Ten year old Kieran Monk doesn’t like questions, is afraid to look people in the eye, and his best friend is a plastic Mr Incredible bobblehead that never leaves his hand.
Nate Monk is Kieran’s father. He’s a single parent of a ‘differently wired’ child, a talented musician who once stood on the cusp of success, and a man resigned to a pragmatic life of responsibility over opportunity.
Both share the scarred aftermath of the Infernal Day. On a perfect Autumn April noon five and a half years before, wife and mother Felicity died saving her only child from a raging house fire. Although Kieran’s inadvertent hand was complicit in the tragedy, Nate refused to apportion blame. The tragic circumstances of the blaze, however, constituted a secret that a fearful father dared not share with his ‘different’ son.
But today, as the burning forests of nearby Pendarra Hill fill the sky with smoke and the TV screen with concern, Kieran will discover the devastating truth. And driven by a desire to make amends for the ‘stupid little kid’ of half a decade before, he will disappear into the night.
Now, Nate must search; not only the suburban streets and shops and backyards, but also the depths of his courage and spirit. He must come to terms with the past in order to defy a second tragedy and rekindle hope for a future dampened by doubt. He must be dauntless to do what needs to be done. He must be unflinching to go where his boy has gone:
To the fire.
