- Published: 15 October 2018
- ISBN: 9780143792765
- Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
- Format: Audio Download
- Length: 6 hr 40 min
- Narrator: Sybilla Budd
- RRP: $27.99
The Arsonist
A Mind on Fire
- Published: 15 October 2018
- ISBN: 9780143792765
- Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
- Format: Audio Download
- Length: 6 hr 40 min
- Narrator: Sybilla Budd
- RRP: $27.99
Gripping, gritty and unsparing but never gratuitous in its details, this is true crime writing at its best. But Hooper goes beyond the procedurals and the scene setting to examine the greater context of the tragedy.
The Saturday Paper
A cool appraisal of a hot issue...Hooper's account of the terrible crime that traumatised a community is even-handed and nuanced - so much so that, by the end of the book, it's difficult to discern where her sympathies lie: victims or accused?
The Guardian
In The Arsonist, Hooper reignites the memories of those cataclysmic events [of Black Saturday] with relentless, devastating effect.
Australian Book Review
Chloe Hooper’s The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire stokes the coals of a national tragedy almost a decade after it occurred, providing a hyper-detailed examination of how and why one man deliberately helped fan an inferno ... there turn out to be no easy answers.
The Australian
Davitt Awards
Winner • 2019 • Best non-fiction crime book
Indie Book Awards
Winner • 2019 • Non-fiction
Victorian Community History Awards
Awarded • 2019 • Judges' Special Prize
CHASS Australia Book Prize
Longlisted • 2019 • CHASS Australia Book Prize
Davitt Awards
Shortlisted • 2019 • Non-fiction crime books
Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award 2019
Shortlisted • 2019 • Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award 2019
Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime
Shortlisted • 2019 • Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime
Ned Kelly Awards
Shortlisted • 2019 • Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime
Prime Minister's Literary Awards
Shortlisted • 2019 • Non-fiction
Stella Prize
Longlisted • 2019 • Stella Prize
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
Shortlisted • 2019 • Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
As seen on Australian Story. Watch the episode now.