The novel “Fire Pattern” by Bob Shaw was published for the first time in 1984.

Ray Jerome is a journalist with a background as an engineer so he has a very practical and down-to-earth attitude. When he’s assigned the task to write an article about a case of spontaneous human combustion, he’s far from happy. Jerome thinks that it may be a hoax and has no desire to deal with that kind of story.

After getting some information about the subject, finding that in the past there have been documented cases of spontaneous human combustion never really explained, Jerome can only go to investigate the latest case. A track leads him to look for a doctor, instead he comes across another case of spontaneous human combustion that takes place in front of his eyes. Something is really happening but it turns out quite different from what he could have imagined.