Burn

Burn is a 2024 post-apocalyptic novel by Peter Heller. It follows two friends, Jess and Storey, as they wander through a burned landscape in rural Maine. The friends soon realize that they have entered a war zone, which leads them to cross paths with a young girl named Collie. Together, they seek safety and navigate their emotions against a backdrop of war. Heller, an author of environmental and post-apocalyptic fiction, uses this narrative to explore themes such as The Dissolution of Civil Society Under Crisis, Protecting Children From Violence, and The Corrupted Nature of Authority and Power. Burn was chosen as an Apple Book of the Month and an Amazon Editor’s Pick in 2024. 

This guide references the Kindle version.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death by suicide, and child death.

Plot Summary

Burn opens in medias res with the protagonist, Jess, stamping out a fire. He reflects on strange dreams he’s experienced since discovering a destroyed bridge, including dreams of his former lover gifting him a prayer stone. Standing at a lake’s shore, he feels the stone in his pocket, wishing he could signal to his former lover that he’s alive.

Chapter 1 begins as two friends, Jess and Storey, emerge from the woods and find a lake and a village. They discover the buildings are burned, with four bodies in the ruins. At the marina, they find undamaged boats and search them for supplies. The friends were on a camping trip when unknown events occurred, though Storey suspects the country is at war. They’ve wandered for six days, finding destruction everywhere. They plan to head to Randall and then Quebec from northern Maine. That night, Storey discovers a drowned pregnant woman in the lake. 

In the town of Green Hill, the friends discuss potential fighters, assuming they’re secessionists. They find food in a sailboat. As they walk along the shore, they notice the systematic burning of buildings, suggesting intentional destruction. They reach Randall, which is destroyed, and make camp after gathering supplies. Their rest is interrupted by a woman’s scream from a rowboat on the lake. Two unmarked Black Hawk helicopters appear and kill the woman with machine gun fire. Storey believes that the conflict extends beyond Maine, increasing his worry about his wife and daughters in Vermont. They decide to head southwest toward Burlington.

On their way, they search a village with a quaint lighthouse, hoping to find information. They encounter hostile forces. A shot rings out as Storey steps around a porch, missing the bullet that leaves Jess with a bloody cheek from a splinter. Despite attempts to surrender with a white flag, the attackers continue firing. A subsequent explosion demolishes the bridge into town, trapping them. A shootout ensues, with the friends pinned down by multiple attackers from both the lighthouse and another direction. After killing two attackers, including a young boy of 12 or 13, whom Storey executes with a headshot, they discover patches with the number 49 on their uniforms, suggesting they’re fighting Maine secessionists. While pursuing a fleeing boat, they face helicopter attacks and gunfire from the shore. After escaping in another boat, they discover a child named Collie hiding in the storage compartment. Collie’s presence complicates their journey, as her safety becomes their primary concern.

They return to town to search for Collie’s family, working to comfort the girl, who repeatedly asks about her dog, Crystal. To calm her, Storey uses precious phone battery life to show her videos of his own dog. Through radio broadcasts, they learn that the president has been assassinated by a Maine secessionist named Lamar Blodgett, leading to Maine’s attempted secession. The federal government has sent Marines into Maine under the pretense of quelling riots, while neighboring states, including Vermont and New Hampshire, have mobilized their National Guards to protect their borders. The town with the lighthouse appears to be a regional command center for rebels. At Collie’s house, they discover stockpiles of C-4 explosives hidden in food containers, suggesting her father’s involvement in the bridge demolitions. They also find a trapdoor in the house leading to a supply cache.

The narrative weaves in Jess’s personal history, including his divorce from Jan due to his infidelity during a work trip, through which he contracted chlamydia. However, the marriage was already strained by Jess’s tendency to spend too much time alone fishing, hiking, and hunting. His complicated past with Storey’s family—particularly a sexual encounter with Storey’s mother, Hannah, when Jess was 17—adds another layer of complexity. Storey later reveals he knows about this encounter, along with his mother’s pattern of infidelity that led to his parents’ divorce. Despite this knowledge, Storey maintains their friendship, though Jess carries lingering feelings of indebtedness and shame.

After comforting Collie, who is distraught when she sees her dead dog, they continue their journey, witnessing the execution of 11 captured soldiers by armed civilians at a sugarhouse. Collie, feeling trusting of Jess and Storey, reveals coordinates sewn into her jacket’s lining by her parents, leading them to the town of Grantham. Unlike other towns they’ve encountered, Grantham has active inhabitants, but Jess discovers a disturbing pile of newly dead bodies covered with lime. Through reconnaissance, Jess learns that Collie’s father is a colonel involved in the conflict.

The story culminates as the group attempts to reunite Collie with her father at a boatshed. Though the reunion is emotional, with father and daughter holding each other and crying, her father insists they take Collie away for her safety. He provides directions to escape south to Portsmouth, warning that they’ll be shot on sight if discovered in town. Despite Collie’s pleas to stay with her father, Jess ultimately carries her away into the darkness, following her father’s instructions to ensure her safety in the increasingly dangerous conflict zone.