over for you. If you happen to be standing next to anything flammable, it all over for that, (or them), too.
The world as we know it falls apart due to the ‘scale, and people react much as you think they would. Picture how Donald Trump would react to people bursting into flame and how he would deal with those infected, in an effort to quell the disease.That’s exactly what happens here. Hatred and fear of infection takes over and leads to even more deaths-most of which were unnecessary.
I’m a big fan of Joe Hill and when I heard about this book, I went about making it my life’s mission to get an advance copy and I’m so glad I did. The Fireman is, in my opinion, his best book yet. The characters are the most developed we’ve seen from him so far, which makes it difficult to witness the trials Hill puts them through.
Mr. Hill excels at writing extremely strong women and Harper is no exception. She is a nurse who willingly helps treat those with the ‘scale, while many in the medical field, and her own husband, want to run headlong in the opposite direction. Turns out Harper’s husband is nothing like what she thought he was, and when she, herself, becomes infected, he makes it out to be her fault, and his true self is finally revealed. Fighting the disease, fighting her husband, trying to fight against the spread of the ‘scale, Harper is a true hero and she owns this story.
Populated with other strong characters, both good and bad, this story reflects an imagination with a broad scope and a penchant for suffering. Although, at times Hill’s prose rambles, I never found myself bored or losing interest; only becoming more agitated, worried and excited about what was going to come next. Would Harper make it through this? What about the plucky survivors, both good and evil? What about her horrible husband? You’ll have to read this book to find out!
The Fireman was an epic tale, populated with characters you love and hate, highlighting what’s both good and bad in society today. Somehow, though, I came out of the experience with a sense of hope and also a sense of excitement regarding what Joe Hill will do next.
Highly recommended for fans of post- apocalyptic tales and fans of Joe Hill!
*Thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing a free e-ARC of The Fireman in exchange for an honest review. This is it!*
The Fireman by Joe Hill is a novel about a plague, Draco Incendia Trychophyton, also known as Dragonscale.
I love how Hill brings his characters to life, and the world he creates is chilling. With incredible writing, I recommend this book to anyone who loves dystopian tales.
Update: 8/5/19 I picked this book up at the library not realizing I had already tried to read some of it. I had just read NOS4A2, so that made me want to read all of Joe “Hill’s” books. I got it home and started reading the Prologue and that is when I knew I read part of this. Well, I gave it another shot. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it!! I must not have been in the right frame of mind the first time around. I love Joe “Hill”, so I can’t imagine what I was thinking during me initial review. I seriously could not put this new book down!!
10/2018 Honestly, I didn’t finish this book. It started out great, but didn’t take long to go bad. I was bored and the writing is mediocre. Maybe I didn’t give it long enough. I just couldn’t go any longer wasting time.
I DID NOT WANT THIS BOOK TO END!! IT WAS GREAT
I discovered Joe Hill recently. The fireman is an awesome huge book. I loved it
Joe Hill is a good writer. I have enjoyed 3 of his books so far. The Fireman is an apocalyptic and bizarre end-of-the-world drama with lots of villains and not so many good guys. The main hero is pregnant throughout and I suffered with her every step.
My only complaint about this very complicated scenario is that at 747 pages, the book is perhaps 100 pages too long. However, I do like long, involved books–so this one is highly recommended.
He is Stephen King’s son and he writes a big old brick of a novel here, but this is not a copy of dad’s work. I enjoyed it and look forward to more of his work.
Love this book.
Love it!
The story takes a little while to catch fire (if you’ll forgive my bad pun) but then it’s hard to stop reading. Harper Grayson, a nurse, become infected with a fearsome disease, a fungus known as Dragon Scale, that causes its victims to erupt in flames. Healthy people are understandably terrified and react the way human beings often do. They set out to eradicate the sick without mercy. Harper must flee from her own husband. She’s rescued by the Fireman, an enigmatic character who has found a way to control Dragon Scale. He brings her to a hidden colony of diseased people who possess the same ability to a greater or lesser degree. Harper sets out to learn their secret before the disease claims her life and that of her unborn child.
A global pandemic grips the world, and it catches fire. Literally. The infected contract “dragon scale” which impacts and is impacted by mood and stress. Many people spontaneously combusted. Some of those who burst into flame ignited dwellings. Or forests. Or Maine.
Nurse Harper is adorable, and she keeps her Julie Andrews outlook throughout, despite all of the horrors. The enigmatic Fireman himself is at turns charming, frustrating, and admirable. Throughout the prose, Joe Hill includes references to his father’s work (who doesn’t love a good Stephen King reference?), to J.K. Rowling, and such stars from the ‘80’s as Martha Quinn. (really. I’m not kidding.) And some of the characters develop sort of super powers, which was a lot of fun.
In all, this massive book develops interesting characters and an apocalypse that highlighted the good and evil in humanity. I did feel the “bad guys” were dispatched rather easier than I’d hoped, but in all this is an interesting and readable story.
I didn’t want to put this book down! I became totally caught up in the world of the Dragonscale, an infectious spore that causes people to spontaneously combust–except for the main characters who learn how to control the ‘scale. Joe Hill has created characters who are very believable–both the infected characters and the “healthy” who turn into monsters out of fear of being infected.
My only criticism was Harper’s medical skills which were just a little too unbelievable for a nurse only four years out of school who had worked as a school nurse before the poop hit the fan. If she’d had some military or ER nursing in her background, a stint as an EMT, or even if she had just searched out medical texts and read up on how to do some of the things she did, it might have been more believable. But it’s fiction, so it didn’t stop me from getting caught up in her story and the world she was in. I read that it will be made into a movie, and I’m looking forward to it.
This book has really interfered with my life. I don’t want to put it down to do necessary things like sleep, talk to my husband, feed my pets…dang, it’s good!