A terrifying new plague is striking cities one by one. Dragonscale is a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies--before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no cure. No one is safe.
Harper Grayson, a dedicated nurse, treated hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burned to the ground. Now she's discovered the telltale gold-flecked marks on her skin. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob's dismay, Harper wants to live--at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term.
Convinced that his wife has made him sick, Jakob abandons her as their placid New England community collapses in terror. The chaos gives rise to armed, self-appointed posses roaming the streets and woods to exterminate those who they believe carry the spore. But Harper isn't as alone as she fears: a mysterious stranger in a dirty yellow firefighter's jacket, carrying a hooked iron bar, straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted . . . and as a weapon to avenge the wronged.
Harper must learn The Fireman's secrets before her life--and that of her unborn child--goes up in smoke.
--Library Journal (starred review) on HEART-SHAPED BOX --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Review
“Original and gripping, a page-turner.” (George R. R. Martin on THE FIREMAN)
“[A] superb supernatural thriller . . . a tremendous, heartrending epic of bravery and love set in a fully realized and terrifying apocalyptic world, where hope lies in the simplest of gestures and the fullest of hearts.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) on THE FIRMAN)
“Hill has a talent for depicting fascinating characters caught in terrible situations. . . . With a full cast of characters and multiple story lines to keep the reader hooked, Hill’s enthralling fourth thriller hits another home run.” (Library Journal (starred review) on THE FIREMAN)
“Joe Hill has always been good, but he’s created something incandescent here, soaring and original. He’s a master storyteller who writes with fire in his veins.” (Lauren Beukes, author of BROKEN MONSTERS on THE FIREMAN)
“Fascinating and utterly engaging, this novel is sure to leave readers wanting more. One thing is for certain, however. After reading this book, readers will never hear Christmas carols in quite the same way again.” (Library Journal (starred review) on NOS4A2)
“[An] undeniably readable work.” (Booklist (starred review) on NOS4A2)
“Read it with the lights on and your children locked in a closet.” (BookRiot.com on NOS4A2)
[Hill]’s got horror down pat, and his debut is hair-raising fun.” (Kirkus on HEART-SHAPED BOX)
“[A] wrenching and effective ghost story . . . reads like good, early King mixed with some of the edgier splatterpunk sensibilities of David J. Schow . . . [HEART-SHAPED BOX] has genuinely touching emotional moments as well as action-packed confrontations with the dead.” (Library Journal (starred review) on HEART-SHAPED BOX)
“A genuinely scary novel filled with people you care about; the kind of book that still stays in your mind after you’ve turned over the final page. I loved it unreservedly.” (Neil Gaiman, author of THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE on HEART-SHAPED BOX)
“[HORNS is] a creepy murder mystery, a tragic love triangle, and a sweetly wistful coming-of-age story. It’s the kind of book that has you laughing on one page, crying on another and making sure the doors and windows are safely locked on a third.” (Miami Herald on HORNS)
“[Horns is] devilishly good. . . . Hill is a terrific writer with a great imagination. He has a special talent for taking us and his characters to very weird places.” (USA Today on HORNS) --This text refers to the paperback edition. From the Back Cover
From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box comes an unnerving novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes
Stay cool . . .
No one knows exactly when or where it began. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one . . . Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that tattoos its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks—before causing them to burst into flames.
Harper Grayson, a compassionate, dedicated nurse treated hundreds of infected patients before contracting the deadly virus herself. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob’s dismay, Harper now wants to live—at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term.
Convinced that his do-gooding wife has made him sick, Jakob becomes unhinged, and eventually abandons her as their once-placid New England community collapses in terror.
But Harper isn’t as alone as she fears: a mysterious and compelling stranger, a man wearing a dirty yellow firefighter’s jacket and carrying a hooked iron bar, straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known simply as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted . . . and as a weapon to avenge the wronged.
. . . The Fireman is coming.
--This text refers to the paperback edition. From Publishers Weekly
In Hill's superb supernatural thriller, the world is falling apart in a maelstrom of flame and fury. A spore dubbed Dragonscale infects people, draws patterns on their skin, and eventually makes them spontaneously combustâand it's rapidly spreading. School nurse Harper Grayson volunteers at a local hospital in Concord, N.H., until it burns down. Soon she discovers that not only is she infected but she's also pregnant. As the beautiful filigreed markings of Dragonscale start to flourish on her body, she vows to do anything to bring her baby safely into the world. Her husband, Jakob, doesn't want the baby and attacks Harper when he realizes she wants to keep it. Harper flees and encounters John Rookwood, a near-mythical figure known as the Fireman. He takes her to Camp Wyndham, where the infected have learned to control and harness what they call the Brightâthe flames that smolder just beneath their skin. Harper finds purpose there, but Jakob has found a purpose too: he's joined the Cremation Crews, brutal marauders who kill the infected on sight. When the peace of the camp is threatened, Harper, John, and their friends band together. The good-hearted Harper is a captivating heroine, the peaceful eye in a storm of evil that threatens to harm everyone she holds dear, and it's impossible not to root for her. Hill has followed 2013's NOS4A2 with a tremendous, heartrending epic of bravery and love set in a fully realized and terrifying apocalyptic world, where hope lies in the simplest of gestures and the fullest of hearts. (May) --This text refers to the paperback edition. From School Library Journal
America is burning—people and entire cities are going up in flames, thanks to a spore called Dragonscale that is infecting humans worldwide. Nurse Harper Grayson is in her element trying to help the afflicted at the local hospital, but when she becomes infected around the same time she discovers she is pregnant, her husband goes insane and tries to kill her. Harper escapes and finds refuge with other infected people at a rural camp. With the help of The Fireman (a mysterious man who can shoot fire from his fingertips) and others, Harper discovers the cause of Dragonscale and how to control it. While this entry is not as scary as Hill's Horns or Heart-Shaped Box, the horror of mob mentality will remind teens of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," William Golding's The Lord of the Flies, and the author's father Stephen King's The Stand. With likable characters, glib dialogue, suspense, and inevitable doom, the book feels like a popular television series script, and teens will appreciate the pop culture references—Harry Potter, Narnia, The Walking Dead, Mary Poppins, and more. VERDICT An apocalyptic tale for fans of suspense and horror, even though the long length will deter reluctant readers.—Sarah Hill, Lake Land College, Mattoon, IL --This text refers to the paperback edition. About the Author
Joe Hill is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Horns, Heart-Shaped Box, and NOS4A2. He is also the Eisner Award-winning writer of a six-volume comic book series, Locke & Key. He lives in New Hampshire.
Kate Mulgrew has performed on stage in Shaw, Shakespeare, and Tennessee Williams; she has starred in such films as A Stranger is Watching and Round Numbers; she has also done considerable work on television.
--This text refers to the audioCD edition. 
