Burn them all.
The Division: Hearts on Fire is an Audible exclusive audiobook set in the world of Tom Clancy's The Division. It is a Prequel to the events of that game.
Melanie Hoskins (Katie Sackhoff) is a fire fighter and paramedic when she's recruited by a mysterious man named Hsu (Intae Kim) to be part of the secret government agency called the Division. She receives special training in weapons as well as survival in preparation for a massive disaster that, hopefully, never comes. Unfortunately, that day comes a mere four months after her graduation when the Dollar Flu strikes New York City.
Melanie's efforts to save the city are almost immediately stymied by the betrayal of the JTF as well as the rise of a terrorist organization called the Cleaners. This organization, composed of New York's sanitation workers, believe the only way to save the city is to burn the sick as well as dying. Melanie's sister, Johanna, is one of their ranks and soon finds herself making commom cause with members of the Last Man Battallion.
This book contains the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Melanie Hoskins is a paramedic turned Division agent who rapidly learns how to use firearms for surviving the post-apocalypse world.
- A Father to His Men: Captain Xanders tolerates all of Tandy's whining and bullying until it starts to endanger his men.
- Affably Evil:
- Johanna Fisher is a courageous, funny, and likable young woman—who burns down buildings full of innocents.
- Captain Xanders is a pleasant Consummate Professional who, nevertheless, arms the Cleaners for their purge.
- And the Adventure Continues: Melanie proceeds to continue her work as a Division agent after successfully stopping her sister's attack, complete with a new partner.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Unlike the Cleaners who Kick the Dog repeatedly, the Last Man Battalion is shown to have been driven to their revolt by the incompetence of the government as opposed to being genuinely evil.
- Bittersweet Ending: Hoskins successfully prevents the destruction of the Hudson Bay refugee camp but it's at the cost of having to kill her sister. Hsu, Xanders, and Anderson are all dead. Also, she's still separated from her family but is able to make a Christmas phone call.
- The Captain: Xanders is the leader of the Last Man Battalion unit put in charge of guarding a bank's servers during the crisis.
- Cain and Abel: Johanna Fisher and Melanie Hoskins are siblings that belong to the opposing Cleaners and Division factions.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: The representative of the bank, Tandy, is a cowardly, officious, and unlikable fool who constantly threatens Captain Xanders.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Jason Hsu is burned to death after being tortured by Johanna.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Johanna's experiences in the Iraq War resulted in her becoming deeply cynical and angry.
- Dark Action Girl: Johanna Fisher is a Cleaner and Iraq War veteran who enjoys burning down buildings out of a misguided sense of believing she's saving the city.
- Darker and Edgier: The Division is a third person shooter RPG so it is a power fantasy where you shoot down hundreds of opponents. Here, just a few armed individuals is a threat to any agent. Killing is also traumatizing.
- Did Not Think This Through: Tandy pulls a gun on Captain Xanders to try and threaten him to stay.
- Foreshadowing: Melanie's sister, Johanna Fisher, is a New York City garbage woman and conspiracy theorist who hates the government. She's also a veteran. Of course she ends up joining the Cleaners and helps radicalize them.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: One of the Cleaners snipes him after Melanie reveals Johanna's plan to kill him and his men.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Captain Xanders assumes that Johanna is the same levelheaded and fundamentally good woman he knew back from the war. She is actually a deranged mass murderer and fanatic now.
- Kill It with Fire: The Cleaners MO is to wipe out any problems they encounter with flamethrowers.
- Killed Off for Real:
- Anderson dies attacking the Cleaners for murdering his family.
- Agent Hsu is brutally tortured to death by guns as well as fire.
- Captain Xanders is sniped by one of the Cleaners just after he's about to make a Heel–Face Turn.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Melanie has this reaction after shooting her sister in the chest and causing internal bleeding.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: The Cleaners are shown to burn down quarantined apartment buildings that are already cut off from the rest of the city and killing both the recovering as well as sick alike. This prevents people who might have been subsequently immune from helping rebuild society.
- Private Military Contractor: The Last Man Battalion operates as employees of Wallstreet executives until deciding to go rogue.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Agent Anderson finds out that his family, which had been quarantined but were otherwise healthy, were burned alive by the Cleaners. He proceeds to, understandingly, try to kill as many of them as possible.
- Sacrificial Lion: Anderson is a dangerous and capable agent who immediately goes after the Cleaners who murdered his family.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Captain Xanders' mounting losses with his men result in him finally deciding to abandon his mission.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Johanna Fisher came back from the Iraq War carrying a boatload of trauma that dramatically changed her personality as well as made her more inclined to be the Conspiracy Theorist.
- Smug Snake: Tandy is a weaselly corporate executive who attempts to push around Captain Xander every time something goes wrong.
- Southern-Fried Private: Captain Xanders has a deep Southern drawl similar to Timothy Olyphant.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Anderson charges angry and furious into battle to avenge his lost loved ones but, instead of giving him superpowered invulnerability, just gets him killed.
- These Hands Have Killed: Hoskins suffers this after the first Cleaner she kills in combat.
- Torture Always Works: A Downplayed Trope example as Melanie tortures a badly burned Cleaner with water for information but only gets him to cough up information in exchange for morphine as well as revealing that his friends abandoned him.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Despite going to elaborate lengths for her, Johanna sets up Captain Xanders and his men to die.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Cleaners believe anything and everything they do is justified by destroying the virus. This is undermined by the sadistic pleasure they take in burning people alive and questionable results of their efforts.
