Girls on Fire, by Robin Wasserman*, is a feisty and firey debut about an obsessive and co-dependent relationship between two teenage girls, hell-bent on striking fear in their small town and taking down the most popular girl in school.
Loner Hannah is tormented by Queen Bee Nikki and the whole town is shaken when Nikki’s boyfriend commits suicide. When mysterious new girl Lacey takes Hannah under her wing, she undergoes a transformation. Moulding her in her image, Lacey turns Hannah from a quiet shut-in to an up-for-anything party girl. Come the next morning, Hannah rarely remembers what happened the night before. What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her, right? But Lacey is hiding more than she thinks.
The way these blog tours work is that I’m on the mailing list for several publishing houses. When they have a new title they ping a press release around to see who’s interested in reviewing it and which day of the week they’d prefer. You get a copy of the blurb, a cover photo, author bio and a few early press quotes. Even though I was already signed up for four books this month, when I read the comparisons between Girls on Fire and The Virgin Suicides, I knew I had to make time for another book.
Robin Wasserman’s debut novel might be about young adults but this is very much an adult book. These teenagers are intense, intriguing, bewitching, beguiling and, indeed, firey. They are fearful and fearless, a twisted combination.
With chapters alternating between Hannah and Lacey’s points of view, you get regular insights into Hannah’s life pre and post Lacey, as well as a look at what drives her scheming, psychotic sire.
Clearly printed on the cover is the semi-spoiler ‘it starts with a suicide and ends with a death…’, so you know going in that there will be a helluva final act. This detracts from the impact slightly but you still find yourself tearing through the book at break-neck speed to find out who dies. It’s a bit like when you go into a film knowing that there’s a twist and you spend most of the time trying to figure it out rather than appreciating the story itself.
Knowing the beginning and ending before you read the first line means Girls on Fire is very much about the journey; the transformation of Hannah into Dex, and the power and hold that one person can have over another. It’s a dark and twisted story and one probably best not read before bed!
* I received this item for review purposes but all thoughts are my own.