American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land

by Monica Hesse, Tanya Eby (Narrator)

Shocked by a five-month arson spree that left rural Virginia reeling, Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse drove down to Accomack County to cover the trial of Charlie Smith, who pled guilty to sixty-seven counts of arson. But Charlie wasn't lighting fires alone: he had an accomplice, his girlfriend Tonya Bundick. Through her depiction of the dangerous shift that happened in their passionate relationship, Hesse brilliantly brings to life the once-thriving coastal community and its distressed inhabitants, who had already been decimated by a punishing economy before they were terrified by a string of fires they could not explain. Incorporating this drama into the long-overlooked history of arson in the United States, American Fire re-creates the anguished nights that this quiet county spent lit up in flames, mesmerizingly evoking a microcosm of rural America - a land half gutted before the fires even began.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, Audiobook, Book Club, History, Mystery

8 pages, Audiobook

First published July 11, 2017

About the author

Monica Hesse is the national bestselling author of the true crime love story American Fire, and the historical mystery novel Girl in the Blue Coat, which has been translated into a dozen languages and won the 2017 Edgar award in the Young Adult category. She is a feature writer for the Washington Post, where she has been a winner of the Society for Feature Journalism's Narrative Storytelling award, and a finalist for a Livingston Award and a James Beard Award. Monica lives in Maryland. with her husband and a brainiac dog.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifteen or so years prior to the first of the string of 70 Accomack County, Virginia fires that are the subject of American Fire, I was working at a Richmond firm for the summer and one of the partners owned a weekend getaway waterfront home on the Eastern Shore, the lawn of which gracefully sloped down to the water, an inlet to the Chesapeake Bay, west of Route 13. As I recall, 50 or so of us traveled by bus for 3 hours one-way, played croquet on that vast lawn, contemporaneously consuming burgers and beer, then took the interminable bus-trip back to Richmond. The view was gorgeous; the surroundings peaceful. No neighbors for miles. No homes in sight. In the part of the Eastern Shore we passed en route, there were few cars and little to no retail. (We may have passed an old Gulf station.) While reading this book and looking at the photos of the Whispering Pines and imagining fire after fire decimating the County and underlining the number of abandoned buildings that dotted the countryside, I kept returning to that memory of an area that - for working class folks - time has passed by - and -- for the wealthy - offers some bargain-basement (compared to other waterfront property in DelMarVa), undeveloped waterfront land. It's an uncomfortable reality.

I didn't have any driving interest in the topic when I picked American Fire up, and haven't read a true crime book since I was 16, so I'm not the target audience. Nonetheless, I have been reading Monica Hesse's features for as long as she's been employed by the WashingtonPost. Her writing is stellar and has never disappointed. She hits it out of the park here, too. All of her numerous talents are on display - introducing a plethora of characters without frustrating or confusing the reader. Not over-reaching for tenuous conclusions with respect to 1 of the 2 arsonists. The pacing is excellent. She's footnoted reference details at the end if you're curious. There's no evidence of a research dump in sight. I stayed up too late the night I started it. It probably deserves 5 stars, except I have insufficient passion for non-fiction works to click that 5th star. The problem is me, not American Fire.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse is a 2017 Liveright publication.

This is an incredible piece of true crime journalism that explores the people and events that transpired in Accomack County. Virginia in 2012/13.

Within a short five- month time frame, an astonishing number of arson fires were set, mainly in abandoned buildings and houses. This was not your typical case of pyromania- this turned out to be a 'rampage' crime- committed by a couple who claimed love was at the core of their actions.

This book takes readers through the beginning of the relationship between Charlie Smith and Tonya Bundick, when the fires started, the escalation of the crimes and the investigation which led to Charlie’s arrest.

The book’s construction is very much like reading a long form piece in a magazine or newspaper-but so stylishly executed, that despite knowing who the Firestarter is, the reader is compelled to turn pages until they see the culprits are caught and their motives fully examined.

The author’s emotional involvement in the story is very evident. The combination of an economic decline, the once passionate- ( but chaste), relationship between Charlie and Tonya that turns toxic and unhealthy, and the power plays that pits one against the other makes for a riveting read.





The book is not long, but it packs a real punch. The psychology behind arson is puzzling in the first place- not counting insurance fraud- but this case really is one for the books.

I sensed the author had compassion for all concerned, even Charlie and Tonya- but I couldn’t quite muster the same level of charity for the doers. I sensed both Charlie and Tonya got a real premeditated thrill from it, and I have wondered just how far they may have gone if left unimpeded.

However, there is one thing that really stands out in all this mayhem- The volunteer firefighters who logged in a whopping number of hours trying to control these fires. Amazing! For them, and the entire community affected by the spree, I gained the utmost respect.

Overall, a fascinating and deeply absorbing, and thought- provoking true crime piece!

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Things [in people] were broken early on" (paraphrased p. 184), and the troubles and stresses of life exacerbate the problem(s). "Maybe some people were affected more than others, in ways nobody ever could have predicted." (p. 181)

For the residents of Accomack County, the arsons happening all around them were a source of speculation and mystery. Who could be burning the properties and why? Neighbors and friends started casting uneasy and wary glances at each other and taking note of suspicious activities. Communities banded together to support the volunteer firefighters, and even formed their own arson hunter group. In the end, the who would be surprising and the why perplexing.

This was interesting reading about the history of and making of arsonists, the decline in numbers of volunteer firefighters, as well as fire investigation and profiling strategies and methods. However, the details of the arsons and subsequent investigations were slow at times, and bogged down with names and titles of various fire and police personnel.

While the book did hold my interest, I can't help but come out with a sense of dissatisfaction regarding the why of it all. Sometimes you just don't get all the answers you seek.

Do we really ever know another person? "It is the greatest tragedy and the greatest beauty of a relationship: that at some level, the person you are closest to will always be a total friggin' mystery." (p. 230)

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those true crime stories that is so bonkers I couldn't believe it really happened.

But it did happen — you can find the crazy news articles online. However, if you appreciate a good mystery, I recommend avoiding all spoilers and just let the book unfold for you.

The story is about a series of mysterious building fires in Virginia — dozens of arson cases in one rural county. We learn early on who the culprit is, but what we, the readers, don't know is why. I've seen this book called a Whydonit instead of a Whodunit, and it's a fitting term. Monica Hesse takes us through the case from the perspective of firefighters and investigators, and it isn't until late in the book that we understand what really happened. And it's bonkers.

Highly recommended for any fans of true crime or good narrative nonfiction.

Opening Passage
"I first drove down to Accomack County, Virginia, on Halloween weekend of 2013. There had been a bunch of fires there, two people had been arrested for setting them, and one of those people was now scheduled to submit his plea. At the time I was in the cruddiest place a journalist can be — between stories and out of ideas — and I'd asked my editor to send me to Accomack mostly because I was looking for an assignment that would get me out of the office for a day. Inside the courthouse, a red brick building that looked like a movie-set courthouse on a movie-set town square, the defendant in question admitted he was guilty, but didn't say why he'd done it.

"I spent the next two years trying to understand why he did it. The answer, inasmuch as there is an answer for these things, involved hope, poverty, pride, Walmart, erectile dysfunction, Steak-umms (the chopped meat sold in the frozen foods aisle), intrigue, and America. America: the way it's disappointing sometimes, the way it's never what it used to be.

"But it also involved love. The kind of love that is vaguely crazy and then completely crazy and then collapses in on itself in a way that leaves the participants bewildered and telling very different stories about what actually happened. In this instance, the stories shared only one essential truth: When this string of fires began, the defendants were in love. By the time they finished, they weren't."

[Book of the Month]

Where There's Smoke ...
By Judge Elizabeth Kiefer

I have a confession to make: Over the last few years, I have become obsessed with true crime. From Serial to Making a Murderer and The People v. O.J. Simpson, it’s become my go-to genre. But the fixation really started more than a decade ago, when I was introduced to a book that remains among my top recommendations to this day: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote—a work of reportage and suspense that is truly in a league of its own.

Well, at least it used to be. As of this summer, American Fire joins that league, too.

In American Fire, journalist Monica Hesse takes us on a journey to Accomack County, Virginia, where just a few years ago someone was burning down (mostly abandoned) buildings and houses, night after night, with no sign of stopping. Volunteer firefighters slept at the stations; citizen detectives patrolled the rural Virginia town from dusk to dawn, hoping to catch the pyromaniac in action, roaming around in the darkness. “Some people light things on fire because they feel like they have to,” Hesse writes early on in the book, long before the case is even close to being cracked.

But of course, American Fire has a larger scope than just arson, and the story Hesse tells is grander than a simple crime spree plaguing a small town. It’s about the struggles of a community in the aftermath of the recession—one that was already half-wrecked before a single fire began to burn—and the impact it had on the people who live there. It’s also a story about desperation and a Bonnie & Clyde-esque love affair that is almost literally aflame, and about how love can make you do crazy, dangerous things.

Most importantly, American Fire is an astonishing work of journalism that I love for the same reasons that I was first mesmerized by In Cold Blood. While reading it, I couldn’t stop thinking about how many hours Hesse must have spent reporting this book—the dozens of people she talked to, the many notebooks she must have gone through, how long it took to fact check down to the tiniest detail. From a journalist's-eye view, this book is a masterpiece; from a literary perspective, American Fire is one of the best examples of storytelling that has come our way in a damned long time.

Either way: You’re going to want this one on your bookshelf. It’s not just stranger than fiction. It’s better, because it’s all true.

Read more at https://www.bookofthemonth.com/americ...

[Jaline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arson is a terrible crime. Not that there is anything great about crime of any sort, but arson is one of the most difficult to obtain evidence for because it pretty much gets burned up. It is also difficult to catch an arsonist because by the time someone sees the fire and law enforcement or firefighting personnel arrive, those who commit the crime are already miles away. Even if the time is only a matter of minutes. This is because, unless an accelerant is used, it takes time for a fire to grow big enough to be visible.

What this meant, in terms of the 64 fires set in Attomack County within 5 months between November 2012 and April 2013, is that the person or persons setting the fires had to be caught after the fire is set but before they can get away. Almost an impossible undertaking.

This was also a love story, of sorts. Similar to other romantic crime couples such as Bonnie and Clyde (as well as others mentioned in the book), one of the pair must be desperate enough to do anything it takes to keep the other person in their life and happy. Desperation that leads to committing crimes of any nature isn’t really romantic at all. Psychologically speaking, this is co-dependency at its worst. As much as it is not that appealing to think about people in relationships so dysfunctional, this story likely could not have taken place in a healthy relationship. The toxic type of pairing like that between Charlie and Tonya is a kind of love, but not one that the majority of us would ever want to be involved in.

This novel depicts a couple whose drives and decisions led to months of fear and anguish for an entire county of people. It reads like a fast-paced thriller even though we know from the beginning both what the crimes are and who was responsible for those crimes. How things got to that point and how the crimes were performed and why they happened at all makes for a fascinating read.

There is background information going all the way back to the 1600’s when the area was first settled. Also found within these pages are the family histories of the people involved. There are interesting statistics of how rural life in the United States and specifically in this one small county in Virginia have gradually withered away in the face of economic and population shifts.

With first-hand immersion in the culture and hundreds of interviews, the author has produced a novel that is beautifully structured. Although the story itself is destructive in several ways, and sad, and frightening, and gloomy, it is written with great heart and understanding of the darker drives of the human spirit.

I knew I would eventually read this book. What I didn’t know was that I would enjoy it so much despite the subject matter. I recommend this to anyone who wants to learn more about the early history of the Eastern Shore, its evolution, its fall, and why people still want to live there – despite the efforts of two people to burn the county down.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matter of fact description of an insane act, American Fire tells the story of a couple who never should have met. Charlie Smith and Tonya Bundick did get together and proceed to go on a crime spree, burning 67 structures and attempting to burn others, over a period of six months in a tiny county in rural Virginia. Why I kept reading was to find out the motive, his is revealed her motive is not.

A crime expert I read recently advised looking for the abusive childhood in most criminals' lives to explain, not justify, their crimes. The author hints at this in her story of why Tonya may have done it.

[Darlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rate this book 3.5 stars.

This book, American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land written by 'Washington Post' reporter, Monica Hesse seemed like a good choice for me. I enjoy reading true crime books and as an added bonus, this one appeared to suggest a causal relationship between the crimes discussed and factors which have broader societal implications. What I actually found upon reading this book was a compelling story.. a crime story which encompassed Accomack County on the eastern shore of Virginia for 5 months late in 2012 and into the beginning part of 2013.

In November of 2012, a series of 67 arsons began with an arsonist targeting many empty and abandoned buildings and homes. As Ms. Hesse so eloquently described... Accomack County, a rural community like many other rural communities across the United States, seemed to be in a permanent state of economic distress and had been struggling with not only a loss of its wealth but also much of its population for a long time. The author suggests or implies in her introduction to the story that somehow the economic decline of the area was at least in part, an explanation for these fires. She wrote.. "I spent the next two years trying to understand why he did it. The answer, inasmuch as there is an answer involved hope, poverty, pride, Walmart, erectile dysfunction, Steak-umms and America." I have to say though that I was not convinced. From the facts she presented throughout the book, I was not able to make the leap in logic which was required to accept her explanation as fact... she simply did not provide enough evidence.

When focusing solely on the fires and who was ultimately arrested for setting the fires, I admit that the story was enthralling. Because these 60+ arsons were set in a rural area, the act of fighting the fires created challenges which I admit I would not have thought of. The buildings and homes which were burned were not connected to a municipal water source; consequently, tanker trucks needed to be dispatched to the scene of every fire. These arsons also required the involvement of the Virginia State Police who put in thousands of hours of work on the case and needed to be paid for thousands of hours of overtime. Teams of firefighters and police began spending many nights camping out in tents alongside possible targets because they would need to catch the arsonist in the act of starting the fire. The community which had , at first, been fearful began getting suspicious.. residents wondering about the possible guilt of people they had known for years.

When the police finally caught the guilty parties, it was by chance.. or luck.. as is the case with the capture of many criminals. The arsonists.. yes, there were 2 people involved... happened to choose one of the possible targets the police had zeroed in on. Because of this good fortune, Charlie Smith was arrested in the act of starting a fire. His accomplice and fiancee, Tanya Bundick, was arrested later that same night. Charlie Smith confessed to starting the majority of the fires and seemed relived to have been finally caught. He spent several hours taking police through each of the fires and implicated Tanya as his partner-in-crime.

Throughout the book, the reader is introduced to Charlie Smith and Tanya Bundick and from the details of their backgrounds, you can get a vague sense of who these two people are. Both come from difficult backgrounds.. Tanya from an abusive and very poor family and Charlie.. an ex-convict who had spent time in prison for drug offenses. The two met in a bar and from what I could tell, had many of the same problems other couples have... troubles with children (Tanya had 2 sons) and both ran small businesses which had been struggling and not bringing in enough income to meet their expenses. The point I am making is that none of the information provided about these two people.. or the community at large... was enough evidence to explain why Charlie and Tanya began burning Accomack County to the ground.

I formed some tentative opinions about Charlie Smith and Tanya Bundick, but in the end, they were just that... opinions or guesses. I agree with the officers who interviewed Charlie Smith.. he didn't seem creative enough to have planned and executed such a crime spree. I wouldn't say he was intellectually challenged but he did not appear to be deceptive or clever enough to plan such crimes.Tanya Bundick, on the other hand, was a more complex person. I never developed a clear sense of who she was or what she was about; but I did get the impression that she had perhaps masterfully manipulated Charlie through much of their relationship.. knowing very well that he was in love with her and would do anything to make her happy. Interestingly, Tanya attempted to place all the blame for the fires on Charlie, refusing to admit any involvement. So much for true love, I suppose!

If you read this book with the expectation that you will be reading an engrossing true story of a string of arsons, I don't think you will be disappointed. Monica Hesse spent a great deal of time in Accomack County reporting on these crimes for the 'Washington Post'. But if you read the book hoping you will learn something about fires and these arsonists which is explainable at a societal level, I think you may be as disappointed as I was. Yes, Accomack County, Virginia was an economically struggling community; and Charlie Smith and Tanya Bundick were like most people in town.. they were struggling financially too. But I simply did not see evidence which even suggested that their problematic relationship or financial struggles were what inspired or motivated this duo's arson spree. I wasn't convinced and I closed the book feeling unsatisfied.

[JanB · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This is fascinating journalism, telling the story of a 2012/2013 crime spree in rural Virginia where arsonists started 80+ fires over a period of a few months. All were set in abandoned buildings, in a struggling county that had no shortage of abandoned buildings. Some nights there were multiple fires, stretching the volunteer firefighters to the limit.

After a slow start where a few too many people were introduced, we finally get into the details of the crime and the unlikely romance between the arsonists, a couple that was well-known to everyone. The reader knows from the beginning who was responsible, but we follow along with the volunteer firemen, investigators, and vigilante groups as they work the crime, and the courtroom drama that followed the arrest. It’s not easy to create tension when you know the ending but Hesse pulls it off.

This is as much a portrait of a small community in Virginia, once the richest in the nation, now in economic decline, as it is about the crime. This would make a great choice for people who think they don’t care for true crime/non-fiction…it’s short, well-written, and the human stories behind the crime are compelling.

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating true crime story of a dynamic duo in love who set 67 fires in a five-month period in a rural Virginia town of 300 people. The initial fires were in abandoned structures and the local fire department rarely slept because fires were occurring in rapid succession.

The book references Bonnie and Clyde and how committed they were to each other and knew that they would eventually die together.

Once Charlie Smith and Tonya Bundick are apprehended and charged with arson, it's interesting to see whether they will rat on each other or stick together and not implicate each other.

[Brandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the cover of American Fire states, this book is about love, arson, and life in a vanishing land. The dangerous duo set 67 fires - that's six-Seven! in a 5 month span in Accomack County, Virginia. In American Fire, the scene is set well and the story is well-told.

I was able to hear Monica Hesse speak about American Fire earlier this week at a local event, which was cool. At the time of the event, I was just over halfway through the book, which I was already thoroughly engaged in. What struck me the most though, was the venue host reading from a NYT review about Hesse, before the program started. The review said "Hesse has managed to wring tension and excitement out of a story with a known ending. One of the most elusive skills in narrative nonfiction, and Hesse has it, is knowing the proper order to arrange your facts."

I agree with the above NYT review comments - Despite being aware of the outcome early on when reading the story, the book was engaging and remained interesting throughout. I was eager to see how things would unfold and what events transpired between Point A and Point B.

"Arson is a weird crime. It doesn't make its perpetrators richer, unless it's an insurance related plot. It's not like stealing; it doesn't result in nicer things. It doesn't, to simplify murder to its most basic element, get rid of someone you hate. It doesn't even usually make people famous... It's a crime in which the weapon is nature, and its end result is the destruction of a thing, the changing of a landscape, the carving of a charred signature onto a dead piece of the earth. Ultimately, the visible remnants of an arson are not what it has left behind but what it has taken away."

I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in a well-reported bizarre and fascinating story of a modern crime spree.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wondered. How could love be part of a true story about arson? The answer: it’s not love in a typical sense. Not romance. That’s not meant to deter people from picking this one up, especially those looking for a good nonfiction book to read. The first half is a thrilling hunt for an arsonist amidst night after night of fires on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, despite knowing the person’s identity early in. The second half is the aftermath and trial – still interesting because of some very good writing and a real look at people. 66 fires in 6 months fought mainly by volunteer fire fighters.

[Britany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Monica Hesse packs her dog (❤) and her bags to live in Accomack County Virginia for what she thought would be a piece for the Washington Post and then turned into this non-fiction modern day Bonnie & Clyde love story gone horribly wrong- with a big dose of flames.

This was very interesting, Charlie Smith and the love of his life-- Tanya Bundick set close to a hundred fires, mostly in abandoned buildings- thankfully no one was hurt. A town had to come together to save their history and most importantly-- each other. Finally, the culprits were caught. One admitted to what he did and one still professes her innocence. I still have a hard time understanding their motives for starting this "hobby" and how it got so out of control.

Good non-violent true crime read.

[Truman32 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting early November 2012 ,and going through several months, over 60 fires were purposely set on the rural Eastern Shore area of Virginia. These fires consumed abandoned houses and uninhabited buildings in Accomack County. The region was suffering from hard economic times so there were literally hundreds of deserted buildings –far too many for the police to guard. The volunteer fire departments were stretched to breaking. Stretched tighter than the elastic on your tighty-whities back in 3rd grade when you got that wedgie from school bully Shane McKinley. Mobs were patrolling the area looking to do the job their police department’s had failed at(historically, something that always works out well), and yet nobody had a clue to who was committing the arson. Who was burning down their town?

American Fire by Washington Post investigative reporter Monica Hesse details the peculiar and frightening events of this flaming crime spree. This red-hot true-crime book, digs into the circumstances of how this could happen and continue unabated for months as well as providing background on the perpetrators—not fiery master villains but in reality a sad mix of Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy Barton and Making a Murderer’s Brendan Dassey.

American Fire reads like a thriller and the pages fly by quicker than the Concorde redeye from New York to Paris. There is some mystery, a bit of unobtrusive sociology (get out of my brain, learning!), a tragic love story, and heartbreak.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Thoughts soon.

[Taryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since I inhaled the S-Town podcast in two days, I’ve been looking to recapture that weird, can’t-look-away fascination I felt as I listened to John B. McLemore’s story unfold. American Fire comes pretty dang close.

The basic story is this: a few years ago, someone started lighting abandoned buildings in Accomack County, Virginia on fire. It’s a rural enough area that the fire departments are all volunteer outfits, staffed by people who have to get up and go to their day jobs after fighting fires all night. And whoever this arsonist was, they were prolific, sometimes setting multiple blazes per night, until it started to seem like the entire county would burn to the ground before the guilty party was caught.

I don’t read a lot of true crime because I don’t have the stomach for it, but as the daughter of a fire chief, I found myself curious about the story behind the fires in Accomack and what would drive a person to burn down empty buildings night after night. Journalist Monica Hesse unfolds the story in a way that reminded me of S-Town—there are layers to the people involved and the problems they have. As you might expect, there’s no single, easy answer waiting to be revealed at the end, but in a way that’s what makes it satisfying.

Highly recommended, especially if you have an investigative spirit and enjoy probing the dark corners of other people’s minds.

More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

Accomack County was in ruin. The economy was down, few inhabitants, of a cluster of small towns, had much - not much money, not many possessions, and even less hope.

For 5 1/2 months, in 2013, no one could catch an arsonist in Accomack County Virginia. Local police, fire fighters, and investigators worked the case along with a number of outside agencies, like the FBI and State Police. Houses, sheds, garages, and a large abandoned resort were set ablaze - over 80 buildings in all. Most were isolated and abandoned, but not all of them.

And it was all done for love. Not hate, not anger - but love. Charlie Smith was trying to make up for his inadequacies with his girlfriend Tonya Bundick. This book takes you through the search for the arsonist - whom you already know from the start - then through the arrest, jail time and trials.

Well researched and written. A non fiction story written in an easy readable format.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Fire is a highly engaging true crime narrative. It was refreshing to read about a crime that isn't murder, in this much depth. In this book, Hesse does what I love most in investigative journalism, she does just tell the story of what happened, but locates this crime in a place, and a time, which plays such a significant role in our understanding of how and why these things happen. In this way, American Fire is as much a work of social science, as it is of reportage. American Fire is first, a story of arson. But it is also the story of a small and forgotten place, of isolation and small communities, of poverty, and what it means when these things are your life. It is also a story of complex relationships, familial and romantic, and how our love for each other can drive us to do unthinkable things. This was a really interesting book, I'm glad I read it.

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.)

[Marika · Rating 5 out of 5]

True crime lovers will devour this story of how a small town in Virginia was almost decimated by deliberately set fires. 67 fires in just 5 months. 67. American Fire is written with a reporter's eye for details, with eyewitness accounts that makes for a combustible read. It's not why the fires are being set, but who's setting them that makes the story so shocking. For fans of Ann Rule.

I read an advance copy and was not compensated.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because the first half of the book was interesting but written in dry- "he arrived and this is what happened etc." form- I was all ready to say it was a straight 3 star.

And then I got to the second half of the book (after the photos in my copy) and I changed my rating.

It's an excellent set of "eyes" to the relationship of a folie a deux (a pair who hold the same connecting delusions and intersects for excitement in a psychological sense of bonding)- one of the best I've read, after that point.

You shouldn't know too much before reading this. I didn't and it enhanced much of the insight into this Virginia peninsula area. That survey of the land, the context of those towns and county was 5 star. It reminded me SO MUCH of some areas I know well in MI that have ridden some huge economic peaks and valleys in the very same sense. And the fall outs are entirely similar. Especially within the empty buildings, more than half which are homes- but especially in those resorts or factory or work places structures that were bustling with people's activity and high spirits about 50 to 75 years ago. And what those abandoned structures look like now. Which resounded with me deeply to the "Whispering Pines" memories and descriptions as they were surveyed here in the book! That's nearly identical in the core of recreational "empty" structures or with mere remnants remaining visible. Many resorts of the "Dirty Dancing" type reality for their nostalgia and past forms! Great fun places of some dazzling good times memories. Can you hear me "Sunnybrook Farm"? And also for the "born here"/ "came here" dichotomy factor it was quite similar to South and Central Michigan areas. You are NOT a "born here" unless two roads and a town or 3 businesses hold your surname.

Also, for all of the city dweller readers out there. This book will inform you of how/ what/ where water availability and tanker storage capacity are FACTORS. Volunteers or full time professionals, when you are in rural and vast USA (nearly every area of the continent too)- you do NOT have immense urban water system feeds. You use the water in the tanks. And then you don't.

This is a real window into two categories of context that are very little surveyed to their fall out quotients presently in this decade. And absolutely should be given way, way more attention then they hold in media or civic attention.

Arson and uninhabited spaces.

Thank you to the two GR friends who read this first. I would have never found it without you.

Easy read, and quite excellent also in the theories of acting like a deer hunter to provide traps for several different felony criminal patterns beyond just the ones demonstrated here in this Virginia case. The first half of the book was a little jumpy, but it needed to be because of all the context provided and required to understand working reality here. That context is in placement vast/ wide! And for those in urban mindset for movement and life pattern "true" definitions, possibly very differently cored meanings for identical words. I did rather LOL when I just now read a reaction to this book that estimated "no significant" answers for this behavior. Dead end lives must have a different definition or emotional connotation? Big time!

This is the third or fourth folie a deux scenario I've read about in the last 10 years and it's probably at least tied for best. The Australian/New Zealand one of "Heavenly Creatures" about Anne Perry and her girlfriend was excellent- and very memorable.

Folie a deux- bonding into a shared insanity. But this book is just as much an excellent study of economic downturn and the cultural voids it causes. Which are in 99% ignored by those who never feel them, let alone begin to understand the generational human tragedy. And at the same time for the "know betters" are never considered worthy subjects for any category of historic recognition or training for transport to better choices. Or not even for any empathy, for what that is worth for the rural outcomes for decades, no- for some entire populations, more than a century. Many of these people, just like this tale's central characters, are also seeped in drug culture escape. And the "experts" wonder why!

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

America: the way it’s disappointing sometimes, the way it’s never what it used to be.

I didn’t see this one coming. It had been on my radar for a while as a Hoopla audio, mainly because of its haunting cover, but also because I rarely enjoy fiction via audio and I have a lot of yard work and painting to do. I expected this to help me get through some tedious chores. I did not expect it to be actually what it was: a sad, compelling mystery of sorts that spoke to what has happened in rural America. This is the story of arsonists burning down a county, one abandoned structure at a time, but it is also about so much more than that. Entertaining and crazy, like a soap opera, except sadly, it’s true.
4 stars

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

From November 2012 until April 2013, Accomack County in coastal Virginia suffered an arson spree that left law enforcement scrambling.
Eighty six fires were set in those five months. They were always set at abandoned properties or locations where no one was home. In one instance, chickens were intentionally released from their run so they could escape the fire.
Volunteer firefighters began to sleep at their stations, called out sometimes twice a night to put out fires on abandoned properties. Police set up checkpoints along main roads and attempted surveillance at as many abandoned homes as possible.
In a small town where everyone knows each other, it was impossible to believe one of their own was setting these fires.

When police finally apprehended their serial arsonists - yes, there were two - Accomack County was stunned to learn it was former volunteer firefighter Charlie Smith and his girlfriend Tonya Bundick.

Reporter Monica Hesse gives readers a look at the community, its residents, and the peculiar relationship of Charlie and Tonya that led to over eighty fires in their small town. What started as a brief article for the Washington Post became a 240 page true crime book that captured my attention completely.
Hesse delivers the information we need without info dumping historical information, statistics, or fire science. While readers know who the the arsonist is from the beginning, I was compelled to follow the timeline of the fires and the doomed relationship, turning the pages to learn why the couple did it. I appreciated the perspectives of the firemen, investigators, and locals as well as the drama between Charlie and Tonya once they were apprehended!

An excellent true crime story with a pitch-perfect delivery from Monica Hesse.

For more reviews, visit www.rootsandreads.wordpress.com

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love true crime. Why people unravel psychologically and what happens when they do endlessly fascinates me. The author didn't seem to have much of an exciting case to work with. Basically it boils down to two losers who go around setting fires, make that a lot of fires, and who tie their community up in knots but none of the fires hurt anyone. For the most part the fires are set in abandoned buildings and camps. With that basic premise the author does a great job of getting into the mind of the two arsonists. She is even able to make them seem mildly sympathetic. I thought she did a great job with showing how two people who alone may be harmless can get together and when combined become criminals. While I don't think Charlie and Tonya rose to the level of Bonnie and Clyde there is no doubt that that they had their small rural Virginia community in a tizzy for the run of their crime spree.

I have read some true crime books where the case was fascinating and the writing was so poor that it made the story boring. In this case I didn't find arson fires where no one was hurt to be particularly compelling but the author's ability to render the details brought the story to life and made it memorable. You could feel what it was like to live in a suffocating small community as your life quickly ran out of options. The fires became an outward expression of the destruction within. The book was thoroughly researched and extremely well written. This may be my favorite true crime book of the year.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if books like this are my favorite kind of books but I have come to realize that books about small towns, fiction or nonfiction, books that are journalistic endeavors but do so in a way that there is a narrative, there is a story, there are real people not just abstractions and facts but something else, all of those things are things I love in books and when you have one book that does all that and does it well, its really wonderful. I think it's good journalism, good story telling, and heartbreaking real life. I can't say if the book could be better than what it is, as I do not know these people or these places or this story outside of this but I can say that I loved it. I thought it was a wonderful way to tell a story about real people in real places that are both tragic and beautiful. There is an element of simplicity to the narrative in which I think aids to the notion that life is hard, sometimes things suck, and sometimes things are not so bad, but it's just what it is and we are all trying our best, whatever that even means.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

True Crime Commemoration # 30
Setting: 2012 Accomack County, VA

[Hank Stuever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's your next pick when you're craving a nonfiction book that reads like a suspense thriller. My friend and Washington Post colleague Monica Hesse has delivered a fascinating, literary true-crime story with the added intelligence and deep reporting that provide sweep and context, set in that other part of America we keep hearing so much about -- vacant, hollowed out, nostalgic for better days. Monica originally wrote about the baffling rash of arson fires in Accomack County (and the strange love story behind them) for The Post and then took that article and made it so much more. (Hey journalists and freelance reporters? Have you ever finished filing a long piece and wondered if there was a whole book in it? Often there isn't. If you think there is, you should read this book as a how-to.) I'm very proud of what she's done here.

[Judith E · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Virginian eastern shore had been hit hard by economic recessions and declining populations through the last couple of decades. It was fertile ground for Tanya Bundick and Charlie Smith's unhealthy relationship to develop and 'simmer'.

Through historical economic and cultural study, American Fire: Love, Arson and Life in a Vanishing Land gives an explanation on how and why such a bizarre crime could occur in rural America. This is an interesting and well told story.

[Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~]

DNF pg. 62

I find the subject matter interesting, but the writing style here is dull. One review mentioned that this book had started out an article, and I think it should have stayed that way. The attempts to flesh it out just didn't work for me. The way the author wrote the 911 calls as if this were an actual fiction thriller was awkward and clunky. She tried to round out the people like characters as well, but I could barely keep anyone straight. This whole thing needed another round of editing and some fine-tuning on the author's part.

[Marlene England · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating story, and Hesse does an excellent job in the telling of it. I was hooked from the first page to the last.