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    The Fireman: A Novel
    The Fireman: A Novel
    The Fireman: A Novel
    Audiobook22 hours

    The Fireman: A Novel

    Written by Joe Hill

    Narrated by Kate Mulgrew

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box comes a chilling novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman.

    The fireman is coming. Stay cool.

    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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 17, 2016
    ISBN9780062443779
    Author

    Joe Hill

    Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Fireman, NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box; Strange Weather, a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections Full Throttle and 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the Eisner Award–winning writer of a seven-volume comic book series, Locke & Key. Much of his work has been adapted for film and TV, including NOS4A2 (AMC), Locke & Key (Netflix), In the Tall Grass (Netflix), and The Black Phone (Blumhouse).

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    Reviews for The Fireman

    4/5

    923 ratings96 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Joe Hill is just an amazing author just like his father! Just when you think your gonna get a happy ending - SHIT hits the fan- then as a surprise if you listen all the way to the very end - you do get the surprise- was it what you imagined!?? I am reading all of Joe Hills books now!
    • 5/5
      Excellent story. Stephen King 2.0
      Nods to his father's works like little easter eggs and a similar understanding of human nature.
      But an excellent story in and of itself. Loved it.
      Loved the narration too. Loved the narrator enough to forgive the awful awful English accent(s).
    • 4/5
      Great story. Really deserves 4 1/2 stars, but loses 1/2 a star for getting Dire Straits stuck in my head.

      And honestly don't know what book the blurb on the back was describing, but it sure wasn't this one.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this story, it was something new I'd never read anything like before. The book isn't bad but it's not something I'd be recommending all over the place either.
    • 5/5
      Positively STELLAR!!!!! I mean, I know writing runs in the family but damn!!!! I was impressed with story progression and keeping with the main character and the story line. Need more novels, please, spawn of Stephen and Tabitha King. You're excellent ♡♡
    • 2/5
      I am a great fan of Joe Hill and believe that he is one of the most exciting horror/fantasy writers of his generation. He is a friend of UK readers and has twice visited his worshiping fans in the last 2 years, and on the first occasion I was lucky enough to be part of that unique gathering at Waterstones bookstore in Bristol.However as a blogger and reviewer I must be impartial when I read, analyse and review a work by any author and sometimes that process can be painful in what I feel and say but always truthful in my interpretation. It is therefore with some great disappointment that having read The Fireman I must now admit that I really did not enjoy, which is a pity as I thought The Heart Shaped Box, Horns and NOS4R2 were superb examples of modern horror.The Fireman starts with great promise and when we first meet Harper Grayson she is a dedicated nurse at a hospital in Portsmouth Maine. The world is in meltdown, a dystopian society being ravaged by a terrible plague or spore known as Draco Incendia Trychophyton more commonly referred to as Dragonscale. and manifests itself by marking its hosts with black and gold marks across their bodies before bursting into flames. In a short time Harper realizes two things, she has the spore and she is pregnant by her partner Jakob. Her somewhat deranged partner wishes to fulfil a suicide pact, as he feels it would be better to die this way, in control, rather than wait for the spore to follow its natural process. Harper believes in life of her newborn and makes her escape, aided by The Fireman (who has learned to control the fire) to Camp Wyndham. Here she hope to understand with the help of The Fireman how to cure and live with Dragonscale.At this stage in the story I felt I was reading a very original and thought provoking tale but once the action decamps to Wyndham my interest in the proceedings diminished and I found myself wanting this overlong, overwordy parody of a dystopian tale to finish. I had little sympathy with any of the characters who now it appeared were content to debate, discuss, and formulate their future rather than actually take any positive action. The majority of the novel therefore became to me an issue of resilience as I attempted to finish rather than abandon.That is not to say there were not some fun moments. Dragonscale it appears responds badly to stress and if you can create a feeling of security and well-being and acceptance, the Dragonscale will react in a very different way. This was known as “joining the Bright” and when actioned the spore could be controlled....”making you feel more alive than you’ve ever felt before. It will make colors deeper and tastes richer and emotions stronger. It’s like being set on fire with happiness. And you don’t just feel your happiness. Your feel everyone else’s, too....And you don’t burn”. In one other memorable scene Harper takes charge of a raiding party in attempt to acquire much needed medical supplies by the high jacking of an ambulance. I also enjoyed the concept of the Cremation Crew in effect vigilantes who sought out and murdered anyone suspected of carrying the spore.Finally the reader receives some award for his perseveration when a group from the camp led by our heroes Harper and The Fireman decide to break out and make the perilous journey to the aptly name “Martha Quinns” island where it is hoped salvation in the form of isolation, acceptance and harmony will form the foundation for a future world society. This final journey by our unlikely band of heroes gave a little contentment to me the reader but unfortunately the protracted and drawn out nature of this dystopian tale failed to impress, and I was very pleased myself to have survived the journey and lived to write this review!!I received an advance copy of this novel for a true and honest review, and that is what I have written.
    • 5/5
      A disease known as Dragonscale has grown to epidemic proportions. The infected have black and gold scrollwork markings on their skin which sometimes heats up. Sometimes the person goes up in flames. This can cause a chain reaction among those infected with the 'Scale so that an entire building can burn to the ground. Or a forest.Harper is a nurse trying her best to help those infected when she first meets The Fireman, who brings a deaf boy into the hospital for an illness not related to Dragonscale. Later, when Harper herself becomes infected, it is The Fireman who leads her to a commune full of infected who have learned how to live with the Dragonscale without burning up. While this community is welcoming to newcomers, it is of course cautious not to be found by outsiders who may lead the authorities to their doorstep.This book is terrific. While it won Goodreads' Readers' Choice Award for Horror books, I agree with the author that his isn't really a horror story. It's a survival story set in an apocalyptic world. I can't express enough the love I have for the main characters, or how much I want to punch the main antagonist.
    • 5/5
      Exceptional! Very well developed characters and plot; it was literally a struggle to not listen to at the office. The audio book version of "I couldn't put it down"!!!
    • 5/5
      Great book! I would sit in my driveway after getting home because I couldn't stop listening. Sometimes I'll be out there for 2 hours!
    • 5/5
      That was quite a ride! I love how tender his books are, full of not only horror but also love.
    • 5/5
      Amazing book. I think this could be his best yet.

      I think the thing I appreciate most about Joe Hill's characters is that it is rarely the monsters who are monstrous. The so-called normal humans, by far, are the most monstrous--for me that rings true. The characters in general in Hill's books often find themselves in awful situations, yet not (sadly) unimaginable ones. Our world is too extreme for even this horror to be outside of the realm of current experience. But despite all that horror, the protagonist characters in these books are beautiful people--people I wish I knew in real life, though I am certainly glad enough to know them in fiction.

      Maybe I'm getting old and cynical, but I don't cry often at books these days. I cried at this one--because of how human and kind and vulnerable the so-called monsters are. And how human and vulnerable the so-called normal humans are. We're all a mess, and this book captured that state so very well.

      Thank you, Joe.
    • 5/5
      His father’s son alright. My blood pressure topped out every 100 pages or so. Kate Mulgrew is perfectly suited for it.
    • 5/5
      Truly well done. Page turning with ease. Joe hill masterfully gives such clean story telling that you can't believe when it's over. The narrator is always great. I love her story telling and her inflections brings so much life to the story. I felt so much listening to this audiobook that I'm disappointed it's finished. Love love loved it.
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I’ve ever read. I’m going to read everyone of his. I’d love Stephen king forever so it’s really nice to have someone else. Amazing book
    • 3/5
      It hurts my heart to give a Joe Hill book a measly three stars, but I can't justify anything more. Hill has always offered original tales, or unique twists on oft-told tales, but this book just felt derivative. I liked the characters and, as always, Hill's prose is full of turns of phrase that shine, but there was nothing about this plot that felt new.It was over-long and crammed full of too many "villains". But, the greatest sin this book commits, to me, is the sin of trying too hard to be a Stephen King novel--specifically The Stand. For anyone who's read The Stand, the parallels will be obvious, sometimes painfully so.

      I wanted so much to love this novel as I have loved Hill's previous works, but, eventually, every author missteps for readers with one book or another. For me, this was Joe Hill's misstep.
    • 1/5
      Ripoff of Daddy's The Stand. Petty political and woke nonsense. I read to be entertained. I don't enjoy politics, no matter who or what side.
    • 3/5
      *SPOILERS* I honestly hate.... HATE the main character/protagonist. She's weak. I hate the way she thinks, her inner dialogue, her decision making.....I hate how thin the reasoning is for those decisions ... Why would anyone vote her to lead them? Why would she NOD and betray Renee when she has the duct tape on? The tide was turning in her favor.... Like what. Just because of a THREAT That could not have been fulfilled IN FULL VIEW OF THE WHOLE CAMP. YUCK. I also hate how the author takes out characters for no reason.... Just no reason. I like Joe Hill and this book was interesting and moves along
      ... It's dramatic, full of action but tbh I hate the story. I hate the premise. I wouldn't recommend this. Lastly.....Renee is worth 20 Harper's

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Harper Grayson was only trying to help others the day she became one of the infected. Now that she has the tell tale signs of contagion, her husband blames her and wants nothing to do with her. Scared and pregnant she has nobody to turn to. She considers trying to make it to her brother's house but does not want to put his family at risk. The cremation crews make it nearly impossible to leave home but when she is forced to run she meets up with a group of people who may be her salvation, or they may be too good to be true.
      Joe Hill knows how to tell a story. On par with "The Stand" and my all time favorite "Swan Song" is my new favorite The Fireman. Fast paced and heart pounding action packed. It's the end of the world as we know it. A plague of epic proportions brings out the best in our unlikely heroes and the worst in others. This book is full of twists and turns that left me never knowing who to trust from one minute to the next and I loved every minute of it. 5 out of 5 stars from me.


      I received an advance copy for review
    • 2/5
      I enjoyed the premise and thought it would be an interesting read. It was actually kind of a struggle to get through, there are several inconsistencies that ripped me right out of the story. It feels like each portion of the story was written by someone different, like a handful of people wrote it and didn't read each others work before adding their own.The lead character feels a bit bipolar from section to section. Responding to situations can differ from case to case, but her reactions are intelligent to idiotic. From being a competent nurse to failing basic first aid. The dialogue is also confusing at times. The scene may be a time sensitive moment and the author seems to forget that, having characters interact for pages while immediate danger waits around to continue.
    • 5/5
      That was REALLY good.
    • 4/5
      great story line.
    • 4/5
      Interestingly enough, the main character, whose narrative perspective we follow, is not the fireman, but I guess "the pregnant nurse" would not make a best-seller. So, it's a nice page-turner but not much more than that, which makes it a good summer read.
    • 5/5
      fiction (apocalypse suspense, not really what I would class as "horror" though there are definitely creepy bits that would lend themselves to a horror-type movie). I would recommend this to fans of Stephen King (even though I haven't read Stephen King).
    • 5/5
      This book was so good! It's not scary, other than the fear that comes from humans being garbage.

      Kate Mulgrew was the narrator, and she was fantastic. I had only one quibble with her narration, and that was that she didn't actually sing the songs, she just recited them. This bothered me because they were well-known songs (among them, songs from Mary Poppins) which most Americans would know. Maybe she's not a Singer, but I'd be surprised if an actor of her caliber didn't have some singing training. And they were being sung in the book by regular people who probably didn't have amazing singing voices anyway. It was very jarring to hear A Spoon Full of Sugar being recited rather than sung.
    • 4/5
      3.5 starsThere is a new plague – a spore – that is spreading throughout the population. It causes people to suddenly burst into flames. When a nurse, Harper, comes down with it, her husband leaves her and she is driven from her home as there are people out there who are hunting down and killing those with “Dragonscale”. They are marked with an elaborate tattoo when infected, so it can be hard to hide. Harper ends up in the woods with a group of other people hiding out with Dragonscale, including a man they call “The Fireman”. Things take a turn for the worse at this camp when their leader is seriously injured. This was good. It was long, but it was good. I liked that Allie, the teenager, was portrayed realistically – at least I thought so. Good and bad, temperamental, like a teenager. We also had some crazy characters and some power-hungry ones. I do wonder if there will be a sequel.
    • 3/5
      I'm not certain how I managed it, but I picked up this book from my to-read pile without really remembering what it was about. And, of course, it turns out to feature an infection that causes spontaneous combustion and plenty of societal disreputation in its wake. So, maybe not what I currently need to explore through fiction and this likely factored into my enjoyment. Overall, this was a decent read, but I think I connected with the story in all the wrong ways and none of the right ones.
    • 5/5
      Joe Hill is never afraid to kill a character. I enter this book prepared for this but still the grimness of some parts left me with a bad after taste. A book about how humans behave under duress; how some will turn bad while others stay good while the majority will just be gray. Some scenes are over explained for my taste but the flow of the rest is great.
    • 3/5
      Funny story: I was perusing my TBR shelves, looking for something to distract me from the current state of the world, when I came across this one. "Hmm," I said to myself, "I don't really remember what this is supposed to be about, but Joe Hill writes horror fantasy stuff, right? Sounds like the kind of absorbing escapism I could use right now." So I open it up, and start reading... about a nurse desperately trying to treat patients in an overwhelmed hospital during a global pandemic. Well, so much for escapism. Although it's nice to think that, however bad COVID-19 might be, at least it doesn't cause people to spontaneously combust like the weird fungal infection in the novel. Even if the way the fictional infection sets most of the US on actual fire works almost too well as a metaphor.Anyway. We do fairly quickly leave resemblances to the real world behind as we follow a group of people in a secret refugee camp for the infected as they hide out from gangs of vigilantes out to kill them and learn how to live with and understand the weird-ass fire fungus they're carrying. Unfortunately, we also quickly get bogged down in a story that drags horribly -- seriously this did not remotely need to be 750 pages -- with a cast of characters none of whom ever really came alive for me at all and whose emotional moments, more often than not, felt unearned and kind of cheesy. Which is too bad, as the basic idea is interesting. Interesting in a way that requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, mind you, but that's something I was entirely willing to do. If only the effort had paid off.It occurs to me that Joe Hill may be one of those writers I keep thinking I like more than I actually do. His short story collection [20th Century Ghosts] was really good, as was his comics series [Locke & Key]. I also remember enjoying his first novel, [Heart-Shaped Box]. But, thinking back on it, every novel of his I've read since then has left me feeling some degree of disappointment. So maybe my reaction to this one should have surprised me less.Rating: 2.5/5. I keep wanting to rate it higher, telling myself that it was mostly readable, it was an interesting idea, it wasn't that bad. But, honestly, when my primary feeling on finally turning the last page of a novel is relief that it's finally over and I can go on with my life now, I don't think a higher rating is justified.
    • 5/5
      This was so good. And scary. Going through an actual pandemic at the moment has me scared that things will get as bad as they are in this book. Government could break down, people could start a revolution. You just don't know what scared people will do. Fear drives you to craziness. That being said, the characters were great. Harper was sweet and it was nice seeing her transition from the meek of a jerk to a tough independent women fighting to save her unborn child as well as the friends she made along the way. John, the Fireman was a piece of work. He was a jerk, but the kind you like. The kind who is only a jerk to keep you safe. All of the fear of the spore made everyone nuts--those infected and those not. It was well told, long but not overly so.My only gripe is a reoccurring theme with Hill and his father Mr. King. Why must they always put some sort of animal death/abuse/torture in their novels. It's never necessary and it never to help the plot along. It's there for shock value and it's not an attractive trope. I hate it. I'm not sure how many more of their books I can read if this really is a common thread between them.Note to self: I'll rewrite this later when there is more time to be eloquent. I just wanted to write my initial feelings before I jump into my next read for Dewey's.Note to self V2.0: I think this is as eloquent as I'm gonna get.
    • 4/5
      I read this book during the pandemic, so the beginning where societal breakdown and overtaxed medical personnel are described nearly had me in tears. It felt so on point with the daily headlines and newscasts we are all so linked to. Joe had me hooked like a trout on a line as he led me through his post apocalypse. This story is truly a love story to his parents. You can definitely feel their literary influences in his storytelling. His subtle references to character names in The Stand felt like finding comic book Easter eggs while watching a Marvel movie. I groaned out loud. I cheered. I was truly surprised. Although I wished for a different ending, I believe Joe remained true in his vision of his characters. I applaud him and look forward to another great story by him.