Imagine emerging from the woods after a hunting trip with your best friend to find yourself immersed in a world turned upside down?

Jess and Storey, lifelong friends, enjoy their once a year trip into the Maine woods where they reconnect and enjoy the peace and quiet friendship often brings. There had been some turmoil before they left, all of it the secessionist kind, but figured someone would handle it and yet.

As they come upon a totally destroyed bride and a town, they come to the realization that things have changed dramatically and they themselves are the hunted. A civil war has begun. Trying to head home, dodging bullets, and being pariahs, they find a little girl hidden in the confines of a boat.

Plans change as they decide to try and return this child to her parents.

This was a frightening tale of how hatred can drive a nation and its people to desperation. It is also a beautiful story of friendship, love, and couage in a time where their world seems to have gone mad.

Thank you to Peter Heller, Knopf, and NetGalley for a copy of this story due out in August.

Peter Heller's "Burn" is, like many of his books, set among the forests, rivers and small towns of rural America - this time in the wilderness of Maine. The main characters, Jess and Storey, who have been best friends since childhood, are on their annual hunting trip when, suddenly and inexplicably, they come upon towns which have been decimated - buildings destroyed and people murdered. They also find a little girl, alone, whom they take with them as they try to find their way out of this devastation. It is a story of courage, perseverance, and love and what we are capable of when we find ourselves with our backs against the wall and death the likely outcome.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley.
This book is a bit scary in that the idea of being out in the woods when you come across a town burned to the ground with everyone killed or gone would be terrifying. No cell service, no English-speaking radio announcers, no gas station open to fuel your vehicle and no idea which way is safe to travel. These two men are lifelong friends who must do what they can to survive. Deciding the safest route with little to no knowledge. We see flashbacks to their younger years and how they were shaped by their families. This book is made scarier by the idea that it feels possible in these times of a politically-divided country. What makes this book hopeful is how they regain their humanity and not just their biological instinct to survive. I'm torn about the ending because I want more of a happy ending. It feels abrupt as it ends quickly.

Five Stars. Heller deftly threads flawed characters with sublime landscapes while the plot escalates with tension and the unknown.
If you loved The Dog Stars, you will love Burn.
Great male friendship, beautiful writing and the impending fear of whats to come.
Available in September 2024.
Thanks to Net Galley and Knopf for an early read.

Gripping stuff. And with the scent of civil war in the air, all the more persuasive. The novel’s contemporary timeline is entirely immersive. Do the two central characters seem a little over blessed with relevant skills, when running, hiding and foraging for their lives in a mysterious, deserted and terror-filled landscape? Well, yes. But it didn’t matter greatly. Did, though, the injections of backstory get in the way rather? A more definite yes to that, although interleaving was clearly necessary, to sharpen the edge and also pad out the length. But the history and the events of young Jess and Storey seemed pretty irrelevant, given the compelling ‘present’. And then what about the ending? Brief. Sentimental. A little too easy? Probably. But how else to wrap it all up?
All in all, professional stuff, done with aplomb.

Loved this book. Peter Heller is a favorite author of mine and this book did not disappoint. I enjoyed the pacing and the story. Being dropped immediately into a situation without any warning made me feel as if I was there with the characters. I do not mine abrupt endings that do not tie up all lose ends but I do think I am in the minority with regards to that. Would recommend this book.

SUCH a great story. I love the way Peter Heller depicted a healthy friendship between Jess and Storey, and I love that he respected that deep relationship as Jess and Storey navigated the stress and uncertainty of a looming civil war. As the story opens, the two emerge from an off-grid hunting/fishing trip only to find that Some Big Thing has happened. All of the area bridges have been blown up, roads aren't safely navigable, and entire towns have been incinerated into ash and ruin. There is no cellphone service. No people, no animals, no cars anywhere. Their dread and discomfort just oozed off of the pages and leapt right onto me, and I loved that I felt tension right along with them. We, the readers, do not find out what has happened until Jess and Storey do.

There is a wonderful found family aspect to this story, as the men come across a lonely, frightened five-year-old child one day. Of course, they cannot leave her, so they take up her quest to find her parents and beloved dog. It is at this point that Jess and Storey re-examine their prioritizes and what they're willing to sacrifice for one another. It's remarkable. I also loved that the author included a bunch of flashbacks from Jess's younger self, painting a picture of how his wonky childhood has set him up to be in the very place he finds himself in the present.

The story is introspective and hopeful while also tense and evocative. Heller's nature writing is so very beautiful. I'm seeing people compare this story to another of Heller's called The Dog Stars. This is my first of his stories, but I loved the experience of reading it so much that I want to get my hands on a copy of The Dog Stars too.

I would like to thank Knopf for sending me a digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed it and am grateful for the opportunity to review it.

This book seemed like a push from the publisher to get another book out quickly and I was disappointed. I enjoy Peter Heller's writing, his inclusion of nature in his books, and really enjoyed The River and The Guide. Burn's many flashbacks/memories interspersed throughout then book seemed inconsequential and the ending left more questions that it resolved. You're left to imagine how the prologue and several statements in the book come to pass after the book's conclusion. I'm giving 3 stars because, like I mentioned, I do enjoy Peter Heller's writing style for the most part and I finish it because I wanted to know what happened; unfortunately, I still don't know what happened because I believe the author didn't have the proper time to invest in the resolution of the story.

While I typically do not enjoy "Dad" books, Peter Heller is fast become an auto-buy author! Burn was so good and read like a thriller. It was a fast read that you did not want to put down. The plot always had you questioning what was coming next, but the flashbacks had you deeply rooting for the two main characters and deeply invested in them as people. Jess whose point of view the book is told from has a tragic and yet completely believable and kind of just like everyone else life, though he doesn't really feel like that.

We meet the two men Jess and Storey on a hunting trip in Maine when they are suddenly stranded, their car has run out of gas and all of the sudden the town and bridges around them start blowing up. Can they survive to get back to their lives and families? It is a high stakes plot, that sadly is quite believable in today's world.

Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review Peter Heller's 'Burn.'

Does anyone write dystopia or post-apocalyptic fiction as beautifully as Peter Heller? Since the 'Dog Stars' I've been mesmerized and hoped that 'Burn' would sustain his track record. I wasn't to be disappointed.

Two late-30s Vermonters, lifelong friends emerge from the deep Maine woods - where they're undertaking their annual wilderness pilgrimage - to scenes of utter destruction and abandonment. They believe they may be witnessing the aftermath of a secessionist movement that's been making the news but have great difficulty finding out the truth.

What ensues is an exploration of two close friends' history together, their relationship, their emotions, their lives together and apart, and the lies they've lived with for decades as they make their way through a battle-blasted landscape with little-to-no contact with the outside world. They're faced with quick brutality and a complete breakdown of normal behavior. This book - maybe unlike The Dog Stars, for instance - happens in a timeline very similar to the real world and is, unfortunately, all too believable based on what's happening in the US and has been for a decade or more.

The writing about nature and humankind is just gorgeous, haunting, and heartbreaking. The ending is abrupt but, as with many of this type of book, it's the most realistic way to conclude a tale of this nature.

Highly recommended.

One of my favorite authors, Peter Heller, has written a compelling story so relevant to our present day circumstances that the hair on the back of your neck will rise exponentially.

Two best friends find themselves in the midst of a secessionist insurgence when on a hunting trip to the Maine woods they come upon signs of violent upheaval and destroyed towns. With no way to communicate or discover what has happened they put their survival skills to the test as they search for answers to their most important question….what has happened?

We hear secessionist grumblings in current day news stories and this book brings to light that scary possibility of the future. The characters reflect on their lives as they try to survive the future and the author paints a lovely picture of the wilderness that they use for protection.

Do they survive? This book has an ending that begs for more. Highly recommended!

Poetically written. Frightening premise. I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this book. I think I wanted more about the events the two main characters stumble into, and I think I didn’t really need the information about the relationship between Jess and Storey’s mother, and I loved the tenderness that slipped through in spite of the horror. I may have wanted a less abrupt ending, but I love the way Heller does friendship, and the way his descriptions of the natural world, as usual, become a living, breathing character. The breakdown of society in this book becomes simply a vehicle for the exploration of grief and loyalty, friendship, and the ways we find to push though in times of uncertainty and fear.

Many thanks to Peter Heller, Knopf, and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC of this novel.

Set in rural Maine, Burn follows two childhood friends as they emerge from a hunting trip into a confusing, violent conflict that may be the start of a civil war. This novel hooked me immediately, and reminded me throughout of The Dog Stars, which is one of my favorite Peter Heller novels. Heller’s writing, as always, is beautiful, descriptive, and haunting.

This would’ve been a 5 star read for me, but one of the subplots (which I won’t describe here to avoid spoilers) was distracting, and really, seemed unnecessary and somewhat gratuitous. Absent that side story, I enjoyed the rest of the novel.

In Burn, Storey and Jess have been best friends since childhood. The two men are on one of their off-grid camping and hunting trips in rural Maine when the country starts violently unraveling and the state begins seceding from the union. As the pair orient themselves to the unfolding reality, they discover Collie, a young girl, who needs their help.

Through his original writing style, Heller presents a reflective and captivating story of loss, missed opportunities, and the unique nature of male friendship. In his signature style, Heller embeds many contrasts in the characters, plot line, setting, and prose in this novel. These contradictions are one of the characteristics I find most interesting about his writing style.

I learned from the bio in the back that Heller’s MFA is in fiction and poetry. You can see the poetic influences in the unconventional sentence structures and flow he uses, particularly in more reflective scenes.

I’ve read several of Heller’s books including The Painter, The Guide, and Celine. Burn ranks among my favorites. Some of the small scenes, especially those with Collie, are so tender and relatable — and his reverence for the outdoors comes through. I appreciate his distinctive masculine voice, which provides a different perspective from the many women authors whose works I read more frequently.

This end-of-the-world, sort of apocalyptic story was ambitious. Two childhood friends Jess and Storey were on a hunting trip deep in the woods of rural Maine. During this trip, they realized something bad happened during their time off grid and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It took until 50% of the book to understand exactly what happened through a ham radio broadcast. Because of that, the story seemed to drag a bit because the reader is left wondering what the heck is happening and you are unable to piece things together on your own. The civil war aspect seemed very far-fetched, but then again, never say never.

The writing was poetic and jarring at times. There were a lot of flashbacks about their life, especially Jess. You find things out about him and his friendship with Storey. Jess was having some existential wrestling, that's for sure. I liked Storey's character way more.

The ending felt extremely abrupt and a bit sad, yet hopeful. I'm not sure if I would recommend this for end of world/apocalyptic type readers since it feels more like an off-grid thriller.

Peter Heller is one of my most favorite authors but unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. As hard as I tried to keep reading, I couldn't get past 35% -- it was just too.much of the same depressing fight for survival and the huge, unanswered question of who is slaughtering entire towns and villages and burning everything to the ground? The relationship between the two men was really well done, very believable, as was the dialogue in their heads. I do hope to figure out what was going on/why people were being slaughtered but it'll only be if I land on the correct page by skimming. Perhaps the book will appeal to others; it just seemed potentially too real to me to keep reading.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4

This is my first Peter Heller novel, and honestly? I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it.

The good: Fantastic writing, evocative language, the pacing is great, and it was easy to put myself in the story (although to be frank, I'm a woman and I've never been hunting, so take that how you will). I was, however briefly, in New England in the autumn, and living through the bewilderment and fear and absolutely batshit crazy situation the main characters were in, and feeling the way Jess related this moment in time to the rest of his life. It was tense and I burned through it (pun intended) in a few days.

The less-good-but-still-okay: This honestly felt like the extended pilot episode of a post-apocalyptic/dystopian television show. It's a brief slice, which is both amazing and irritating. I respect the impetus to leave the readers hanging, to give a glimpse of what could happen and leave the ending ambiguous. But I also want to know what HAPPENED. Also, I'm not entirely sure about Maine being a secessionist state. There are for sure Mainers who would LIKE it to happen, but are there enough for it to ever be a warzone over it? Unclear.

I'll recommend it for my library and maybe I'll read some more of Heller's work.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

📚Book review📚 :: Burn by Peter Heller

Story premise: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Character development: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing style: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ending: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Every page of Burn by Peter Heller drips with equal measure of both dread and hope.

We meet Jess in the dense woods of Northern, isolated Maine. He and his lifelong best friend, Storey, have been hunting but as they seek to rejoin the world outside the woods, they find it's not the same world they left just days before. They're surrounded by death, destruction, and, most of all, questions. As they fight to stay alive, they start to piece together what is going on. And it is in the middle of a Civil War that they find a 5 year old little girl who needs saving. The three of them traipse through the wilderness, unsure which side will give them respite, which direction safety lies.

Heller seamlessly carries us alongside Jess, Storey and little Collie. We duck and hide for our lives. We run through the trees. We hold our breath as we hide in the tall grass. And we get lost in reverie as we flashback with Jess through his memories of life alongside Storey. Through these memories, we come to understand the decisions the men make as they try to survive.

I loved this book for so many reasons. I love a dystopian novel, especially one that feels so within the realm of possibility. I'm a glutton for punishment and these kinds of stories feed my anxiety. I also love a novel where the natural setting is so pervasive it becomes a character in and of itself. Maine, and northern Maine in particular, is one of my most favorite places in the world. I could feel it, smell it, as Heller describes it.

I absolutely loved the ending. Without giving anything away, the emotion of the last few pages was so palpable, I caught myself holding my breath. I love the uncertainty of what's next, what's left.

As I closed the book, I wondered how far I'd go to survive. What (re: who) is worth staying alive for and how much fight is in me?

Jess and Storey have been best friends since boyhood. Several times a year they go hunting together in a remote wilderness. Returning from one of those trips, they discover that the world they have come back to is not the one that they left. Towns and rural areas are fighting a vicious war and Jess and Storey don’t know which side they should be on. Either Maine has seceded from the United States or an unknown enemy is attacking. All they know is that both sides are trying to kill them. Among raids they make for supplies, radios and information, they think about their long friendship.

Burn is a disturbing, frightening, dystopian and slow moving novel about the near future. The horrors that Jess and Story see in their travels are balanced with memories of happier times. The discovery of five year old Collie helps them to see that the sides people choose can be bridged by love and family. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and Peter Heller for this ARC.

This story goes back and forth between the present and the past, a story of two men, Jess and Storey, who have been friends since they were boys, who find themselves in their country, but it is no longer the country they remember. As the country becomes more and more divided, talks of secession become actions, and people are either hunting or being hunted.

Early on in this story these two come across a small town, and a bridge that has been blown up, and more, buildings that have been torched, abandoned cars, and eventually, a very young girl, seemingly abandoned. And so, they set out to find her family.

As dark and filled with destruction and danger as this story is at times, this is a beautiful story, an ode to nature and the beauty found there, to love and friendship, as well as the lifeline of becoming a chosen member of a family, for all.


Pub Date: 13 Aug 2024

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor / Knopf