May 11, 2020
Ichaso’s chilling debut follows narrator Cassidy “Cass” Pratt, a high school senior whom cruel peers have dubbed Fire Girl in reference to her having purportedly started a blaze that claimed her childhood best friend’s life. Barely remembering the traumatic event except through the occasional fire-tinged hallucination and her older brother’s account, her fears of complicity in a murder return when her biggest bully, Melody Davenport, goes missing. Cass and her crush/confidant, Gideon, have information that could crack open the case, but they can’t share it without incriminating her: just the week before, Cass wrote out with a friend the perfect way to kill Melody, but the notebook they used has disappeared and she begins receiving ominous text messages (“I’m so glad we’re in this together”) that warn her against telling the police. As Cass struggles to unravel the mystery, everyone’s a suspect. Though teenage concerns (an upcoming dance, Cass’s fixation on her dissolving friendship with Gideon) can slow the pacing, gripping twists and turns add suspense to this genre-solid whodunit and keep readers guessing until the very last page. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kristy Hunter, the Knight Agency.