Lies Like Wildfire

by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

This is a tense and compelling thriller, but a word of warning: if you prefer your books to have likeable protagonists then it is not for you. A group of friends is spending the golden hours of summer together before going off to college. When they accidentally start a wildfire they make a pact to keep their role secret. As the fire burns out of control, destroying their town and killing ten people, the lies and self-justifications snowball and faultlines appear in the friendship. Then one of the teenagers goes missing. Writing in California, Alvarez vividly describes the terrifying nature of wildfires that consume everything in their path.