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Second Fire
A family is stalked by a primal force that is spoken of in Indian legends but that has lain dormant for a long time. PW.
372 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
51 people want to read
About the author
Robert C. Wilson
19 books7 followersHorror author
**Not to be confused with the SF writer, Robert Charles Wilson**
**Not to be confused with the SF writer, Robert Charles Wilson**
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 5, 2023
I believe Wilson only penned three books, and Second Fire happens to be his last and best of the lot. While definitely a 'slow burn' (pun intended 😎), Wilson manages to build the suspense quite nicely. I may help that I am something of a pyro that I liked this so much.
Set (like his other books) in Upstate Michigan, Second Fire opens with some courtroom drama. An archeologist named Fielding, who happens to be our main protagonist, wants to continue a dig he started at a sinkhole, but the local Indian tribe (Ojibwa) has some objections and hence the court. Finally, an agreement emerges; the dig can continue only if a Native American is on site and supervises, and it just so happens that the expert Native American who testified at the trial, one Jean Shawshequay, reluctantly agrees to play such a role.
Locally, the sinkhole is known as the 'Cave of Bones', but the dig site centers on the rim of the sinkhole where some artifacts were found. The agreement stipulates that no burial remains will be disturbed and such. Wilson tosses in some local politics. Some of the young Ojibwa do not want a dig at the site-- frigging desecraters!-- and have their own plans to stop the dig. Further, something strange seems to be happening around the dig site. First, a 'loner' (poacher) is found dead in the sinkhole, burned to ashes. Secondly, a deputy left to guard the site after the poacher is found also turns up burned to a crisp. It seems the fire has a mind of its own...
Wilson can be a little long winded for sure, and the depictions of fire and flame at times seem to go on and on. The Second Fire is not a tale of some Indian juju in the modern era, however, as so many 80s horror novels explored that theme to death. I loved the novel explanation behind the foo here, but will say no more to avoid spoilers. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, I am glad I finally got around to reading this. Better than Crooked Tree and Icefire, his other books. 3.5 fiery stars, rounding up for GR!
Set (like his other books) in Upstate Michigan, Second Fire opens with some courtroom drama. An archeologist named Fielding, who happens to be our main protagonist, wants to continue a dig he started at a sinkhole, but the local Indian tribe (Ojibwa) has some objections and hence the court. Finally, an agreement emerges; the dig can continue only if a Native American is on site and supervises, and it just so happens that the expert Native American who testified at the trial, one Jean Shawshequay, reluctantly agrees to play such a role.
Locally, the sinkhole is known as the 'Cave of Bones', but the dig site centers on the rim of the sinkhole where some artifacts were found. The agreement stipulates that no burial remains will be disturbed and such. Wilson tosses in some local politics. Some of the young Ojibwa do not want a dig at the site-- frigging desecraters!-- and have their own plans to stop the dig. Further, something strange seems to be happening around the dig site. First, a 'loner' (poacher) is found dead in the sinkhole, burned to ashes. Secondly, a deputy left to guard the site after the poacher is found also turns up burned to a crisp. It seems the fire has a mind of its own...
Wilson can be a little long winded for sure, and the depictions of fire and flame at times seem to go on and on. The Second Fire is not a tale of some Indian juju in the modern era, however, as so many 80s horror novels explored that theme to death. I loved the novel explanation behind the foo here, but will say no more to avoid spoilers. Perhaps not to everyone's taste, I am glad I finally got around to reading this. Better than Crooked Tree and Icefire, his other books. 3.5 fiery stars, rounding up for GR!
August 8, 2025
Within the horror genre, Robert Wilson may not be a familiar household name. Part of this is due to his infrequent output. Unlike Stephen King or Dean Koontz, Wilson appears to publish a book every fifteen years or so, and lately they have been small-print publishers. In any case, his writing is superb, and he tells a good horror story. I read this back in 2013. Check him out if you are looking for something outside of the mainstream...
Robert C. Wilson loves fire.
It's obvious in prose like this: "The fire! It was energy in its most primal state, an uncontrolled expulsion of heat and color and noise. It lashed upward with spikes of flame in an unsteady display that flickered and fluttered and flitted back and forth with the randomness of frantic motion. The quickly changing pattern of bright colors and deep shadow, the nervous, flicking quality of its aurora, disturbed the air, creating its own waves of energy, of tension, of trembling movement..."
Purple? Slightly, perhaps. It's still beautiful writing, I have to give him that. Unfortunately, he blathers on about fire and its permutations and movements and colors and ferocity and beauty for pages and pages until it gets fairly tedious.
Amidst all of the colorful, and mostly superfluous, detail, Wilson has written a pretty good horror story in his novel "Second Fire" about an ancient prehistoric evil supernatural force that has been resurrected in upper Michigan as a result of an archaeological dig. Dr. Christopher Fielding, the heroic archaeologist at the heart of the story, is trying to find a way to mediate between his scientific backers and representatives of the Ojibwe tribe, who see his dig as just another form of grave robbing.
The court has appointed the Ojibwe representative, Dr. Jean Shawsehquay, a Wyandotte Indian from out west, to work with Dr. Fielding. She is reluctant to do so, but the first night she visits the dig site, she and Dr. Fielding discover a cave filled with human bones that appear to be centuries old and badly burned. Something inexplicable also occurs in the cave, something that Dr. Fielding can not explain scientifically, but whatever it is has left its mark on Dr. Shawshequay.
Soon after, mysterious deaths by fire occur. The first is a hunter. The second is a family camping in a nearby cabin. All of them are victims of what appear to be a purposeful, high-intensity fire, like a flamethrower, which leads police to suspect murder. Suspicions lead them to a renegade group of Ojibwe youths that police have branded a terrorist organization. Fielding and Shawshequay gradually begin to realize that something more sinister and ancient is at work.
Wilson's novel is above-average for its genre, mainly in its writing, which is superb. Other than a tendency to use excessive description, Wilson has fashioned a taut supernatural thriller in the vein of early Stephen King and Dan Simmons. It's a shame he hasn't garnered the popularity of those two writers, although his infrequent output (he's published only about 5 books in the past 20 years) and his esoteric subject matter (most of his fiction deals with Native American mythology) puts him a rather narrow niche category. He does seem to have accumulated a small cult following, however, and a well-deserved one.
Robert C. Wilson loves fire.
It's obvious in prose like this: "The fire! It was energy in its most primal state, an uncontrolled expulsion of heat and color and noise. It lashed upward with spikes of flame in an unsteady display that flickered and fluttered and flitted back and forth with the randomness of frantic motion. The quickly changing pattern of bright colors and deep shadow, the nervous, flicking quality of its aurora, disturbed the air, creating its own waves of energy, of tension, of trembling movement..."
Purple? Slightly, perhaps. It's still beautiful writing, I have to give him that. Unfortunately, he blathers on about fire and its permutations and movements and colors and ferocity and beauty for pages and pages until it gets fairly tedious.
Amidst all of the colorful, and mostly superfluous, detail, Wilson has written a pretty good horror story in his novel "Second Fire" about an ancient prehistoric evil supernatural force that has been resurrected in upper Michigan as a result of an archaeological dig. Dr. Christopher Fielding, the heroic archaeologist at the heart of the story, is trying to find a way to mediate between his scientific backers and representatives of the Ojibwe tribe, who see his dig as just another form of grave robbing.
The court has appointed the Ojibwe representative, Dr. Jean Shawsehquay, a Wyandotte Indian from out west, to work with Dr. Fielding. She is reluctant to do so, but the first night she visits the dig site, she and Dr. Fielding discover a cave filled with human bones that appear to be centuries old and badly burned. Something inexplicable also occurs in the cave, something that Dr. Fielding can not explain scientifically, but whatever it is has left its mark on Dr. Shawshequay.
Soon after, mysterious deaths by fire occur. The first is a hunter. The second is a family camping in a nearby cabin. All of them are victims of what appear to be a purposeful, high-intensity fire, like a flamethrower, which leads police to suspect murder. Suspicions lead them to a renegade group of Ojibwe youths that police have branded a terrorist organization. Fielding and Shawshequay gradually begin to realize that something more sinister and ancient is at work.
Wilson's novel is above-average for its genre, mainly in its writing, which is superb. Other than a tendency to use excessive description, Wilson has fashioned a taut supernatural thriller in the vein of early Stephen King and Dan Simmons. It's a shame he hasn't garnered the popularity of those two writers, although his infrequent output (he's published only about 5 books in the past 20 years) and his esoteric subject matter (most of his fiction deals with Native American mythology) puts him a rather narrow niche category. He does seem to have accumulated a small cult following, however, and a well-deserved one.
September 21, 2014
I wanted to love this book...I really did. I have a huge interest in the Native American people and their myths and legends and was really looking forward to this but something about the book just failed to pull me in. I just could not get into the first half of the book. The second half of the book was better than the first, but overall, I expected more from the book and felt let down
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews