I put off reading "The Fireman" by Joe Hill for ages because I have such strong memories of how good Nos4r2 is. Sadly, this time it wasn't the same outcome. Too long, too convoluted and just weird.

Requested and downloaded from NetGalley back in 2016, read during one lockdown or other in 2020 and finally reviewed in 2023! Why the delay? Blame my old Kindle for going kaput (Although I did give in and by a copy of the book.) and a reluctance to read yet another apocalyptic doorstep. Strange then that it took an actual global pandemic to tempt me to finally read this book. It might have been different if the fictional pandemic had been similar to that in reality, something like Stephen King's super-flu in The Stand, rather than the more fantastical one that Joe Hill opted for. 'Dragonscale' is one of the most original fictional afflictions I've come across., leaving those afflicted knowing that at some time in the future they're going to spontaneously combust. At times during the pandemic I lost interest in reading, even giving up completely for a time, and The Fireman with it's compelling characters, breakneck plotting, action set pieces and that 'Dragonscale' was one of the books that tempted me back and reignited that passion for reading. I suspect that if you enjoyed Stephen King's The Stand, my benchmark when it comes to apocalyptic fiction, then you'll enjoy this too.

Harper Grayson is working as a school nurse when the world ends. Draco Incendia Trychophyton, better known as Dragonscale, is a spore that infects that vast majority of people with whom it comes into contact – the symptoms are a beautiful tattoo-like patterning of the skin and an almost-certain chance of spontaneous combustion. Within six months Harper is carrying both the virus and a baby, and is running for her life from her husband who, in a misguided attempt to save her from the horrible end guaranteed by the ‘scale, is trying to kill her. Harper is rescued by an unlikely couple – a teenage girl in a Captain America mask and an Englishman in a fireman’s outfit – and taken to Camp Wyndham, a nearby summer resort now serving as home for infected people like her, under the watchful eye of “Father” Tom Storey.

Intrigued by the fireman, who has an uncanny ability to control the Dragonscale fire, Harper joins the camp as their resident medical expert, and quickly becomes engrossed in their search for the almost-mythical island of 80’s television star, Martha Quinn, which promises to be paradise for those with the ‘scale. But things are far from as perfect at Camp Wyndham as they appear on the surface, and as tensions rise, Harper finds that she is more prisoner than resident, and that the eye of suspicion is rarely far away when “Mother” Carol and ex-policeman Ben Patchett put their heads together.

From the book’s size alone, it’s easy to tell that Joe Hill’s latest foray into the weird, wide world is massive in both scope and ambition. A glimpse at the apocalypse, and the world it leaves behind, The Fireman is, without doubt, his most ambitious novel yet, and is anchored in reality, to a large degree, by the large of cast of characters that bring the story to life. It’s sure to be compared favourably with The Stand (more on this later), and it is, without doubt, a comparison that is well-deserved. Mining from a rich vein of popular culture – everything from Harry Potter to Game of Thrones to The Walking Dead and all points in between – Hill has produced a novel that will appeal to a broad range of readers, the breakout novel that is sure to expose his name – and his work – to more than the relatively small pool of genre readers who, up until now, have been his core audience.

Told from the point of view of Harper Grayson (who later reverts to her maiden name Willowes), the novel takes us through the end of the world as we would fully expect to witness it ourselves: on television, the facts distorted by whichever political lens is used by the channel in question to view the world.

"FOX said the dragon had been set loose by ISIS, using spores that had been invented by the Russians in the 1980s. MSNBC said sources indicated the ‘scale might’ve been created by engineers at Halliburton and stolen by cult Christian types fixated on the Book of Revelation. CNN reported both sides."

For the duration of the novel, Harper becomes the centre of our world, and her struggle to see her child safely born is one in which we become completely invested. Her mannerisms are informed, in many ways, by the characters played by Julie Andrews in the likes of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, and, in fact, the fireman’s English character provides the perfect Bert-like foil to Harper’s Mary Poppins as their relationship develops. Harper’s contraction of the virus is the first sign that there is more to Dragonscale than we might have been led to believe; rather than the certain death that, say, a zombie bite might bring, Hill introduces the burning hope – hope because Harper has become such an important part of our lives – that the virus is survivable.

This is reinforced by the residents of Camp Wyndham, who have discovered the secret of living in harmony with the ‘scale, and, in particular, John Rookwood – the eponymous Fireman – and the Storey children, Allie and Nick.

Despite the novel’s title, Rookwood plays a relatively small part in most of what goes on: he lives on a small island off the shore of Camp Wyndham and rarely mixes with the residents of the camp, although it is clear that he has certain abilities when it comes to the ‘scale: not only can he control the fire, but he can shape it, give it consciousness and direction, and send it out to do his bidding. It is, perhaps, for this reason that he feels the need for isolation, and why he is feared by many of the Wyndham people.

A place of comfort and friendship, the camp quickly gives Harper a sense of belonging, a strange though welcome feeling of family with teenage Allie and her young deaf-mute brother Nick, the grandchildren of the camp’s leader. There are everyday tensions – small factions within the camp who can’t live by the simple rules, or who believe that Father Storey’s approach to leadership is ineffective. But these minor tensions pale in comparison to the threat that constantly hangs over these people: the threat of discovery by a Cremation Crew on patrol, a death sentence from which there is no escape. These people – uninfected and striving to rid the world of those who have the ‘scale – are personified in radio personality, The Marlboro Man, with whom Harper’s ex-husband Jacob has aligned himself.

The Fireman takes an unusual approach to the post-apocalypse, turning our expectations on their heads, and asking us to root for the people who would normally be considered the bad guys. Imagine The Walking Dead where the zombies are the central characters, or The Stand where we’re asked to sympathise with a group of people who have been infected by Captain Tripps. Hill presents us with a group of infected characters – characters who should be dead, but who have found a way to live – and invites us to live their story. Evil comes in the form of the uninfected, who are trying to stamp out the infection and save as much of what’s left of the world as they possibly can. In normal circumstances we would be right there with them, hunting down the infected and hammering wooden stakes through their hearts, but here it is difficult to identify with them and we find ourselves hoping for a world where Dragonscale might become a normal part of human life. It’s a powerful image, and Hill does a fantastic job ensuring that we can still feel empathy for these people who, aside from the beautiful scrollwork on their skin, are people that we can easily relate to and empathise with, despite the extraordinary circumstances in which they find themselves.

Hill makes excellent use of imagery, and repeating motifs, to make the story more real for us, to bring it to life more fully in our minds. The characters and locations are well-drawn and seem to leap off the page as we read, but it’s things like the phoenix or the Freightliner that will stick with us long after we have finished reading the book. The fiery phoenix is a thing of beauty and 80s children will be hard-pressed not to think of Battle of the Planets when they first encounter it. A force for good, it is the diametric opposite of the Freightliner, the town truck that Jacob Grayson drives, and which haunts the residents of Camp Wyndham from the moment they first see it. In many ways an homage to Richard Matheson’s (and, indeed, Steven Spielberg’s) Duel, this truck takes on a life of its own, and constantly looms in the background of the story, a symbol of everything Harper has come to hate and fear about her ex-husband.

The homages and references come thick and fast, most frequently in the form of some of the greats of post-apocalyptic fiction lending their names to places or things. Camp Wyndham is the most obvious example, while The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood has a boat named after her. J.K. Rowling even gets a mention, as we learn of her demise at the mercy of the ‘scale. But perhaps the biggest homage, and the greatest source of inspiration for The Fireman, is the aforementioned King classic, The Stand.

As a massive fan of Stephen King, I tend to nerd out over the cross-references and in-jokes that he plants in his novels. More recently King and son Hill have been referencing each other’s books: Hill’s references to the world of The Dark Tower in his 2013 novel, NOS4R2 (or NOS4A2 for the world outside the UK); and King’s references to the central character from Hill’s debut, Heart-Shaped Box, in 2014’s Mr Mercedes. Here, Hill seems to take the referencing to a whole new level, and the number of parallels between The Fireman and The Stand are, frankly, staggering: world-changing virus: check; pregnant protagonist: check; a deaf-mute called Nick: check; an obnoxious teen called Harold: check; a leader who is referred to as “Mother” (or, indeed, “Father”): check. And that’s just the ones I made a note of. Despite these parallels, the stories are very different, The Fireman at once Hill’s own Stand and wonderful homage to four decades of his father’s work (including Hill’s own version of The Mist’s Mrs Carmody). Dark Tower enthusiasts will spot some references here as well to that well-worn world: Nozz-a-la Cola, and this disconnected thought as consciousness drains from Harper partway through the book:

"They had forgotten who they were. They had forgotten their own names, the voices of their mothers, the faces of their fathers."

With The Fireman, Joe Hill has taken a strange – if not entirely unwelcome, for those of us who like Stephen King, at least – turn in his career as a novelist. For a man determined to make his way in the publishing world by his own talent rather than who he was – like many in the relatively small horror community of the time, I read and loved Hill’s collection, 20th Century Ghosts, before knowing his true identity – it seems odd that he should now attempt – very successfully, mind – to follow so closely in his father’s footsteps. The references are the least of it: there is a wonderful similarity in the writing styles of the pair and the reader comes away with the distinct impression that both subject matter and voice make this a distinctly “King” piece of work. The book is dedicated to, amongst a host of others, “my father, from whom I stole all the rest”, and The Fireman proves that, in this case at least, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Who better to be the “new Stephen King” than the man’s own son? This reader hopes that it’s not a miscalculation on Hill’s part, that it’s little more than an experiment in writing (though I, for one, would love to see Hill take on the fabled Gunslinger and crew). Because while The Fireman is a spectacular piece of work, Hill deserves much more than to be the shadow of his father.

In all, The Fireman is an excellent showcase for the talents of Joe Hill. I mentioned earlier that I think it’s likely to be his breakout novel, the story that spreads his name outside the genre. Yes, this is a grim look at post-apocalyptic America, but it’s a very different take than anything we’ve seen before. And more than that, it’s a story about people, about humanity’s acts of kindness and of evil. It’s a story about love, community, family. A story about hope, and how we cope when hope seems lost. Intense, beautiful and completely engrossing, The Fireman is Joe Hill’s finest novel to date, the work of a confident and mature writer for whom words are the building blocks of pure magic. It’s amongst the best novels I – or you – will read this year, and one I will be revisiting with the same frequency that I do its forebear. Essential reading for everyone, this is not to be missed.

This book is so unique and well-written! I fell in love with its characters after a few pages. Joe Hill’s masterpiece.

That is a lot of book! A lesser author would have probably made it into a trilogy, I am glad that it wasn't!
I am pretty impressed that the author managed to keep my interest all the way through that long book, as the story progressed it just got better and better. I wasn't totally a fan of Harper, although she improved as the story went on, and the Fireman himself, although not the main protagonist, was someone I imagine that everyone ended up rooting for!
The ending was a true dystopian ending, well done the author for having the guts to go with that!

An utterly brilliant read that had me hooked from page one. This book got me and gripped me like a vice. Superb

EXCERPT: His newfound calm did not entirely surprise her. Terror was a fire that held you trapped in the top floor of a burning building; the only way to escape it was to jump. He had been stoking himself up to this last leap for weeks. She had heard it in his voice, every time they talked on the phone, even if she didn't recognize it at the time. He had made his choice at last and it had brought him the peace he was looking for. He was ready to go out the window; he wanted only to be holding her hand on the way down.

What did surprise her was her own calm. She wondered at it. In the days before the earth began to burn, she had carried anxiety to work with her every morning and brought it home with her every night; a nameless, inconsiderate companion that had a habit of poking her in the ribs whenever she was trying to relax. And yet in those days there was nothing really to be anxious about. Her head would spin at the thought of defaulting on her student loans, of getting into another yelling match with her neighbour about his dog's habit of tearing open garbage and spreading it all over her lawn. And now she had a baby in her, and sickness crawling on her skin, and Jakob was crazy, sitting there watching her with his gun, and there was only this quiet readiness, which she irrationally believed had been waiting for her all her life.

'At the end, I get to be the person I always wanted to be,' she thought.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: 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.

MY THOUGHTS: I said it after reading NOS4A2,and I will say it again, 'Joe Hill is definitely his father's son. He writes with the same easy narrative flow and sardonic wit.'

Reading Joe Hill's writing is like sitting down and having a good yarn with someone who has led the most fascinating life. It's an immersive experience. I forgot I was reading. I experienced every step of Harper's journey. I smelled the burning, felt the heat, and even imagined the beautiful glowing lacy patterns across my own skin.

Hill has written a chilling novel about a global pandemic long before the advent of Covid-19. Instead of a pneumonia-like infection, this spore causes spontaneous combustion, which threatens to reduce civilisation to ashes. But what if there was a way to harness it, to make it work for you, rather than against you? Enter the Fireman, aka John Rookwood. But are his skills enough to save his group from the Cremation Squad, a group of the uninfected determined to exterminate the infected.

He is aided by the pregnant nurse, Harper, a fan of Mary Poppins. 'She had all her life longed for a world that operated like an early sixties Disney musical, with spontaneous song and dance routines to celebrate important events like sharing a first kiss or getting the kitchen spick and span.' Despite these fantasies, this woman has a heart of gold and a core of steel.

There are a lot of parallels between the situations in The Fireman and our current situation. The chaos. The fear. The misinformation. The justification of certain actions - 'The people in charge can always justify doing terrible things in the name of the greater good. A slaughter here, a little torture there. It becomes moral to do things that would be immoral if an ordinary individual did ‘em.'

But there are some wonderfully 'good' characters in this book to counterbalance the bad, the evil, the misguided. The hard part is working out who is who.

There are multiple musical references as well as literary ones. I have made a 'Joe Hill - The Fireman' playlist to go alongside my 'Adrian McKinty - Sean Duffy', and 'Ken Bruen- Jack Taylor' playlists.

I finished this read with tears seeping from my eyes. It doesn't end how I expected. But the ending is perfect. The Fireman contains many lessons for us. I hope we learn them.

'So much kindness. So many people looking after us. They don't know a thing about us except that we're in need....we need kindness like we need to eat. It satisfies something in us we can't do without.'

Brilliant, beautiful, terrifying, sad and uplifting.

❤❤❤❤❤

#TheFireman #NetGalley

'There's something horribly unfair about dying in the middle of a good story, before you have a chance to see how it all comes out. Of course, I suppose everyone always dies in the middle of a good story, in a sense. Your own story. Or the story of your children. Or your grandchildren. Death is a raw deal for narrative junkies.'

THE AUTHOR: Joe Hill, born in 1972 as Joseph Hillstrom King, is an American writer of speculative fiction. Hill is the second child of the authors Stephen and Tabitha King. His younger brother Owen King is also a writer.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Orion Publishing Group via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Fireman by Joe Hill for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

I loved the concept of the book and the first few chapters so much so I bought a physical copy. However eventually I gave up on it. I found the book way too long, it just failed to keep my interest. This is surprising as I've read all of Joe Hills books and absolutely loved each one of them so its disappointing I couldn't finish this.

What a slog. By far too long, especially when I didn't care for any of the characters and the plot just couldn't hold my attention.

Having listened to NOS4R2, and really enjoying it, I was looking forward to some more Joe Hill and seeing what further interesting ideas he could come up with. Initially I was interested in the story and the cause of Dragonscale and how it reacted in people and how people reacted to it and those contaminated. Harper was even mildly interesting to me albeit because her partner was a complete tool and just evoked annoyance. But then things just sort of took a turn into a place where I wasn't truly bothered; a camp/cult and people weaving their own plans to rule. Been there, done that. It just went on for too long with no real interesting plot points to keep my attention.

It took me a while to finish this one, mainly due to not being that bothered to pick it up in my spare time and feeling like it was an obligation instead of a joy to read it. By the end I could have happily stopped reading about 100+ pages beforehand and not felt too upset at not seeing how things resolved. 50% success rate for Joe Hill now but I've faith in some more good stories after his Locke & Key series.

I usually enjoy a good old world virus story but this one failed to thrill me. I’ve read quite a few reviews of it from various sources and a point made by a few people is that the book seemed to be aimed at more of a YA audience. I hadn’t thought of that myself but it does actually sum up my views.

I was initially interested in reading this book, however my tastes have shifted and I do not think I will be able to get to it now. Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a digital copy!

Is it just me or did Joe Hill's writing suddenly warp into his Dad's? I really enjoyed Heart Shaped Box when it came out. Horns, not so much. I just could not get into this book. I tried so many times and just found his writing too verbose. "Why use 10 words when 300 will do?"

I'm sorry, but I had to give this one a miss.

At this point I think I have to accept that Hill’s two novels hold a special place in my heart and nothing will come close to them. That being said, I think “The Fireman” is a very solid effort, better than NOS4A2, and probably Hill’s most ambitious novel to date: a sprawling look at societies in times of crisis, at how things that bring us together can also tear us apart.

The central conceit – a disease that causes people to spontaneously combust – is used to great effect as a metaphor and focusing point for a lot of the book’s concerns, the protagonist, Harper, is absolutely delightful, and her gradual metamorphosis from a meek, passive character, to an absolute hero and badass (and not in the cliched Strong Female Character TM way) is gripping, and there are some great and memorable villains (although some of them drop out for a long time – I wish we saw more of them). After reading the preview that was released some time before the book’s release, I was a bit wary of the Fireman, who seemed cartoonish and irritating, but once we got more of his backstory and he was more humanized, he grew on me. He’s also responsible for me scaring my cats by laughing very loudly in what for my money, was the funniest moment by far.

Hill’s penchant for peppering the text with pop-culture references is a bit much at times, the occasional bursts of omniscient narrator making grim predictions at the ends of chapters felt forced, and I’m not sure about that ending – I know what Hill tried to do, I just felt he overdid it – but overall I enjoyed The Fireman.

I didn't think I was going to like this book at first. Don't get me wrong I love books that have disasters or apocalyptic events in them but people infected with a virus that causes self combustion? It sounded far fetched to me! However I am glad I persevered with it, by the end of the book I was rooting so hard for Harper to deliver her baby safely and for her and The Fireman to live happily ever after that I could not put the book down. Joe Hill made an unbelievable story very believable . Well worth a read!

An unusual and clever idea for a story and some great characters in it. It deserves to do well. I am sure that we'll being seeing the film version of this book before too long.

The Fireman is a unique dystopian story full of horror. There is a highly contagious disease that eventually results in you bursting in flame. Sounds awful, right? The characters are outstanding. I found myself emotionally invested. Harper is a fantastic protagonist with her awful husband but beautiful heart. The writing is intelligent. When you see a novel is 700+ pages, it is hard to expect zero lulls in the entertainment factor. Well this one doesn't lag. The excitement keeps up the pace. I would expect nothing less from the son of the legend himself. If you're looking for a story that is impossible to put down, a fast-paced summer read...check out The Fireman today.

Is it a good idea to review this book immediately after I've finished it when I'm half asleep? Probably not, but I have a lot of thoughts that I need to jot down.

Back in October, the local Waterstones announced that Joe Hill would be visiting on a tour for his new book, The Fireman. Now although I've only read Horns, I'd still say he's one of my favourite authors, and I jumped at the chance to go. There, he explained his ideas behind the novel, read us an excerpt that I now recognise, and signed both my copy of Horns and an excerpt of The Fireman (with doodles all over them). Since October, I have been curious about this story, and I have waited for it to be released. When I got the chance to receive a review copy, how could I say no?

The Fireman is long. Great, and a favourite of mine for sure, but it is a very long read, over 700 pages, so before you start you've got to realise you're making a bit of a commitment. In a book that long, of course there were slow parts - some at the beginning, some at the middle, and some even at the end - but that doesn't detract from the ingenuity of the plot or the world-building in general. The book revolves around the idea of a spore, a contagious spore that once caught, causes humans to spontaneously combust. For the sake of not spoiling anything, I'll leave it vague, but even through the vagueness, you can tell it'll be interesting. For the past few years, the media has had an obsession with zombies - this is the same principle, except with an interesting twist. We're obsessed with our own demise, and I think Hill created a fantastical, but not too unbelievable, tale.

I think what made me give this a full five stars is definitely the characters. People don't always grasp how characterisation can take a book from, say, a two-star to a four-star rating - or vice versa. Hill created dozens of characters, so many that you lose count - but somehow, each of them has their own individual personality, and each had their share in the limelight, even if it was just for a chapter. And the main characters? I feel like I'm part of their group, their family - especially Harper and Nick. I think Harper may be a character that readers could potentially find annoying - she is inherently good, lawful good, and sometimes readers want protagonists with a bit of spark - a bit of rebellion and anger! However, I think for this novel, Harper was perfect. Yes, she's good, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have views, morals, or her own mind - and it sure as heck doesn't mean she won't swear the house down. She was the perfect combination of everything, and I honestly think she's one of my favourite protagonists. Nick comes as a close second - who couldn't love him?

Overall, I'd say this book is definitely worth a read, but only if you are into the science-fiction/horror/thriller genres. If you're not, then it may not capture your imagination. But then again, why else would you go looking for a Joe Hill book if you didn't love all those things?

I consider myself to be a fan of Joe Hill, but I don't feel this novel matches up to his previous works. As a beast of a tome, I expected it to be a slow-burn, but unfortunately I've found it a bit too slow to maintain my interest. The protagonist Harper is not really to my taste and the interest in the pandemic of the novel has gone down. I need a bit more excitement than what has been on offer in this novel.