Burn by Peter Heller
Burn
by Peter Heller
Dystopian | Thriller
291 Pages
Released August 2024
Rating: ★ 1/2
Goodreads
Content Warnings
It’s no secret that I enjoy dystopian books, so when I came across this one my interest was immediately piqued. Alas, this was not the book I was expecting. I’m not familiar with Peter Heller’s work, so this was my first time reading one of his works.
This book follows two friends, Jess and Storey, as they just wrap up their yearly hunting tradition somewhere in Maine. Except, something is seriously wrong. Every town they come across is burned to the ground and people are either dead or completely gone. Cut off from the rest of society, the two men use their hunting experience to survive and figure out - just what happened while they were hunting in the woods?
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book, most of them negative. What I was anticipating was a story of survival and confusion as two men figure out what upended their world while they were away hunting. I supposed this was going to be more of a speculative fiction. What I got was much more introspective: long diatribes of memories past - failed relationships, unexpected trysts, regrets, and so on. The story also seems to focus a lot on Jess and Storey’s relationship (both past and present) as things around them unfold. It’s definitely a much more character-centric book than a plot-focused one.
Unfortunately because of that clashing, the pacing felt really choppy. The environment the characters are in felt tense and fast-paced, but the constant introduction of memories would slow things down a lot- it felt like two clashing moods that left me unsure how to feel. Some of the memories felt pointless, and I found them distracting more than anything. By about 40% into the book, I found myself losing interest quick and skimming more than I was reading. The abrupt ending made me feel better that I didn’t give this book as much attention as I could have.
Basically, this book left me with way more questions than it answered and since I didn’t feel very connected to the characters, I really had a hard time enjoying this one. If you like introspective characters that are heavy on backstory/personal history within a tense setting, I think you’ll like this. But if you’re looking for a plot-driven dystopian, then this is probably not for you.