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A review by jacki_f
The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire by Chloe Hooper
4.0
This is a book about the police investigation and subsequent trial of an arsonist who lit one of the Black Saturday bush fires in Victoria, Australia in 2009. Brendan Sokaluk was found guilty of 10 counts of arson causing death and is still serving his 17 year prison sentence.
The book starts with the police investigation and then moves onto the defence lawyers as they built their defence and came to understand their client. Sokaluk was both autistic and intellectually impaired - while there's no real doubt that he started the fire, there is considerable doubt as to why.
What I found most interesting about this (highly topical) book was the way it exposes the shades of grey in people. If you asked me before reading it to imagine an arsonist, I'd think of someone malicious who was aware of the ramifications of what they were doing. Likewise I found it fascinating to consider how often defence lawyers are confronted with clients who are not capable of fully understanding the realities of what they have done. But the skill of this book is the way that Hooper can communicate that without in any way undermining the tragedy of what happened to the many people who lost their lives, their loved ones and/or their homes.
The book starts with the police investigation and then moves onto the defence lawyers as they built their defence and came to understand their client. Sokaluk was both autistic and intellectually impaired - while there's no real doubt that he started the fire, there is considerable doubt as to why.
What I found most interesting about this (highly topical) book was the way it exposes the shades of grey in people. If you asked me before reading it to imagine an arsonist, I'd think of someone malicious who was aware of the ramifications of what they were doing. Likewise I found it fascinating to consider how often defence lawyers are confronted with clients who are not capable of fully understanding the realities of what they have done. But the skill of this book is the way that Hooper can communicate that without in any way undermining the tragedy of what happened to the many people who lost their lives, their loved ones and/or their homes.