Everything changed the moment star athlete Craig Ellison
committed suicide. Now the townspeople are watching their
children more closely, especially when hints of satanic
worship are whispered about in town. Hannah Dexter isn't
sure what to make of the changes in her hometown but she
can't resist the allure of Lacey Champlain, an outcast
who befriends her after a humiliating incident at school.
Lacey helps quiet and shy Hannah transform into Dex... but
will the transformation be the downfall of both of them?
Lacey and Dex set themselves on a dangerous course as
their friendship begins to overwhelm everything else.
GIRLS ON FIRE tells the story of the unhealthy and
destructive friendship between Lacey and Dex. Alternating
perspectives give us a broader view of the wide swath of
misbehavior and destruction that started the night Craig
died and continues throughout the storyline. There are a
couple scenes, one in particular involving Dex and a
party, that are almost too painful to read. That scene
may haunt me for quite a while (and once you read GIRLS
ON FIRE, you'll know exactly which one I'm referring to).
GIRLS ON FIRE is not an easy story to read. Dex and Lacey
are so destructive together that it's hard to watch the
train wreck we see happening as the story progresses. I
didn't want to keep reading and yet I couldn't stop,
which is a credit to the compelling writing style of
Robin Wasserman. If you like your stories edgy,
dangerous, and more than a little bit dark, then GIRLS ON
FIRE may be the perfect read for you.
On Halloween, 1991, a popular high school basketball star
ventures into the woods near Battle Creek, Pennsylvania, and
disappears. Three days later, he’s found with a bullet in
his head and a gun in his hand—a discovery that sends
tremors through this conservative community, already
unnerved by growing rumors of Satanic worship in the region.
In the wake of this incident, bright but lonely Hannah
Dexter is befriended by Lacey Champlain, a dark-eyed,
Cobain-worshiping bad influence in lip gloss and Doc
Martens. The charismatic, seductive Lacey forges a fast,
intimate bond with the impressionable Dex, making her over
in her own image and unleashing a fierce defiance that
neither girl expected. But as Lacey gradually lures Dex away
from her safe life into a feverish spiral of obsession,
rebellion, and ever greater risk, an unwelcome figure
appears on the horizon—and Lacey’s secret history collides
with Dex’s worst nightmare.
By turns a shocking story of love and violence and an
addictive portrait of the intoxication of female friendship,
set against the unsettled backdrop of a town gripped by
moral panic, Girls on Fire is an unflinching and
unforgettable snapshot of girlhood: girls lost and found,
girls strong and weak, girls who burn bright and
brighter—and some who flicker away.