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The Arsonist
On the scorching February day in 2009 that became known as Black Saturday, a man lit two fires in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. In the Valley, where the rates of crime were the highest in the state, more than thirty people were known to police as firebugs. But the detectives soon found themselves on the trail of a man they didn’t know.
The Arsonist takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the strange puzzle of his mind. It is also the story of fire in Australia, and of a community that owed its existence to that very element. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species – understanding its abuse will define our future.
A powerful real-life thriller written with Hooper’s trademark lyric detail and nuance, The Arsonist is a reminder that in an age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers.
Praise for other titles by Chloe Hooper
'Life springs from every page of this enthralling book.' - Helen Garner
'A gripping, heart-stopping piece of true-crime reportage . . . Deserves the widest possible audience.' - Sunday Times
'It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this book.' - Peter Carey
'A sad, beautiful, frightening account of one man's pointless death . . . Every character is explored for their contradictions, every situation observed for its nuances, every easy judgement suspended . . . Hooper finds the common humanity in the accused and the accuser, the police officer and the street drinker, the living and the dead.' - Mark Dapin, Good Weekend, Sydney Morning Herald
The Arsonist takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the strange puzzle of his mind. It is also the story of fire in Australia, and of a community that owed its existence to that very element. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species – understanding its abuse will define our future.
A powerful real-life thriller written with Hooper’s trademark lyric detail and nuance, The Arsonist is a reminder that in an age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers.
Praise for other titles by Chloe Hooper
'Life springs from every page of this enthralling book.' - Helen Garner
'A gripping, heart-stopping piece of true-crime reportage . . . Deserves the widest possible audience.' - Sunday Times
'It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this book.' - Peter Carey
'A sad, beautiful, frightening account of one man's pointless death . . . Every character is explored for their contradictions, every situation observed for its nuances, every easy judgement suspended . . . Hooper finds the common humanity in the accused and the accuser, the police officer and the street drinker, the living and the dead.' - Mark Dapin, Good Weekend, Sydney Morning Herald
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2018
261 people are currently reading
6103 people want to read
About the author
Chloe Hooper
13 books220 followersChloe Hooper is an Australian author. Her first novel, A Child’s Book of True Crime (2002), was short-listed for the Orange Prize for Literature and was a New York Times Notable Book. In 2005, she turned to reportage and the next year won a Walkley Award for her writing on the death in custody of Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island, an Aboriginal community off the north-east coast of Australia. The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island (2008) is a non-fiction account of the 2004 Palm Island death in custody case.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 589 reviews
April 30, 2019
This is the second book that I’ve read of late about the horrific fires that swept through a country town in Victoria in 2009 known as Black Saturday. The first book I read was a fiction novel whereas this one The Arsonist is a non fiction.
The Arsonist deals more with the investigation on how the fires started and who lit them. As the detectives gather information they trust they are getting closer to who is responsible and it’s only a matter of time before they catch the fire bug. The investigation then goes on to trying to work out why somebody would want to start a fire in the first place.
This book was at times a hard and emotional read, but one that needed to be read but also written in my opinion. Aussie author Chloe Hooper has performed an incredible job in researching and writing this book. Because of the content of this book I’m not sure it’s a book that everyone would want to read, but if you think it’s a book you might like to read then please give it a go as it really is well worth reading. Recommended.
The Arsonist deals more with the investigation on how the fires started and who lit them. As the detectives gather information they trust they are getting closer to who is responsible and it’s only a matter of time before they catch the fire bug. The investigation then goes on to trying to work out why somebody would want to start a fire in the first place.
This book was at times a hard and emotional read, but one that needed to be read but also written in my opinion. Aussie author Chloe Hooper has performed an incredible job in researching and writing this book. Because of the content of this book I’m not sure it’s a book that everyone would want to read, but if you think it’s a book you might like to read then please give it a go as it really is well worth reading. Recommended.
October 21, 2018
This is an incredibly readable, upsetting and sometimes insightful book about one of the fires from Victoria's black saturday and the subsequent investigation and prosecution of the man who lit it. Hooper is a smart and compelling writer - I smashed through this in a day, almost unable to stop myself - but I was left feeling like it was a bit heavy on drama and a bit light on illumination.
Partly this comes from the story she's chosen - the titular arsonist is vague, potentially intellectually disabled and seemingly unable to process much of what's happening around him. This leaves the whole story a bit short of real meaning - these horrible fires are the product of a lonely, unwell man who has been bullied for years and is barely aware of the magnitude of his crime.
The focus on this particular fire - one of few fatal fires from Black Saturday that was clearly deliberately lit - means that lots of the more important lessons from the dreadful catastrophe are ignored. Obviously this book is about what it's about and poor regulation of private electricity companies is not as dramatic as arson, but it all left me feeling slightly unsatisfied.
To be fair, Hooper tells the story brilliantly - it's partly guided by who she had access to, but it's clear, fast-paced and gripping. The writing is vivid and the intensity of the sections describing the fires themselves left me winded. This is definitely worth reading, but don't expect something quite as revelatory as The Tall Man (a high bar, I know).
Partly this comes from the story she's chosen - the titular arsonist is vague, potentially intellectually disabled and seemingly unable to process much of what's happening around him. This leaves the whole story a bit short of real meaning - these horrible fires are the product of a lonely, unwell man who has been bullied for years and is barely aware of the magnitude of his crime.
The focus on this particular fire - one of few fatal fires from Black Saturday that was clearly deliberately lit - means that lots of the more important lessons from the dreadful catastrophe are ignored. Obviously this book is about what it's about and poor regulation of private electricity companies is not as dramatic as arson, but it all left me feeling slightly unsatisfied.
To be fair, Hooper tells the story brilliantly - it's partly guided by who she had access to, but it's clear, fast-paced and gripping. The writing is vivid and the intensity of the sections describing the fires themselves left me winded. This is definitely worth reading, but don't expect something quite as revelatory as The Tall Man (a high bar, I know).
March 11, 2019
Chloe Hooper, I’ve missed your voice and your brain. It has been way too long between books. This is exactly the kind of narrative non-fiction I hunger for.
February 19, 2019
This book has just been nominated to the Australian Stella Prize longlist for 2019. It deals with some of the events of the "Black Saturday" Victorian bushfires of February 2009. In this investigation Hooper narrows her focus to the Churchill fires and the search for and arrest of the arsonist. While the book starts with plenty of bushfire science and follows arson squad investigators to find the perpetrator it quickly becomes an interesting portrait of how the system deals with suspects that are borderline mentally disabled. I was left rather horrified at most of what was revealed about the handling of this case, but I also feel like I needed more information than perhaps Hooper had access to.
I thought there was enough here for an excellent long-form newspaper article but that the material was stretched fairly thin for a book. Additionally, the source material didn't always feel as well integrated into the narrative as it could be. I longed for more analysis or examples from other bushfire cases, perhaps more insight from experts in autism. We seemed to zoom about from fire investigators, to legal-aid, to defence attorneys to survivors stories. Sometimes it felt rushed other times like Hooper couldn't quite decide how to present the material she did have.
I might be being a tad harsh on this book as I really wanted it to be up to the standard of the narrative non-fiction of say Jon Krakauer or Erik Larson and while the topic is a very important one for Australians, I do agree that the definitive book on the events of that horrific day has yet to be written.
I thought there was enough here for an excellent long-form newspaper article but that the material was stretched fairly thin for a book. Additionally, the source material didn't always feel as well integrated into the narrative as it could be. I longed for more analysis or examples from other bushfire cases, perhaps more insight from experts in autism. We seemed to zoom about from fire investigators, to legal-aid, to defence attorneys to survivors stories. Sometimes it felt rushed other times like Hooper couldn't quite decide how to present the material she did have.
I might be being a tad harsh on this book as I really wanted it to be up to the standard of the narrative non-fiction of say Jon Krakauer or Erik Larson and while the topic is a very important one for Australians, I do agree that the definitive book on the events of that horrific day has yet to be written.
April 17, 2019
Fire in Australia is like a looming omnipresence always lurking in the distance ready to strike at any time. Even though fires are so common place in Australia it was still a major shock to the country when two fires were deliberately lit on the 7th of February 2009 in the State of Victoria causing major devastation.
This book chronicles the timeline from the detectives investigation to catching the culprit and then following the lawyers who had to defend such an openly hated villain all the way to his sentencing. What elevated this book was the superior writing of Chloe Hooper. She covers all the bases to really examine the mind of an arsonist and the relatively impossible odds to find a culprit, the fact that they caught the first suspect fairly quickly was a rarity making way for an open and shut case, but as with most things of this nature it’s not that easy to convict an arsonist especially one with limited mental faculties. The book really makes you question what kind of person could do such an act, there is no standard answer. As the author points out there are many reasons why someone would feel compelled to light a fire ...”There is only the person who feels spiteful, or lonely, or anxious, or enraged, or bored or humiliated, all these things can set a mind..on fire”
This book chronicles the timeline from the detectives investigation to catching the culprit and then following the lawyers who had to defend such an openly hated villain all the way to his sentencing. What elevated this book was the superior writing of Chloe Hooper. She covers all the bases to really examine the mind of an arsonist and the relatively impossible odds to find a culprit, the fact that they caught the first suspect fairly quickly was a rarity making way for an open and shut case, but as with most things of this nature it’s not that easy to convict an arsonist especially one with limited mental faculties. The book really makes you question what kind of person could do such an act, there is no standard answer. As the author points out there are many reasons why someone would feel compelled to light a fire ...”There is only the person who feels spiteful, or lonely, or anxious, or enraged, or bored or humiliated, all these things can set a mind..on fire”
March 29, 2019
This is an outstanding example of narrative non-fiction, and Australia writing. Hooper is really a master of storytelling; the story of the Black Saturday fires is a familiar one, but Hooper makes this story new, something more than a journalistic retelling. There were many layers to this book, which is what I enjoyed about it the most. On the surface, it tells the story of the Black Saturday fires, the investigation, arrest, and trial of the accused. But in the end I felt this book was about bigger ideas than this. Hooper explores the complex relationship between the Australian landscape, and its people; the intense power of fire to impact human lives, and the compulsive hold it has over "firestarters", the ethics of a justice system when dealing with those with reduced intellectual capacity, and the responsibility of society to prevent the isolation of people who deviate from our accepted norms. At every turn this book was challenging, but it was compelling reading.
December 23, 2018
The tenth anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires will be in two months. I remember my wife and I melting in our flat in Caulfield North as the temperature soared to 47 degrees. In Melbourne it was the hottest day on record for seventy years, preceded by days of sweltering blazing weather. Coupled with drought conditions and the State was already on high alert. Even so, I’m not sure anyone could imagine how bad it was going to be.
Chloe Hooper’s The Arsonist focuses on one of the outbreaks in the Latrobe Valley (the region where the bulk of Victoria’s electricity is generated). As the title suggests the cause of the fire, that started in the small town of Churchill, was not of natural causes. Hooper’s account details the arson investigation and the arrest and conviction of Brendan Sokaluk. She does so, though, by getting into the minds of those involved - those who survived the fires (and their gut-wrenching experiences), the detectives and experts who investigated the crime, the lawyers that defended Brendan.
Brendan, for the most part, is closed to us and Hooper. I won’t explain why, it’s the driving force of this incredible book that at times reads like a thriller, but for the most part is this emotionally raw exploration into a tragedy that’s left an indelible mark on Victoria. Hooper, who worked on The Arsonist for five years, clearly has a strong bond with the people she interviewed, and as such she respects each and every one of them. These are people striving to find justice, to find answers, to find some sort of resolution amongst the ashes.
Read this book.
Chloe Hooper’s The Arsonist focuses on one of the outbreaks in the Latrobe Valley (the region where the bulk of Victoria’s electricity is generated). As the title suggests the cause of the fire, that started in the small town of Churchill, was not of natural causes. Hooper’s account details the arson investigation and the arrest and conviction of Brendan Sokaluk. She does so, though, by getting into the minds of those involved - those who survived the fires (and their gut-wrenching experiences), the detectives and experts who investigated the crime, the lawyers that defended Brendan.
Brendan, for the most part, is closed to us and Hooper. I won’t explain why, it’s the driving force of this incredible book that at times reads like a thriller, but for the most part is this emotionally raw exploration into a tragedy that’s left an indelible mark on Victoria. Hooper, who worked on The Arsonist for five years, clearly has a strong bond with the people she interviewed, and as such she respects each and every one of them. These are people striving to find justice, to find answers, to find some sort of resolution amongst the ashes.
Read this book.
October 4, 2024
4/5
The stories about those who lost loved ones (and how they lost them) on Black Saturday that begin and conclude this book are harrowing.
I had only read small articles by Chloe Hooper until this. I had liked her writing style in those, but this surpassed my expectations. I will definitely put some more of her stuff on my list!
The stories about those who lost loved ones (and how they lost them) on Black Saturday that begin and conclude this book are harrowing.
I had only read small articles by Chloe Hooper until this. I had liked her writing style in those, but this surpassed my expectations. I will definitely put some more of her stuff on my list!
December 28, 2019
3.5 stars!
Not going to lie, reading The Arsonist was quite disturbing. Real-life events set in Victoria, Australia about a range of lethal fires set by arsonists with residents dying and millions of dollars worth of damage. This book focuses on the Black Saturday fires, the man taken to trial for arson and the aftermath of a small community turned upside down. The pacing was quite slow and I was scared for most of it. This isn't an easy read so be warned!
Not going to lie, reading The Arsonist was quite disturbing. Real-life events set in Victoria, Australia about a range of lethal fires set by arsonists with residents dying and millions of dollars worth of damage. This book focuses on the Black Saturday fires, the man taken to trial for arson and the aftermath of a small community turned upside down. The pacing was quite slow and I was scared for most of it. This isn't an easy read so be warned!
December 9, 2018
A compulsively readable retracing of the conditions - in the Latrobe Valley, and in the life of the convicted arsonist - which caused the devastating conflagration in Churchill, Victoria that burnt out an estimated 81,000 acres, and brought death to local residents and wildlife, and destruction to cherished homes and infrastructure.
Although the arsonist's mind is, in the end, unknowable, the individual stories of Black Saturday are the most affecting.
At page 221: "[The prosecutor] went on reading. In these accounts, the bereaved told of being short-fused; of relationships breaking down between parents and children, between partners, between siblings. He read of self-harming; of needing antidepressants, and anti-anxiety and sleeping medication. Some people had had to move - if there was a house left to move from - to avoid continually driving past the scorched forest. The fire kept spreading in this other dimension, burning through memories, and the layers of identity. Aerial photographs had shown a landscape of black. The survivors found themselves still living inside it, daily tasting the ash."
If you were mesmerised by Helen Garner's masterful "This House of Grief", you'll read "The Arsonist" in a single sitting, like I did.
Although the arsonist's mind is, in the end, unknowable, the individual stories of Black Saturday are the most affecting.
At page 221: "[The prosecutor] went on reading. In these accounts, the bereaved told of being short-fused; of relationships breaking down between parents and children, between partners, between siblings. He read of self-harming; of needing antidepressants, and anti-anxiety and sleeping medication. Some people had had to move - if there was a house left to move from - to avoid continually driving past the scorched forest. The fire kept spreading in this other dimension, burning through memories, and the layers of identity. Aerial photographs had shown a landscape of black. The survivors found themselves still living inside it, daily tasting the ash."
If you were mesmerised by Helen Garner's masterful "This House of Grief", you'll read "The Arsonist" in a single sitting, like I did.
September 20, 2019
The Black Saturday bushfires were a series of bushfires across Victoria in February 2009. 173 people died in as many as 400 fires ; most of whom died due to ageing power infrastructure.
Chloe Hooper writes this non fiction account of the Central Gippsland fires where Brendan Sokaluk was convicted of 10 counts of arson causing death.
Mostly this book reads like a long newspaper article. Despite the title of this book, there was much more focus on the fires, and some personal stories of the horrendous day and aftermath from survivors, then there is exploring the arsonist. We do get some insight into him in the latter part of the book, but I felt that Hooper wrote so dispassionately that although we are receiving the facts (which is important), there is very little analysis or insight.
I found the explanation of the terrible impacts of government decisions around privatisation and mining to be deeply disturbing, and although it is a difficult book to "enjoy", it is not a long book, not difficult to read, and does explore some important societal themes.
Chloe Hooper writes this non fiction account of the Central Gippsland fires where Brendan Sokaluk was convicted of 10 counts of arson causing death.
Mostly this book reads like a long newspaper article. Despite the title of this book, there was much more focus on the fires, and some personal stories of the horrendous day and aftermath from survivors, then there is exploring the arsonist. We do get some insight into him in the latter part of the book, but I felt that Hooper wrote so dispassionately that although we are receiving the facts (which is important), there is very little analysis or insight.
I found the explanation of the terrible impacts of government decisions around privatisation and mining to be deeply disturbing, and although it is a difficult book to "enjoy", it is not a long book, not difficult to read, and does explore some important societal themes.
January 23, 2019
I'm not sure it was a good idea to read this book in the middle of yet another heat wave in the middle of the hottest, driest summer on record and on a day where the temperatures will be in the mid 40s.
Nonetheless this was a scary book. Scary on the level of uncontrollable violence unleashed by bushfires. Scary on how these fires can start. Scary on the complexity of people who are arsonists.
This is a different book to Tall Man: The Death of Doomadgee made more complex due to the mental state of the arsonist. He is such a complicated human with a unique neurodiversity that the author struggles to define and understand.
Nonetheless this was a scary book. Scary on the level of uncontrollable violence unleashed by bushfires. Scary on how these fires can start. Scary on the complexity of people who are arsonists.
This is a different book to Tall Man: The Death of Doomadgee made more complex due to the mental state of the arsonist. He is such a complicated human with a unique neurodiversity that the author struggles to define and understand.
May 6, 2020
Nope, not for me. I found it quite boring, despite the topic.
March 8, 2019
One of the most riveting sessions at the recent Word For Word Non Fiction festival in Geelong was Chloe Hooper in conversation with Lisa Waller from Deakin.
Chloe Hooper is the author of two novels, A Child’s Book of True Crime (2002) and The Engagement (2012, see my review) but I think it’s safe to say she is best-known for her incisive non-fiction. The Tall Man, Death and Life on Palm Island (2008) (see my review) won a swag of awards, and I won’t be surprised if The Arsonist does the same. It really is a stunning book, one which warns us of an apocalyptic future if we don’t act soon on climate change. (If it’s not already too late).
This is the blurb:
On the scorching February day in 2009 that became known as Black Saturday, a man lit two fires in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. In the Valley, where the rates of crime were the highest in the state, more than thirty people were known to police as firebugs. But the detectives soon found themselves on the trail of a man they didn’t know.
The Arsonist takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the strange puzzle of his mind. It is also the story of fire in this country, and of a community that owed its existence to that very element. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species – understanding its abuse will define our future.
A powerful real-life thriller written with Hooper’s trademark lyric detail and nuance, The Arsonist is a reminder that in an age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers.
While the Black Saturday bushfires claimed 180 lives altogether, injured over 400 people and caused incalculable loss and trauma as well, Hooper confines her investigation to the Churchill fires which were deliberately lit. (Most of the others were caused by power companies’ negligence). Written in three parts, the book engages the emotions of the reader immediately because in Part I ‘The Detectives’, the focus is entirely on the victims of the fire that swept through this dormitory suburb for the power workers of the Latrobe Valley electricity industry. As the arson detectives make their way through the eerie smoking landscape in the immediate aftermath of the fire, the stories of individuals impacted by the fires are revealed in all their harrowing and heartbreaking detail. At the festival, Hooper said that it was hard to work out what the appropriate distance was to tell these stories. She wanted to show readers what can happen in Australia, but she tried to be sparing all the same. (She had permission for the most specific of these stories). Many readers will find it quite overwhelming in places.
Part II is called ‘The Lawyers’ and the reader’s sympathies reluctantly shift.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/11/25/t...
Chloe Hooper is the author of two novels, A Child’s Book of True Crime (2002) and The Engagement (2012, see my review) but I think it’s safe to say she is best-known for her incisive non-fiction. The Tall Man, Death and Life on Palm Island (2008) (see my review) won a swag of awards, and I won’t be surprised if The Arsonist does the same. It really is a stunning book, one which warns us of an apocalyptic future if we don’t act soon on climate change. (If it’s not already too late).
This is the blurb:
On the scorching February day in 2009 that became known as Black Saturday, a man lit two fires in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, then sat on the roof of his house to watch the inferno. In the Valley, where the rates of crime were the highest in the state, more than thirty people were known to police as firebugs. But the detectives soon found themselves on the trail of a man they didn’t know.
The Arsonist takes readers on the hunt for this man, and inside the strange puzzle of his mind. It is also the story of fire in this country, and of a community that owed its existence to that very element. The command of fire has defined and sustained us as a species – understanding its abuse will define our future.
A powerful real-life thriller written with Hooper’s trademark lyric detail and nuance, The Arsonist is a reminder that in an age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers.
While the Black Saturday bushfires claimed 180 lives altogether, injured over 400 people and caused incalculable loss and trauma as well, Hooper confines her investigation to the Churchill fires which were deliberately lit. (Most of the others were caused by power companies’ negligence). Written in three parts, the book engages the emotions of the reader immediately because in Part I ‘The Detectives’, the focus is entirely on the victims of the fire that swept through this dormitory suburb for the power workers of the Latrobe Valley electricity industry. As the arson detectives make their way through the eerie smoking landscape in the immediate aftermath of the fire, the stories of individuals impacted by the fires are revealed in all their harrowing and heartbreaking detail. At the festival, Hooper said that it was hard to work out what the appropriate distance was to tell these stories. She wanted to show readers what can happen in Australia, but she tried to be sparing all the same. (She had permission for the most specific of these stories). Many readers will find it quite overwhelming in places.
Part II is called ‘The Lawyers’ and the reader’s sympathies reluctantly shift.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2018/11/25/t...
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October 17, 2019This is another non-fiction book that I find too difficult to properly rate or review. Perhaps this one in particular, as the Black Saturday bushfires are burnt into Australia's collective memory. The stories of fire survivors, as well as those lives claimed, are truly horrific but thankfully it isn't a place that Hooper dwells. Instead Hooper tries to provide a holistic view but doesn't quite get there for me. I felt Hooper had a tendency to claim feelings and attribute reasons that I doubted she knew for certain. Overall this had more of a fiction feel to the style and it didn't really work for me.
October 24, 2018
4.5 stars. I've been waiting to have Black Saturday splayed before me and this is very, very good. But The Tall Man was exceptional. Difficult to judge an author against themselves! Well worth the read.
December 23, 2020
Bushfires are practically synonymous with Summer in Australia, and there have been several severe and deadly conflagrations since its settlement including the recent large scale fire of 2019/2020. Of these blazes however, Black Saturday has the dubious distinction of claiming the most lives in recorded history.
On Saturday 7th February 2009, as temperatures soared to the mid 40’s, there were as many as four hundred separate fires burning in Victoria. By the time they were extinguished 450,000 ha (1,100,000 acres) of land had been razed, over 3500 structures (including homes, commercial premises, and agricultural buildings) were destroyed, stock and crops were lost, and 173 people lost their lives while hundreds more were injured.
One of the blazes, known as The Churchill Complex fire, started in the early afternoon on 7 February 2009 in the Latrobe Valley. The fire travelled rapidly, impacting on several towns in south east Victoria. Eleven people died as a result of the fire, 145 houses were destroyed, and more than 25,861 hectares were burnt. Less than a week after the fire began, investigators were able to determine that it was caused by arson.
In The Arsonist: Mind on Fire, Chloe Hooper tells the story of this disastrous event, and its devastating impact on its victims. She then details the investigation that identified Brendan Sokaluk, a Churchill local, as responsible, and his subsequent trial and conviction.
The statements from those that lost loved one’s, and property, are heartbreaking to read. Survivors, including the rural firefighters who fought the blaze, were forever changed by their confrontation with the fire, and the event continued to take a toll long after the fire was extinguished.
In Australia, Hooper reports, around 13% of vegetation fires are maliciously lit and it’s estimated that only one per cent of bushfire arsonists are ever caught. This is often because the fires are started in unpopulated areas, and the subsequent blaze conveniently destroys any evidence that may have remained. In the case of the Churchill Complex fire, investigators quickly suspected arson was at play and their attention was drawn to the suspicious behaviour of a man identified as Brendan Sokaluk.
Hooper takes us through the investigation, drawing on a number of perspectives to show how the police reached their conclusions about the cause of the fire, and who was to blame. Brendan Sokaluk, a 39 year old local resident, was seen in the area of ignition, by multiple witnesses, and met the general profile of an arsonist - he was from a disadvantaged background, unemployed, and anti social. During his initial interview, Sokaluk confessed to setting the fire ‘accidentally’, and then retracted his admission, but while it became clear to officers that Brendan had some level of cognitive deficiency, several suspected he was exaggerating his inability to comprehend the investigating detectives questions. Nevertheless the police felt they had enough information to charge Sokaluk with ten counts of arson causing death, and 181 other charges, the majority relating to criminal damage (plus a charge of possession for child pornography found on his computer that was later dropped).
While a psychiatric assessment declared Sokaluk fit to stand trial, his lawyers were never confident that he understood the gravity of the charges against him, nor the mechanics of the legal proceedings. Brendan never took the stand, and no true motive for starting the fire was ever established. The trial began in 2011, nearly three years after Sokaluk’s arrest, and Hooper leads the reader through the process that eventually saw him convicted and sentenced to 17 years plus time served (3 years). With his fourteen year minimum, Sokaluk will be eligible for parole in 2023.
I found The Arsonist to be a well-written and balanced account of Black Saturday, though I was expecting Hooper would a provide a little more detail and context to the disaster itself. I do think her reportage on the investigation was concise, and of the trial, nuanced. She is respectful of those who were most affected by the blaze, but not without empathy for Brendan Sokaluk and his family.
Fire is a merciless beast, one the Australian landscape is particularly susceptible to, especially as we head towards even more extreme temperatures in a changing climate. Having ignored much of the Aboriginal wisdom in managing the land with fire, there is ample fuel for people to ignite for any one of the complicated reasons arsonists do so, and Hooper suggests we ignore the risks at our peril.
On Saturday 7th February 2009, as temperatures soared to the mid 40’s, there were as many as four hundred separate fires burning in Victoria. By the time they were extinguished 450,000 ha (1,100,000 acres) of land had been razed, over 3500 structures (including homes, commercial premises, and agricultural buildings) were destroyed, stock and crops were lost, and 173 people lost their lives while hundreds more were injured.
One of the blazes, known as The Churchill Complex fire, started in the early afternoon on 7 February 2009 in the Latrobe Valley. The fire travelled rapidly, impacting on several towns in south east Victoria. Eleven people died as a result of the fire, 145 houses were destroyed, and more than 25,861 hectares were burnt. Less than a week after the fire began, investigators were able to determine that it was caused by arson.
In The Arsonist: Mind on Fire, Chloe Hooper tells the story of this disastrous event, and its devastating impact on its victims. She then details the investigation that identified Brendan Sokaluk, a Churchill local, as responsible, and his subsequent trial and conviction.
The statements from those that lost loved one’s, and property, are heartbreaking to read. Survivors, including the rural firefighters who fought the blaze, were forever changed by their confrontation with the fire, and the event continued to take a toll long after the fire was extinguished.
In Australia, Hooper reports, around 13% of vegetation fires are maliciously lit and it’s estimated that only one per cent of bushfire arsonists are ever caught. This is often because the fires are started in unpopulated areas, and the subsequent blaze conveniently destroys any evidence that may have remained. In the case of the Churchill Complex fire, investigators quickly suspected arson was at play and their attention was drawn to the suspicious behaviour of a man identified as Brendan Sokaluk.
Hooper takes us through the investigation, drawing on a number of perspectives to show how the police reached their conclusions about the cause of the fire, and who was to blame. Brendan Sokaluk, a 39 year old local resident, was seen in the area of ignition, by multiple witnesses, and met the general profile of an arsonist - he was from a disadvantaged background, unemployed, and anti social. During his initial interview, Sokaluk confessed to setting the fire ‘accidentally’, and then retracted his admission, but while it became clear to officers that Brendan had some level of cognitive deficiency, several suspected he was exaggerating his inability to comprehend the investigating detectives questions. Nevertheless the police felt they had enough information to charge Sokaluk with ten counts of arson causing death, and 181 other charges, the majority relating to criminal damage (plus a charge of possession for child pornography found on his computer that was later dropped).
While a psychiatric assessment declared Sokaluk fit to stand trial, his lawyers were never confident that he understood the gravity of the charges against him, nor the mechanics of the legal proceedings. Brendan never took the stand, and no true motive for starting the fire was ever established. The trial began in 2011, nearly three years after Sokaluk’s arrest, and Hooper leads the reader through the process that eventually saw him convicted and sentenced to 17 years plus time served (3 years). With his fourteen year minimum, Sokaluk will be eligible for parole in 2023.
I found The Arsonist to be a well-written and balanced account of Black Saturday, though I was expecting Hooper would a provide a little more detail and context to the disaster itself. I do think her reportage on the investigation was concise, and of the trial, nuanced. She is respectful of those who were most affected by the blaze, but not without empathy for Brendan Sokaluk and his family.
Fire is a merciless beast, one the Australian landscape is particularly susceptible to, especially as we head towards even more extreme temperatures in a changing climate. Having ignored much of the Aboriginal wisdom in managing the land with fire, there is ample fuel for people to ignite for any one of the complicated reasons arsonists do so, and Hooper suggests we ignore the risks at our peril.
March 4, 2019
I cried a lot reading this. An immensely nuanced true crime account of the Black Friday fires in Victoria, that captures the horror of a fire beyond human control, the way society ostracises those who are different, and the unrelenting grief of those who lost so much.
Beyond even the knowledge that there will always be people who deliberately light fires – and that it’s a difficult crime to predict and prevent – what scares me most is that climate change is already creating drier, hotter conditions that make bushfires more intense and deadly. Most of the YEAR in Australia is now considered the ‘fire season’. Volunteer firefighting groups are struggling to retain firefighters, because of the horrors they witness and dangers they face. The heavy-duty firefighting equipment shared between the US and Australia is now needed in both countries within the same months.
I am truly frightened thinking about what the future holds in Australia, and where – if anywhere – might be safe to live. Cities, with soaring temperatures exacerbated by the urban heat island effect and facing numerous 50+ days that affect brain functioning and physical health? Knowing that turning off the aircon could mean killing your pets? Or the edges of town, where the proximity to bushland means I would face the threat of losing loved ones to unpredictable, scorching fires that can travel at 30kmph?
I know I’ve gone off of a tangent here, but... This is what it’s predicted we’ll face in our lifetime. “I want you to act as if the house is on fire. Because it is.” – Greta Thunberg
Beyond even the knowledge that there will always be people who deliberately light fires – and that it’s a difficult crime to predict and prevent – what scares me most is that climate change is already creating drier, hotter conditions that make bushfires more intense and deadly. Most of the YEAR in Australia is now considered the ‘fire season’. Volunteer firefighting groups are struggling to retain firefighters, because of the horrors they witness and dangers they face. The heavy-duty firefighting equipment shared between the US and Australia is now needed in both countries within the same months.
I am truly frightened thinking about what the future holds in Australia, and where – if anywhere – might be safe to live. Cities, with soaring temperatures exacerbated by the urban heat island effect and facing numerous 50+ days that affect brain functioning and physical health? Knowing that turning off the aircon could mean killing your pets? Or the edges of town, where the proximity to bushland means I would face the threat of losing loved ones to unpredictable, scorching fires that can travel at 30kmph?
I know I’ve gone off of a tangent here, but... This is what it’s predicted we’ll face in our lifetime. “I want you to act as if the house is on fire. Because it is.” – Greta Thunberg
December 1, 2018
This is a lyrically rendered lesson in recounting a crime that's plaintive in its pointlessness. Unsatisfying in a way that's deeply authentic, Hooper has spun up a story that offers no easy insights yet is too idiosyncratic to be imagined. Beautifully written, fast flowing, and filled with feeling.
December 18, 2018
A fascinating and necessarily incomplete story; a facet of the disaster told in a wildly compelling style.
February 5, 2019
Haunting and desperately sad and yet there is so much humanity in there. So much. The best writing shows us into the world of nuance and holds us there. Chloe did just that.
March 23, 2019
4.5 Stars rounded up.
March 19, 2020
Tiene partes interesantes, otras muy perturbadoras pero, en general, creo que el escritor ha estirado lo que realmente sería un artículo periodístico, consiguiendo, por desgracia, que se pierda el interés.
November 16, 2018
It's been quite a while since Hooper's very excellent "The Tall Man", so I was keen to dive right into this book.
While she does briefly mention the systems failures that resulted in so many deaths from one of Victoria's 'Black Saturday' fires, this book focuses on the man who was convicted of lighting it. Whether or not he fully grasps what he did and what the repercussions from his actions were is unlikely to ever be clear.
Her story is well paced and gripping, depicting the main characters well and honestly portraying the sadness in their own stories.
The descriptions of the fires and the stories of those who tried to flee are vivid - and will be inside my head for a very long time.
While she does briefly mention the systems failures that resulted in so many deaths from one of Victoria's 'Black Saturday' fires, this book focuses on the man who was convicted of lighting it. Whether or not he fully grasps what he did and what the repercussions from his actions were is unlikely to ever be clear.
Her story is well paced and gripping, depicting the main characters well and honestly portraying the sadness in their own stories.
The descriptions of the fires and the stories of those who tried to flee are vivid - and will be inside my head for a very long time.
February 14, 2019
Chloe Hooper has honoured all the people whose lives were lost or impacted by this senseless fire setting. She writes in a dignified and enthralling way never ghoulish, never tasteless, hers is a steady hand on the tiller as she tries to navigate a course to shed light on the reasons why this man did what he did. I had put off reading this thinking it would be too difficult to read but it should be read, by all Australians and perhaps lessons might be learned so loners like Sokaluk get treatment and compassionate attention before they act out so destructively.
February 26, 2019
Incredibly well put together book about Black Saturday and the subsequent police investigation of the suspected arsonist. Hooper weaves together terrifying first person evidence, royal commission findings and news reports to recreate the experience of the families who lived through the bushfires. Masterful, really. I found the coda irritating but it’s still a 5 star book for me.
May 18, 2019
Hooper has woven a narrative that demonstrates an extraordinary skill at weaving together detailed research and observations. These bushfires were a horrific event but she has taken great care to respectfully examine the prosecution and defence side while not shying from the facts.
July 26, 2020
4.5*
Why would anyone start a bushfire? In her book, Chloe Hooper attempts to find out what is happening in the mind of the firebug. On Black Saturday, February 7, 2009, 173 people died in the most deadly fires in colonised Australia's history. Hooper provides a detailed account of the subsequent investigation and prosecution of the man who lit the fires. It's a confronting and emotional topic and not an easy read, but Hooper masterfully balances a detailed investigation into the psyche of the arsonist with a depiction of the unimaginable horror the fires caused. It's a fascinating book and a must-read, now that as we face increasingly warmer and drier summers in a changing climate.
Why would anyone start a bushfire? In her book, Chloe Hooper attempts to find out what is happening in the mind of the firebug. On Black Saturday, February 7, 2009, 173 people died in the most deadly fires in colonised Australia's history. Hooper provides a detailed account of the subsequent investigation and prosecution of the man who lit the fires. It's a confronting and emotional topic and not an easy read, but Hooper masterfully balances a detailed investigation into the psyche of the arsonist with a depiction of the unimaginable horror the fires caused. It's a fascinating book and a must-read, now that as we face increasingly warmer and drier summers in a changing climate.
May 4, 2020
Don’t come to The Arsonist expecting “answers”. It’s not a thrilling police procedural where the bad guy is hunted down by the good guys and gets what’s coming to him. It’s an intimate portrait of a man who was found guilty of a horrendous crime, with many questions left lingering as to how, why, and even whether. Perhaps it’s too soon, perhaps not, but either way I’m grateful to Hooper for her attention and dedication in recounting this story and recording it for posterity.
My full review of The Arsonist can be found at Keeping Up With The Penguins.
My full review of The Arsonist can be found at Keeping Up With The Penguins.
November 27, 2021
Trigger warnings: catastrophic bushfire, arson, death of a loved one, animal death.
3.5 stars.
I think this suffered a little from me having read The Tall Man immediately before this - two Chloe Hooper books back-to-back was perhaps not the best life choice but OH WELL.
Having lived through Black Saturday - I flew from Melbourne to Canberra through bushfire smoke - and this was an interesting insight into one part of the horrors of that day and the reaction to it within the community.
There were parts of it that somehow dragged despite the short length. But I'm still glad I read it.
3.5 stars.
I think this suffered a little from me having read The Tall Man immediately before this - two Chloe Hooper books back-to-back was perhaps not the best life choice but OH WELL.
Having lived through Black Saturday - I flew from Melbourne to Canberra through bushfire smoke - and this was an interesting insight into one part of the horrors of that day and the reaction to it within the community.
There were parts of it that somehow dragged despite the short length. But I'm still glad I read it.
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