Take a photo of a barcode or cover
brontherun 's review for:
American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land
by Monica Hesse
If you have never driven the bay tunnel-bridge and felt the eerie sense of diving like a dolphin under the Chesapeake bay in your car, you may not understand the isolation of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I have. I have also driven in the midnight hour through corn fields on the Eastern Shore and am familiar with the deep black night and the desolation and vastness of this seemingly narrow strip of land.
This is the setting of American Fire. The prolific arsonists that horrifically burned down a good portion of a county is compellingly told. The lives of the firefighters and law enforcement are detailed in both their struggles to stop the arson, and their daily lives. For example, their Royal Farms runs for coffee and their endless games of Call of Duty in between fires are told as vignettes that are respectful and entertaining.
The twisted love story of the arsonists acts as either a backdrop or a cause of the string of crimes. Either way, the county residents were witnesses to that relationship as well as to the fires. Charlie and Tonya are broken, and their merging results in an outbreak of graffiti and arson, with a fair amount of entrepreneurial spirit thrown in. It seems very 'American' of them to start their own businesses and chase that American dream.
This is unlike most true crime books - the crimes are felonies, but primarily targeted randomly at empty properties. So while their crimes are not victimless, they are not gruesome or painful to read about. I enjoyed the rhythm and care she took writing about the investigation, and the portrayal of the Eastern Shore and its communities.
This is the setting of American Fire. The prolific arsonists that horrifically burned down a good portion of a county is compellingly told. The lives of the firefighters and law enforcement are detailed in both their struggles to stop the arson, and their daily lives. For example, their Royal Farms runs for coffee and their endless games of Call of Duty in between fires are told as vignettes that are respectful and entertaining.
The twisted love story of the arsonists acts as either a backdrop or a cause of the string of crimes. Either way, the county residents were witnesses to that relationship as well as to the fires. Charlie and Tonya are broken, and their merging results in an outbreak of graffiti and arson, with a fair amount of entrepreneurial spirit thrown in. It seems very 'American' of them to start their own businesses and chase that American dream.
This is unlike most true crime books - the crimes are felonies, but primarily targeted randomly at empty properties. So while their crimes are not victimless, they are not gruesome or painful to read about. I enjoyed the rhythm and care she took writing about the investigation, and the portrayal of the Eastern Shore and its communities.