"The Fire Gospels" takes place in the McCutcheon River Valley in Wisconsin during a long-standing drought. Through characters like Grady McCann, a hardworking maintenance man at an old folks' home; his wife, Erica, a strangely evangelic Catholic; and Lucky Littlefield, the local weatherman turned preacher who enjoins his viewers to "pray for rain" at the beginning of each broadcast, "The Fire Gospels" tells in vivid detail the story of the drought and how the townspeople are seduced into believing that Lucky will pull them through their time of struggle. When a rampant fire breaks out in a neighboring town, though, it becomes clear that Lucky is a first-rate phony, and it is every man and woman for themselves as Grady, Erica, Lucky, and the others fight for their lives against a ferocious natural disaster.

Mike Magnuson has written an unforgettable novel, a tale at once sinister, comic, and always compelling, and one told through the voice of an author who is unlike any other: with a vision as stark as it is true and possessed of a style of astonishing beauty.