Ooh time goes by and if i don't write the review right away...sigh. I'm trying to be better. The best i can do right now is give a star count...

American Fire is exactly what it states it is, “Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land.” I have heard a lot on this topic. This is the setting for podcasts, shows, and now this amazing true crime novel. I am a huge true crime fan, so this is right up my alley. This takes place in Accomack County, Virginia from 2012-2013.

Nothing appears amiss when suddenly there are numerous fires within less than six months. This is unusual because they were from arson, not accidental. Arson investigators could tell this was an individual who took pride in their work and had no thoughts of being caught. There is the sad fact added with the deaths of individuals as well.

When you learn who is at the heart of these crimes, and how they were eventually caught, you will be completely blown away. At their gall and stupidity.

This is a must read for any true crime fan. The crazy story will send you down a rabbit hole to learn more.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good true crime read. I had never heard of this particular crime spree. Coming from a small, poor, town, I can identify with the characters. An interesting well written read.

This book is compulsively readable. A fascinating true crime tale of a serial arsonist in a small Virginia town. Typically, true crime follows a murder, but Hesse does such a great job of establishing the setting as a character of this story, it's not a stretch to say the systematic burning of this place is indeed a murder mystery.

How did I miss this when it happened? A once proud town, an invisible man and woman (to some) light 67 fires in less than 6 months seemingly with no chance of being caught. In this story the catching is just the beginning; you WILL LOVE THIS TRUE STORY

I first read about American Fire by Monica Hesse on Entertainment Weekly’s ’20 Books to Read This Summer’ List. A true crime story involving a couple in love committing arson along a coastal Virginia town? I was hooked from the get-go.

What I immediately loved about American Fire is that we already know how it ends. Even though you know the culprits and the victims, there is so much more to the story.

DANCING & FALLING IN LOVE

Let’s start with Charlie & Tonya. How could a love connection made through a bar named Shuckers not succeed? Their sordid but somewhat touching love affair is highlighted throughout the book. I love reading the details of their shared Facebook page. Yes, I know, gag me. Surprisingly, I felt able to connect to each of them reading their status updates. The account gives us Tonya-isms featuring her “rhymes or homespun aphorisms”. These include musings about trips to Wal-Mart & McDonalds, naturally. Just like Rihanna sings, Charlie & Tonya ‘Found Love’ in a hopeless place. So what went wrong?

THE VANISHING LAND

Accomack County is the central character in this book. Monica introduces us to the sheriff, the residents, and the town’s history. As the fires pick up, the town’s resources are pressed to the limit. This creates more fear & tension & the air is thick with deceit. Accomack County knows one of their own is to blame. The question again is, why?

Hesse paints a portrait similar to what J. D. Vance describes in Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Industries are leaving, jobs are gone, but people remain. We meet the “Born Heres” & the “Come Heres” of Virginia’s Eastern shoreline. We are invested in the Volunteer Fire Department that is continuously working during the fires. Hesse pulls no punches about the town’s dwindling future, but there’s an indelible spark of community & pride caused by the arson.

THE VERDICT

I was Really Into This book. I love the show 48 Hours, but there are times I want it to go further and I want more of the story than will fit in a TV show. American Fire gave me exactly what I want out of a true crime novel. It’s well researched & pieced together beautifully.

Special thanks to Monica Hesse, W.W. Norton & Company & NetGalley for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

What a captivating story about the true crime arson spree that took place in Accomack County, Virginia a few years back. All told, there were 67 structure fires lite by an unknown arson in this rural area that had everyone on edge for about six months. It's quite a story and written well.

The only drawback is how many people are introduced early on that detracts somewhat. Quickly that is overcome though, and I found myself pulled into the story.

Hesse touches, just slightly, on some of the overall issues that affects much of middle America, such as job losses and dwindling downtown areas. While she's setting the stage for the larger story I was reminded of other recent books I've read such as Hillbilly Elegy, American Rust and Evicted; these books about small towns, rural areas just not making it anymore. But this book is different. It's the story of how love burned the buildings down. The title is just perfect for this book!

Monica Hesse, author of the excellent young adult WWII mystery Girl in the Blue Coat, returns with a compulsively readable true crime case study. In American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land, Hesse relates the story of Accomack County, part of Virginia’s Eastern Shore peninsula, where dozens of abandoned buildings were set ablaze in 2012 and 2013. The story hinges less on whodunnit (the arsonists have already been arrested, sentenced, and are serving time) than why-dunnit. American Fire’s subtitle teases the answer, which Hesse reveals through depictions of the county’s cultural history, the crime of arson itself, the painstaking efforts of law enforcement, and an intense but ill-fated love story. American Fire is narrative nonfiction at its best, a perfect choice for listeners of the S-Town podcast, readers of David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and anyone who enjoys puzzling out a seemingly random crime spree.

I received an advance readers copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review. American Fire is a true story about the spate of arson fires during 2012 and 2013 that kept a small county in Virginia in a relative state of panic. As a true crime book this is very well written and is an enjoyable read. It's fast paced and Hesse clearly has a great grasp of the case and the people involved. I read this book in one sitting because it's a captivating story and it's well told. Hesse begins her narrative by trying to place this crime into the larger context of the erosion of rural America and small town culture. This is one of the areas in which I feel the book falls short. In order to substantiate this idea that the burning of abandoned buildings in a remote rural area is a metaphor for the changing cultural and financial landscape of America, Hesse would have had to rely on far different sources. The book would have been a much different book. The problem with the sources that Hesse uses, mostly court documents and police records, is that it leaves a large gap in our knowledge of the arsonists. Hesse is unable to delve deeply into the main subjects of this case because of the lack of information from them. If you looking for a good true crime story this is it but if you are expecting this book to fit into the larger narrative that is so popular right now about the loss of American rural culture this is not it.

I thought that this sounded like a really good book, and when I finally got a chance to read it I wasn't disappointed. The tension builds and you could feel what it was like for the folks living in that area at the time these fires were going on. Just an awesome read out of an excellent reporting job. You won't believe the strange reasons behind the arsons. If someone had written the book as fiction I doubt I could've accepted the premise, it wouldn't be realistic. But since I knew it was true and had actually happened, I couldn't put it down until it the last page was read.
(My thanks to NetGalley, Liveright, and Monica Hesse, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my review.)

There were parts of this book that while reading, I didn't want to put it down. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. Then there were the other parts where I could of skipped page after page and not felt like I missed a thing. When the story is good, it's good and when it goes to much into needless detail and background information that doesn't add anything to the story, it is hard to continue reading.

I loved this book! Readable, interesting, serious but not written in a deadly serious way. American Fire contains elements of a love story, a true crime thriller, and a sociological study of the "decline" of rural america. This story of lover/arsonists/ and partners in crime Charlie and Tonya is simply fascinating and would make a great Coen brothers movie Highly recommended.