BOOK SYNOPSIS
An intense high-stakes story about five friends and the deadly secret that could send their lives up in flames, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and E. Lockhart.
In Gap Mountain, California, everyone knows about fire season. And no one is more vigilant than 18-year-old Hannah Warner, the sheriff’s daughter and aspiring FBI agent. That is until this summer. When Hannah and her best friends accidentally spark an enormous and deadly wildfire, their instinct is to lie to the police and the fire investigators.
But as the blaze roars through their rural town and towards Yosemite National Park, Hannah’s friends begin to crack and she finds herself going to extreme lengths to protect their secret. Because sometimes good people do bad things. And if there’s one thing people hate, it’s liars.
Hannah, Nathaniel (Drummer) Maureen (Mo) Luke and Violet had been best friends since they were seven years old. They were known in the small town of Gap Mountain in rural California as The Monsters, a nickname that they had been given on the day they became friends after they were the only kids who volunteered to play the wild things in a summer daycare production of Where The Wild Things Are. The group were now in their late teens and spending what could be their last summer together before the girls went off to their respective colleges.
But, one hot day in July, their plans for the future went up in smoke when they accidentally started a forest fire which swiftly turned into a wildfire that destroyed parts of the town and left devastation, destruction and death in its wake.
Terrified of the consequences of their action, the teens made a pact of silence but some of them are not as strong willed as the others and lies like wildfires have a habit of getting out of control.
When the investigation into the origins of the fire begins to yield results and the law enforcement agency's start questioning the friends,splinters and cracks start to appear in their once tight knit group, loyalties are tested and then, one night, one of the monsters mysteriously disappears...
This thrilling, captivating story is written in two sections and voiced entirely from the perspective of Hannah who was the daughter of the sheriff and planned to study criminal justice at college. Hannah was a complex and very difficult to like individual who appeared to be the unofficial leader of The Monsters (at least that was the way she made it appear throughout her narrative) To be honest, I thought she came across as quite immature at times and her only redeemable qualities were her love for her horses and bloodhound Matilda. Her loyalty to her friends came across as admirable but were her actions for their benefit or for her own preservation? The other members of the group of friends were realistic, relatable individuals, my favourite of which was Mo. I did feel a bit of sympathy for Luke and I loved how much he cared and worried about his younger brother Aiden. I also really liked Violet's grandmother Lulu, I thought she was a fantastic, feisty, fiercely loyal individual.
This is a beautifully described story, from the stunning scenery to the breath taking combination of beauty and devastation that was the wildfire. The description of the fear and terror of the evacuees and animals as the fire raged across the parched land were so realistic that the reader could close their eyes and imagine the scenes in their head and feel the heat from the flames scoring your skin.
This is a extremely well written, debut y/a thriller that rockets along faster than a wildfire that is caught in a gust of wind. It's a gripping, addictive read that had me hooked in from the first page and so captivated that I read the whole book in one sitting. I would love to watch a film or tv adaptation of this incredible book. Worth all the stars and more, very very highly recommended and definitely going to be one of my favourite reads of this year.
AUTHOR BIO
I received my B.A. in English from the University of California at Berkeley. I'm fascinated by underdogs and power dynamics between groups of people.
I'm the author of LIES LIKE WILDFIRE, a teen thriller soon-to-be published by Delacorte Press, and two middle grade book series, each published by HarperCollins Children's Books, THE GUARDIAN HERD (a quartet) and RIDERS OF THE REALM (a trilogy). Before this, I self-published a middle grade fantasy called THE PET WASHER.
When I'm not writing, you'll find me galloping my little black mare through the foothills of Sonoma County or teaching free creative writing workshops to kids and adults at various branches of our local library system.
The Healdsburg Literary Guild selected me as their 2019/2020 Literary Laureate for my work in building literacy in my community. It is an honor I hold dear. I am also the current SCBWI Sonoma County Coordinator and a volunteer on the Sonoma County Library Advisory Board.
I live in Northern California with my husband, three children, and more than my fair share of pets!
Publisher: Penguin
Length: 384 Pages
Publishing: 7th September 2021
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lies-Like-Wildfire-Jennifer-Alvarez-ebook/dp/B08VFV5FXD
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55894185
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