The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire [Paperback]

The true story of one of the most devastating wildfires in Australian history and the search for the man who started it.

On the scorching February day in 2009, a man lit two fires in the Australian state of Victoria, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. What came to be known as the Black Saturday bushfires killed 173 people and injured hundreds more, making them among the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in Australian history. As communities reeling from unspeakable loss demanded answers, detectives scrambled to piece together what really happened. They soon began to suspect the fires had been deliverately set by an arsonist.

The Arsonist takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the puzzle of his mind. But this book is also the story of fire in the Anthropocene. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species, and now, as climate change normalizes devastating wildfires worldwide, we must contend with the forces of inequality, and desperate yearning for power, that can lead to such destruction.

Written with Chloe Hooper’s trademark lyric detail and nuance, The Arsonist is a reminder that in the age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers. An engrossing report brimming with urgent detail and palpable suspense. ... A gripping true-crime chronicle in which the justice is both righteous and agonizing. --Kirkus Reviews

With propulsive energy, 'The Arsonist' follows the case .... The elemental terror of Black Saturday requires little embellishment, only the quiet dignity of witness. It’s this restraint — as intelligent as it is compassionate — that elevates 'The Arsonist' from slick true-crime procedural to cultural time capsule. ...A sharp-edged portrait of social as well a pyromaniacal desol