House on fire
By: Denis Hamill.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press; Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated
Published: 1996
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 353
Subjects: Brothers -- Fiction.; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction.; Fire fighters -- Fiction.
Description: Kevin Dempsey appeared to have it all: a beautiful wife named Polly; Zoe, his beloved little girl; a rewarding job as a firefighter; the comfort of a close-knit Irish family. But as he sits one night in the house that he has bought as a surprise for Polly, who is scheduled to return that evening from a trip with Zoe, everything he has - or thought he had - goes up in flames.

It begins with a phone call from Polly, who never showed up for the surprise party Kevin so carefully orchestrated. She tells him that she is not coming back, that she is taking Zoe with her, that Zoe is not even his child. Kevin's world, everything he knows and loves, falls apart.

In retreat, Kevin turns to his family, his job, and to booze. But Frank, Kevin's older brother, a New York City detective being investigated in a police corruption scandal, has secrets of his own - family secrets that propel him in his search for Polly and Zoe.

A novel that explores the relationship between two emotionally damage brothers and the strong-willed women who love them, House on Fire accelerates with frightening speed as the chase moves across the country, and the characters become intertwined in a way that will alter all their lives forever. Denis Hamill has written a book that examines what happens to a man who has lost his sense of identity, and what happens to a family that, plagued with secrets, must pull together in a time of crisis.