It is just after Christmas in 1919, and the icy grip of a relentless winter freeze has seized Manhattan. Snowstorm after snowstorm buries the city, and plummeting temperatures freeze the North River solid. With the streets of New York in treacherous chaos, most people stay indoors to find what comfort they can inside the walls of their chilled apartments.

Except one, a solitary, troubled demon-plagued man who walks the silent streets to burn – to bring peace to his tortured soul through the fierce destruction of fire. New York City is now overwhelmed by fire and ice.

Forced into this maelstrom of fire and ice is New York City Fire Marshal Wes Causey. As the members of FDNY battle the weather and the gasoline-fueled flames, Wes sets out in search of a madman. As New Year’s looms the number of fires and deaths increase. Despite Wes’s best efforts, he still cannot find the man setting these horrific fires.

Wes trails the cold streets of New York City, hunting a man driven to near madness. From a childhood wracked with abuse, to the tortured voices in his head, the arsonist plunges deeper and deeper into his own fire-plagued mind. A voice pushes him to set fires again and again – a voice he embraces, the voice of an angel, an archangel known to many as Uriel – the Fire of God.

Paul Hashagen brings his unique appreciation of New York City’s history and his thorough attention to the details of actual firegrounds to Fire of God, a fast paced and compelling novel that brings New York City’s past into America’s present in extremely important ways.

Hardcover, 248 pages, 5 ½” x 8 ½”