‘See them in their golden hour, a flood of girls high on the ecstasy of the final bell, tumbling onto the city bus, all gawky limbs and Wonderbra cleavage, chewed nails picking at eruptive zits, lips nibbling and eyes scrunching in a doomed attempt not to cry. Girls with plaid skirts tugged unfathomably high above the knee, girls seizing the motion of the bus to throw themselves bodily into the objects of their affection.’

In the wake of the suicide of a classmate, unpopular Hannah Dexter and outsider Lacey become inseparable friends. Lacey soon transforms good girl Hannah into Dex, a Doc Martins-wearing Kurt Cobain fan, and the two girls turn against the mind-numbingly dull community in which they have been brought up. But Lacey has a secret about life before Dex, a secret that will change everything.

I can’t remember where I first heard of Girls on Fire, but its amazing reviews quickly snagged my attention. Compared to We Need To Talk About Kevin and referred to as ‘chilling’, ‘captivating’ and ‘terrifying’, it’s safe to say that this sounded just like my kind of book.

I wasn’t disappointed. This book lives up to the hype – and then some. I read this while on holiday and not for a long time have I been so utterly captivated and drawn into the world of a novel. It is dark and brooding, uncomfortably tense and jarringly recognisable. Wasserman has created a tale of friendship between teenage girls that is vivid and startling, and completely unputdownable.

The nightmarish world of American teenagehood – complete with Satan-fearing townspeople and helpless parents watching in horror – comes to life on the page. For all that, it is not a YA novel in any sense. There are scenes that will leave you both disturbed and thrilled, but there are also flashes of humour, just enough to lighten the dark.

Although the plot is fantastic, Wasserman’s writing is the real star here. It’s the kind of writing that alternately makes you want to throw your fist in the air and weep tears of joy. The story is intense, intoxicating and delirious. It will shake you to your core and just when you think it’s done it will grab you again in its slathering jaws.

Each and every character – even the minor ones with few lines of dialogue of their own – is brought to life in a few vivid strokes. Hannah is relatable in her ordinariness and her longing to be something more than what she is, and Lacey is by turns frightening and compelling.

The story is relentless as it pulls you through its twisting depths, but it is not predictable in the slightest. Right until the final chapter, you can’t be sure how it’s all going to end. Friendships become all-consuming, raw emotions are mercilessly toyed with, and unspeakable violence is committed. Women readers will find themselves feeling both empowered and afraid, while men will start to dread the day they find out they are having a baby daughter.

A tale of obsessive friendship, dark secrets and thrilling tragedy, this is the perfect book to immerse yourself in on holiday – or, failing that, secret yourself in the garden beside a sign that says ‘do not disturb’.

Girls on Fire is published by Little, Brown.