Publishers Weekly
06/17/2024
A Maine camping trip turns into a fight for survival in this meditative dystopian thriller from Heller (The Last Ranger). Best friends Jess and Storey are headed home from their annual moose hunt when they find their route cut off by a bridge that appears to have been recently demolished. On foot, they arrive at a scorched village littered with corpses; with no phone signal, they speculate the violence is linked to the “secession mania” that’s been spreading through Maine. Further hiking takes them to a lakeside hamlet, where the friends exchange fire with hostile locals and steal a boat to pursue their attackers. They lose their quarry, but discover a five-year-old girl named Collie hiding in the boat—and now, in addition to finding their way home, Jess and Storey must locate Collie’s parents. 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 (“You are alone under the wheeling seasons, and the best memories are drained by loss”) elevate the proceedings. The result is a wilderness adventure with real emotional depth. Agent: David Halpern, David Halpern Literary. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"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
“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
“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
Kirkus Reviews
2024-05-31
Two men on a hunting trip encounter a civil war.
Heller’s novel follows Jess and Storey, two friends in Maine, as their annual hunting trip turns calamitous. Early on, Heller references a bridge being out and a way forward blocked. The exact nature of the catastrophe isn’t revealed until partway through, though there are some hints. “All summer the entire state had been convulsed with secession mania,” Heller writes. He describes the situation Jess and Storey are in as being “in the wake of a rolling catastrophe,” with all the momentum that implies. The duo doesn’t encounter another living person until a significant part of the book has passed—and once they do, their situation becomes even more unsettling, as it seems they’re in a war zone with little sense of who’s fighting, and on what side. (The way this escalates allows for a rare moment of gallows humor when Storey says, “The helicopters suggest to me it’s not just a Maine thing.”) The two men find a girl, Collie, who’s become separated from her family, giving the second half a little more structure. Jess and Storey’s journey across an uncertain landscape is interspersed with Jess’ thoughts on his now-defunct marriage and his long friendship with Storey. 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 thrillerTo the White Sea than to Cormac McCarthy’sThe Road. But that choice also makes the speculative elements feel disconnected from the story of the long friendship at this novel’s heart; it’s not hard to imagine much of the same action occurring in the wake of a natural disaster.
An ambitious story of survival that doesn’t always click, but is frequently thrilling.
