Black Fire

December 24, 2012
Tom Sawyer wasn’t just a character in two of Mark Twain’s classic novels—he was also a real person and friend of the famous author. In San Francisco in 1863, Twain met Sawyer, who, years earlier, had served as a torch boy for the local volunteer firemen when a serial arsonist known as the Lightkeeper was terrorizing the city. This audio edition of the book that details Twain and Sawyer’s friendship and the fires of Gold Rush–era San Francisco is narrated by Robert Graysmith. Although the author offers up an enthusiastic performance, reads in a pleasant voice, and subtly differentiates between character voices, his narration suffers from slow pacing. Additionally, Graysmith’s pauses during and between sentences often last a beat too long. And while this bogs down the audiobook at times, fans of Twain and Graysmith will find it a fascinating and fun listen. A Crown hardcover.

September 15, 2012
True-crime veteran Graysmith (The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock's Shower, 2010, etc.) uses Mark Twain's most famous character as a springboard for exploring San Francisco's rocky beginnings as a boomtown plagued with crime. For anyone who believes that the City by the Bay has always been a peace-and-love destination renowned for its bridges, seals and winding streets, this book will prove to be a wake-up call. Graysmith re-creates the lawless decade that began with the 1849 Gold Rush and the attendant lack of infrastructure that turned the city into a literal hotbed--in less than two years, an arsonist and his accomplices burned it to the ground on six different occasions. In their haste to get rich, prospectors had erected flimsy structures that practically beckoned firebugs to strike matches. Gangs stalked the streets, harassing, robbing and even killing citizens. The streets themselves were cobbled together from wooden planks and glass bottles, making the work of firefighters and police extremely difficult. Into this melee strode young Tom Sawyer, a former New York volunteer fireman who had gone west to seek his fortune. In the days before steam engines and gas lamps, a corps of boys ran ahead of the hand-pumpered fire trucks with torches to light the way through San Francisco's treacherous streets. As one of the most loyal and dedicated torch boys, Sawyer caught the eye of visiting writer Mark Twain; the two became fast friends, with Twain mining Sawyer's adventurous past for his novel. Graysmith also peoples this rich and sometimes overwhelming account with a bevy of characters instrumental in rebuilding San Francisco in the wake of each successive blaze. While lively and chock-full of eye-opening tidbits, the book's simultaneous coverage of firefighting history, Twain and Sawyer's relationship, and crooked political alliances, along with its zigzagging timeline, threaten to deluge readers with details.

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September 15, 2012
Six. That's how many city-destroying fires ravaged San Francisco in 18 months, and each one is shown in its roaring glory in Black Fire. Mark Twain fanatics and firefighter-history buffs alike will flock to the tale of the real-life Tom Sawyer's adventures fighting fires in the Gold Rushera city, depicted in remarkable detail by Graysmith, former San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist. The core of the book, about an arsonist who stalked the bustling streets of the sloppily built city, takes place years before Twain arrives on the scene and spins yarns with Sawyer, often while they sit in steam rooms. This is a comprehensive look at Sawyer's world, replete with roguish volunteer firefighters, tricky politicians, street brawlers, and vigilantes. The muscular depictions of these larger-than-life characters are brought to swaggering life using words straight from their mouths based on historical materials. Black Fire captures the spirit of rugged adventure so beloved in Twain's work and so characteristic of the undaunted city builttime and time againon the hopes of fortune-hunters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)