Burn - by Peter Heller (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Every year Jess and Storey have made an annual pilgrimage to northern Maine where they camp, hunt, and hike, leaving much from their long friendship unspoken. Although the state has convulsed all summer with secession mania--a mania that had simultaneously spread across other states--Jess and Storey figure it's a fight reserved for legislators or, worse-case scenario, folks in the capitol. But after two weeks hunting moose off the grid, the men reach a small town and are shocked to find a bridge blown apart, buildings burned to the ground, and bombed-out cars abandoned on the road. Trying to make sense of the sudden destruction all around them, the men set their sights on finding their way home, dragging a wagon across bumpy dirt roads, ransacking boats left in the lakes, and dodging men who are armed--secessionists or military, they cannot tell--as they seek a path to safety. And then, a startling discovery, a child in the cabin of a boat, drastically alters their path and the stakes of their escape."--

Book Synopsis

From the best-selling author of The Dog Stars and The Last Ranger, a novel about two men--friends since boyhood--who emerge from the woods of rural Maine to a dystopian country racked by bewildering violence

Every year, Jess and Storey have made an annual pilgrimage to the most remote corners of the country, where they camp, hunt, and hike, leaving much from their long friendship unspoken. Although the state of Maine has convulsed all summer with secession mania--a mania that has simultaneously spread across other states--Jess and Storey figure it's a fight reserved for legislators or, worst-case scenario, folks in the capital.

But after weeks hunting off the grid, the men reach a small town and are shocked by what they find: a bridge blown apart, buildings burned to the ground, and bombed-out cars abandoned on the road. Trying to make sense of the sudden destruction all around them, they set their sights on finding their way home, dragging a wagon across bumpy dirt roads, scavenging from boats left in lakes, and dodging armed men--secessionists or U.S. military, they cannot tell--as they seek a path to safety. Then, a startling discovery drastically alters their path and the stakes of their escape.

Drenched in the beauty of the natural world and attuned to the specific cadences of male friendship, even here at the edge of doom, Burn is both a blistering warning about a divided country's political strife and an ode to the salvation found in our chosen families.

Review Quotes

"Heller's Burn is unforgettable in its tenderness, its power, and its warning. Prepare for a shattered heart and a shaken confidence in where this nation might go next."
--Beth Kanell, New York Journal of Books

"Heller is masterful at describing the feeling of being surrounded by nature. At one point in Burn, I likened the reading experience to sticking my face into the rust-colored bark of a Ponderosa pine to come away with the faintly sweet vanilla scent--something expected and decidedly human sprung from the rocky edges of the wilderness....You walk away from Burn with the forest in your nose and a bit of uneasiness in your gut about the plausibility of things falling apart."
--Alison Borden, The Denver Post

"Gripping, dark and surprisingly political....Burn grabs you from its first chapter -- in which Jess and Storey wander into an abandoned town where the torched buildings are still smoldering -- and never lets go. Heller doesn't provide many signs that his warring factions can come to an understanding but, as in all of his books, he offers comfort in the goodness of (some) people and the very human instinct to keep each other safe."
--Chris Hewitt, Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Many of Peter Heller's books -- fiction and nonfiction -- concern outdoor adventures, by which I really mean survival stories: on a river, in a mountain lodge, even on a Japanese whaling ship. But Heller always goes deeper than derring-do, excavating the complex emotions beneath a character's avalanche of fears."
--Bethanne Patrick, Los Angeles Times

"Riveting and closely observed....Heller is a literary novelist with a talent for suspense who writes about the natural world as well as anyone. In Burn a pot of campfire coffee is as vividly described as a surprise helicopter attack, and Jess and Storey's fight for survival exposes their all too human frailties--and the hidden truths that define their friendship."
--Taylor Antrim, Vogue

"The prolific Heller...is very much at home in the wilderness....You don't have to hunt or camp or know your way around the woods to appreciate the way he distills a quiet moment outdoors into a few simple sentences."
--Maggie Galehouse, Houston Chronicle

"Heller writes hooky, quasi-dystopian suspense with a strong literary element that describes our gorgeous natural world spinning out of balance at the hands of men -- and frequently Heller's plots have a disturbing way of anticipating the near future."
--Rick Koster, The Day

"Two men emerge from a remote hunting trip to burned buildings, bombed cars, and rampant political violence. Their journey is a stark, riveting warning."
--People

"Peter Heller's page-turners, typically set in the wild, peek beneath the hood of rugged masculinity. His complicated heroes fight to uphold human decency."
--The Christian Science Monitor

"Everyone should read [Burn]. No one should pass up the chance to experience the feelings it generates. These sorts of books come along all too infrequently, and finding one at anytime, in any place, through any means possible is an opportunity not to be missed....I wish I had written this book."
--Terry Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of Daughter of Darkness

"Heller's seventh novel, Burn is one of his best: It's full of heart and soul amid the bleak landscape....Heller excels at writing about the wilderness, showcasing its might and beauty amid deadly situations....Burn interweaves [Jess' and Storey's] past and present lives with admirable flair, mak­ing each thread equally riveting....A propulsive tale that will keep readers on the edges of their seats from beginning to end."
--BookPage

"Heller...highlight[s] the unique importance and strong bond of male friendship. He excels at nature writing too, with lush, sensuous descriptions of beautiful rural landscapes that are illustrative of an author clearly at home in the outdoors."
--Booklist

"A Maine camping trip turns into a fight for survival in this meditative dystopian thriller from Heller....Despite the high stakes, Heller gives the narrative plenty of space to breathe, allowing him to cast a haunting, immersive spell as his heroes traverse the ruined landscape. Painterly descriptions of nature and sparkling philosophical ruminations...elevate the proceedings. The result is a wilderness adventure with real emotional depth."
--Publishers Weekly

"Heller's novel follows Jess and Storey, two friends in Maine, as their annual hunting trip turns calamitous....The exact nature of the catastrophe isn't revealed until partway through....Heller ably captures the white-knuckle momentum as the two men try to stay alive--bringing this book closer in tone to James Dickey's WWII-era thriller To the White Sea than to Cormac McCarthy's The Road....An ambitious story of survival....Thrilling."
--Kirkus

About the Author

PETER HELLER is the national best-selling author of The Last Ranger, The Guide, The River, Celine, The Painter, and The Dog Stars. The Painter was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and won the prestigious Reading the West Book Award, and The Dog Stars has been published in twenty-six languages to date. Heller is also the author of four nonfiction books, including Kook: What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave, which was awarded the National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Literature. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in poetry and fiction, and he lives in Denver, Colorado.