On the scorching February day in 2009 that became known as Black Saturday, a man lit two fires in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. In the Valley, where the rates of crime were the highest in the state, more than thirty people were known to police as firebugs. But the detectives soon found themselves on the trail of a man they didn’t know.
The Arsonist takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the strange puzzle of his mind. It is also the story of fire in Australia, and of a community that owed its existence to that very element. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species – understanding its abuse will define our future.
A powerful real-life thriller written with Hooper’s trademark lyric detail and nuance, The Arsonist is a reminder that in an age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers.
Praise for other titles by Chloe Hooper
'Life springs from every page of this enthralling book.' - Helen Garner
'A gripping, heart-stopping piece of true-crime reportage . . . Deserves the widest possible audience.' - Sunday Times
'It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this book.' - Peter Carey
'A sad, beautiful, frightening account of one man's pointless death . . . Every character is explored for their contradictions, every situation observed for its nuances, every easy judgement suspended . . . Hooper finds the common humanity in the accused and the accuser, the police officer and the street drinker, the living and the dead.' - Mark Dapin, Good Weekend, Sydney Morning Herald
Industry Reviews
'We will all learn something from the devastating events that scorched a community and the way in which her storytelling draws a reaction.' * The Times *
'As gripping as any work of fiction.' * Crime Monthly *
'Hooper gives a cool appraisal of a hot issue . . . even-handed and nuanced.' * The Guardian *
'The book tells the story of the 2009 Black Saturday blazes in Victoria, which rank among Australia's most deadly bushfires . . . But it is also the story of post-industrial, semi-rural communities and lack of government regulation in the Anthropocene. The Arsonist's environmental setting may help readers understand the context for Australia's current bushfire emergency.' * Chicago Review of Books *
'Brilliant and moving.' * Australian Book Review *
'A masterclass in engaging true crime.' * Herald Sun *
'By turns a fascinating real-life thriller, police procedural, intense sociological study and the long-overdue story of fire in Australia . . . Powerful and nuanced . . . In Hooper's sure hands the grimmest details become exquisite imagery.' * Sydney Morning Herald *
'Gripping, gritty and unsparing but never gratuitous in its details, this is true crime writing at its best. But Hooper goes beyond the procedurals and the scene setting to examine the greater context of the tragedy.' * The Saturday Paper *
'Add The Arsonist to Australia's illustrious literature on bushfires. With skill and sensitivity, Chloe Hooper has managed to find an unexpectedly human face and heart amid the blackest depths of Black Saturday.' -- Stephen Pyne, author of Fire: A Brief History
'Hooper drops the reader inside the Black Saturday brushfires to terrifying effect, then masterfully shifts from the physical realm to the existential - namely, how and why a particular evil manifests. Visceral and terrifying.' -- Maureen Callahan, author of American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century
'Demonstrates why literature still matters.' -- Jeff Sparrow * The Age *
