{{Short description|2017 crime novel by Emma Viskic}} {{Use Australian English|date=March 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox book| | name = And Fire Came Down | title_orig = | translator = | image = | caption = | author = Emma Viskic | cover_artist = | country = Australia | language = English | series = Caleb Zelic | genre = Crime novel | publisher = Echo Publishing | release_date = 1 August 2017 | media_type = Print | pages = 326 | isbn = 9781760402945 | preceded_by = Resurrection Bay | followed_by = Darkness for Light | awards = 2018 Davitt Award, Best Adult Novel, winner }}
'''''And Fire Came Down''''' is a 2017 crime novel by Australian author Emma Viskic. It was originally published in Australia by Echo Publishing.<ref>{{cite web|title= ''And Fire Came Down'' by Emma Viskic |publisher= National Library of Australia|url= https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/7334004 |access-date= 20 March 2026}}</ref>
It is the second installment in the author's Caleb Zelic series of novels, following ''Resurrection Bay'' (2015).<ref>{{cite web|title= Austlit – Caleb Zelic series by Emma Viskic |publisher= Austlit |url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/11614821|access-date= 20 March 2026}}</ref>
The novel was the winner of the Davitt Award for Best Adult Novel in 2018.<ref name=Davitt>{{cite web|title="Davitt Award Winners 2001-2025" |publisher= Sisters in Crime|url=https://sistersincrime.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Davitt-Winners_cumulative-table_2025.pdf|access-date= 20 March 2026}}</ref>
==Synopsis== Profoundly deaf Caleb Zelic is drawn back to his home town of Resurrection Bay after an encounter with a frightened young woman in an alley in Melbourne. The woman then appears to step in front of oncoming traffic, and Zelic finds a train ticket that takes him back home.
==Critical reception==
Writing for ''The Newtown Review of Books'' Karen Chisholm concluded her review of the book, "With beautifully balanced characterisations, action and setting, and some carefully structured social-justice messaging, everything about ''And Fire Came Down'' fits neatly together. Its setting is fictional, but feels real – a small town battling drugs and petty crimes, bored teenagers, and undercurrents of deeply ingrained racism while Aboriginal communities struggle for control of their own futures."<ref>{{cite web|title="EMMA VISKIC And Fire Came Down. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm" |publisher= The Newtown Review of Books, 5 September 2017|url=https://newtownreviewofbooks.com.au/emma-viskic-fire-came-reviewed-karen-chisholm/|access-date= 20 March 2026}}</ref>
On the ''ArtsHub'' website Erich Mayer found that "Caleb is quixotic, obstinate, resilient, tough and too honest for his own good. In his quest to find the killer of a person who died in his arms he overcomes numerous obstacles including some of his own making while at the same time he tries to restore his relationship with his family."<ref>{{cite web|title="And Fire Came Down by Emma Viskic" |publisher= ArtsHub, 7 August 2017|url=https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/and-fire-came-down-by-emma-viskic-254202-2356939/|access-date= 20 March 2026}}</ref>
==Publication history==
After the novel's initial publication by Echo Publishing in Australia in 2017 the novel was reprinted by the same publisher in 2019 and 2023. It was also published in the UK by Pushkin Press in 2018.<ref name=Austlit>{{cite web|title= Austlit – ''And Fire Came Down'' by Emma Viskic|publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/11614851|access-date= 20 March 2026}}</ref>
== Awards ==
* 2018 Davitt Award – Best Adult Crime Novel, winner<ref name=Davitt />
== Notes == * Dedication: For Meg and Leni<ref name=Austlit /> * Epigraph: And fire came down from heaven and devoured them. Revelation 20:9<ref name=Austlit />
==See also== * 2017 in Australian literature
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Davitt Award – Best Adult Novel}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:And Fire Came Down}} Category:2017 Australian novels Category:Australian crime novels Category:Davitt Award–winning works