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A review by rhiannon123
The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire by Chloe Hooper
emotional
informative
3.0
The book was interesting and I learnt about the Gippsland fires, but I don't feel like this adds anything to the discourse surrounding Black Saturday. The prose was too emotional and author too involved to be true crime. The real-life accounts in the beginning were devastating.
The book heavily blamed the perpetrator as it emotionally set the scene, and then later at the investigation & court process made me doubt his cognitive culpability. Which only made me confused about how he was found guilty.
I like criminology, so I found the court proceedings interesting, as well as how the defence and prosecution framed their arguments.
The book might be helpful for people to learn about the day, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who has a connection to Black Saturday due to its heavy emotional content (accounts come directly from the court case evidence and bushfire Royal Commission).
The book heavily blamed the perpetrator as it emotionally set the scene, and then later at the investigation & court process made me doubt his cognitive culpability. Which only made me confused about how he was found guilty.
I like criminology, so I found the court proceedings interesting, as well as how the defence and prosecution framed their arguments.
The book might be helpful for people to learn about the day, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who has a connection to Black Saturday due to its heavy emotional content (accounts come directly from the court case evidence and bushfire Royal Commission).