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.
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"This book reads like a novel, but instead it is a true story of a crazy love story / crime spree in small town America. Author Monica Hesse of the Washington Post writes in a way that will keep you engrossed in this tale to the end. Unfortunately, there are as many questions unanswered in the end as there were in the beginning. Still, it's a good, interesting read. "
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Julie (5 out of 5 stars)