From Norway's pre-eminent young writer comes a startling novel about a pyromaniac raging through a close-knit community. This gripping and luminous novel explores madness, memory and the dark heart of the human psyche.

Gaute Heivoll's new book is great storytelling of the highest order, an existential horror story from the foremost of the young writers. -- Edvard HoemIt has been an eerie pleasure to read Gaute Heivoll's thrilling novel about the pyromaniac who shook his home district in 1978. For jeg brenner ned shows once again that Heivoll is a key name among his generation of writers and one of the most significant in contemporary Norwegian literature. The novel has all the requisites to captivate readers and become Heivoll's definitive breakthrough. -- Hans HerbjornsrudOne of the best books I have ever read... [Gaute Heivoll] manages to describe the rush of setting fire to a house so well. We understand the pyromaniac's fascination for the fire and the heat ... A pyromaniac seen from the inside, and is marvellously written. -- Karin Fossum