About the Author

Chloe Hooper's most recent book is the bestselling The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire. The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island won the Victorian, New South Wales, West Australian and Queensland Premiers’ Literary Awards, as well as the John Button Prize for Political Writing, and a Ned Kelly Award for crime writing. She is also the author of two acclaimed novels, A Child’s Book of True Crime and The Engagement. She lives in Melbourne with her partner and her two sons.

Reviews

‘We will all learn something from the devastating events that scorched a community and the way in which her storytelling draws a reaction.’
*The Times*

‘As gripping as any work of fiction.’
*Crime Monthly*

‘Hooper gives a cool appraisal of a hot issue . . . even-handed and nuanced.’
*The Guardian*

‘The book tells the story of the 2009 Black Saturday blazes in Victoria, which rank among Australia’s most deadly bushfires . . . But it is also the story of post-industrial, semi-rural communities and lack of government regulation in the Anthropocene. The Arsonist‘s environmental setting may help readers understand the context for Australia’s current bushfire emergency.’ 
*Chicago Review of Books*

‘Brilliant and moving.’
*Australian Book Review*

‘A masterclass in engaging true crime.’
*Herald Sun*

‘By turns a fascinating real-life thriller, police procedural, intense sociological study and the long-overdue story of fire in Australia . . . Powerful and nuanced . . . In Hooper's sure hands the grimmest details become exquisite imagery.’
*Sydney Morning Herald*

‘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*

‘Add The Arsonist to Australia’s illustrious literature on bushfires. With skill and sensitivity, Chloe Hooper has managed to find an unexpectedly human face and heart amid the blackest depths of Black Saturday.’
*Stephen Pyne, author of Fire: A Brief History*

‘Hooper drops the reader inside the Black Saturday brushfires to terrifying effect, then masterfully shifts from the physical realm to the existential – namely, how and why a particular evil manifests. Visceral and terrifying.’
*Maureen Callahan, author of American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century*

‘Demonstrates why literature still matters.’
*The Age*

‘We will all learn something from the devastating events that scorched a community and the way in which her storytelling draws a reaction.’
*The Times*

‘As gripping as any work of fiction.’
*Crime Monthly*

‘Hooper gives a cool appraisal of a hot issue . . . even-handed and nuanced.’
*The Guardian*

‘The book tells the story of the 2009 Black Saturday blazes in Victoria, which rank among Australia’s most deadly bushfires . . . But it is also the story of post-industrial, semi-rural communities and lack of government regulation in the Anthropocene. The Arsonist‘s environmental setting may help readers understand the context for Australia’s current bushfire emergency.’ 
*Chicago Review of Books*

‘Brilliant and moving.’
*Australian Book Review*

‘A masterclass in engaging true crime.’
*Herald Sun*

‘By turns a fascinating real-life thriller, police procedural, intense sociological study and the long-overdue story of fire in Australia . . . Powerful and nuanced . . . In Hooper's sure hands the grimmest details become exquisite imagery.’
*Sydney Morning Herald*

‘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*

‘Add The Arsonist to Australia’s illustrious literature on bushfires. With skill and sensitivity, Chloe Hooper has managed to find an unexpectedly human face and heart amid the blackest depths of Black Saturday.’
*Stephen Pyne, author of Fire: A Brief History*

‘Hooper drops the reader inside the Black Saturday brushfires to terrifying effect, then masterfully shifts from the physical realm to the existential – namely, how and why a particular evil manifests. Visceral and terrifying.’
*Maureen Callahan, author of American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century*

‘Demonstrates why literature still matters.’
*The Age*