3.5 stars rounded up to four. Or rather four stars rounded down to 3.5. I'll explain that in a bit; it's a personal problem. But first, a brief story from my youth. (Or you can skip to the real review a couple paragraphs down). 
 There was a strange kid at my grandmother's church. Years ago during the children's segment where all the young kids stand up front while the parson or some other adult says something or another to them before sending them off to children's church for the remainder of the service, the question was asked of them "What do you want to be when you grow up?" (I was old enough to stay with the rest of the congregation by this point, so I was exempted from this inquisition). One replied "I wanna be A FIRE!" And he announced this with such gusto that one could be excused for thinking he'd spontaneously combust right there on the spot if he could. 
 Well Jack, this is the book for you! We got people. We got fire. We got churches. And we got people on fire in churches. And I can now forgive Charles Dickens for the scene everyone ridicules in Bleak House (not that I ever really had a problem with it, but it's a band wagon I hopped on at one time. Goddam people pleasing insecurities). Turns out Krook probably just had an early version of Dragonscale that wasn't contagious. Way to be ahead of your time, Chuck! 
 Material relevant to the book starts here: 
 Let's get the bad out of the way first. I'm going to assume Joe Hill is a liberal, and he uses his characters to lambaste and ridicule values and people who aren't. It's not super terrible (meaning I didn't have to put down the book permanently, though I did drop it to sigh a few times). It was quite prevalent in the first couple hundred pages, but then it tapered off, thankfully. There were occasional pokes in the middle section, but most of it was absent by the end. Totally absent were any jabs at the left except perhaps one as MSNBC. Then there was constant praise for left leaning pop cultural influences. E.g. people miss being able to watch Colbert because he was so funny. Gag me. And though it was nice that Obama bought it as well, he wasn't mentioned by name, but who else could "our first black president was made even blacker when he erupted into flames" refer to? (That's not a direct quote; I can't find it, say sorry). By the point that was thrown out there, I didn't really care; I was too annoyed with the rest of the BS. 
 This is probably a personal problem of mine. Maybe it's because of the charged political climate right now? I'm trying to avoid it all (with varying degrees of success), but everywhere I turn it's this kind of bullshit. Maybe it's a matter of timing. Maybe I'm getting ready to manstruate? I don't know. It was just a distraction, and I'm seriously considering just getting his next book from the library because I don't want to give him any money. (Yeah, that'll show him). 
 It's such a shame because the rest of the book is so good. He's a good writer, and the story is superb. It's like... Oh wait... I think I'm getting a thought... I think it's an analogy... Yep... Here it comes... 
 It's like someone has made a cake. A chocolate cake (or perhaps devil's food) with buttercream icing! All of it homemade. You can smell where it was cooking earlier in the day, and is cooling. You leave, come back, see it's been prepared, frosted and everything, and then discover someone sprinkled it with coconut shavings (which I hate). Sure, I can still enjoy it, but I need to work to scrape off all the coconut. That's what he's done here. Taken something great and shat on it, and I had to work to continue enjoying some parts. 
 Anyway, Joe's father does this in his books as well, but he normally limits it to a couple of instances. Joe seasons his more generously with this bullshit. So that's why I deduct half a star though it doesn't matter because Goodreads doesn't do half stars, and I always round up except at a 4.5, so it's at four stars anyway. I CAN'T WIN! If you're a liberal, then this kind of thing is just icing on the cake (without coconut shavings), and it could be a five star book for you. Same for people who are apathetic about such issues. Fellow conservatives: proceed with caution if you decide to make the journey. 
 There's also a matter of physics. Joe has his daddy's habit of making things a little more sensational than they really are such as a bullet taking out half a door frame. Or a Freightliner snow plow taking out half a house, though that's not impossible. Having worked in construction and seeing how they build some houses the past couple of decades... well, let's just say sometimes it's easier to go through the wall of a house than the door if you're trying to break into the joint; some homes are built that cheaply. But I have a hard time seeing it happen without a running start and doing it in one swipe. And it flipping cars? Well, as much of a beast as a Freightliner is, this one must've been a member of the Constructicons to be pulling off those stunts. 
 Aside from that this book has a lot going for it. The characters are believable most of the time, though some of the conversations were awkward when they go into preaching mode regarding whatever leftist notion Hill wanted to address at that moment. And I don't think that's me being a right-winger. These issues felt forced into the narrative a few times, especially when Jakob and Harper were talking in the first hundred or so pages. 
 There are pop culture references galore to appreciate especially if you're from Joe's generation, which I am. He's got six years on me, but that's close enough that it doesn't matter. There are also references to a lot of Stephen King's works, especially The Stand. There's a deaf kid named Nick. An unpleasant character named Harold Cross leaves a diary. This has to be a mashup of Harold Lauder and Nadine Cross. Tom Gordon is mentioned, and people sometimes "forget the face of their fathers." Lots of fun stuff for SK dorks like myself, though I'm sure I missed a ton. There were also a couple of references to NOS4A2, and probably some to Joe's other books which I haven't read yet, though I have them... God, I hope they're not as heavy handed with the social commentary. 
 I don't want to give away too many plot points, so I'm not going into the actual story on here. The pacing was good. It started out a little slow, had a bit of action, slowed down, then slowly revved up to a slam bang finish, and I do mean slam-bang. Just like with NOS4A2, sometimes the writing was a little... wonky... but Jesus, what a yarn. If you like an exciting story that'll leave you wanting to jump into the book and kill some of the characters yourself, you can't go wrong here. Some of the characters are reprehensible and others have more grace & humility than I would ever be able to muster. It all comes together to make for a good tale. 
 Mr. Hill continues with his nice touches. There's a last paragraph hidden in the back where some copyright credits are posted, so if you skip those you miss some denouement. Also, the pages of the hardcover version of this book are covered with tiny gray flecks. It's just one or two per page and always in a different spot, and it was so subtle it didn't disrupt the reading, but I was constantly trying to wipe or blow them off when I noticed a spot. Every time I saw one I wondered what the hell had happened to my copy. It looked like a bit of ash had gotten into it, but nothing smeared; it was permanently in the paper. I was not smart enough to realize this was intentional since this is a book about burning, after all, and I would probably still be wondering about it if I hadn't seen another reviewer on here explain everything. Personally, I think it's a really cool gimmick. Nice. 
 Check it out if you don't have that liberal hang-up I have, or at least not to the same degree. This one was a close call, but I'm glad I stuck it out. We'll see if I buy or borrow his next book, but I'm pretty sure I'll read it regardless.