Hannah Warner is heading to college soon, but she’ll have one hell of a summer first.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you choose to make a wildfire the event that kicks off this thriller?
JENNIFER LYNN ALVAREZ:What was so compelling about wildfire for me was the criminal aspect of it.
‘Lies Like Wildfire,’ by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez.Penguin Random House
It’s extremely easy to do, and for these teens it was truly an accident.
What compelled me is how to make the stakes high without making the mistake really big.
This fun moment turns into this monstrous tragedy.
The other compelling thing about fire is it’s the only natural disaster that a human can cause.
I’ve really thought about that, and I can’t think of another.
What made Hannah Warner the right character to put at the center of this story?
You start each chapter with the number of fatalities and the status of the crimes in each part.
Where did that idea come from?
I wanted to bring some of the realism and authenticity into the story.
Did any of the central five characters surprise you in some way while writing?
They all surprised me, honestly, but what surprised me most was Violet.
That was a surprise because I thought of her as one of the Monsters, tried and true.
Which character dynamic within the Monsters group did you find the most interesting?
Both of them are romantically challenged in opposite ways.
He has countless relationships and none of them worked out; she has none and she wants one.
They both just don’t know how to connect but have such a strong connection with each other.
He’s afraid if he dates her, he’ll lose her, because he loses everybody he dates.
I thought it was an interesting dynamic to write.
I wanted to explore loyalty and keeping each other’s secrets.
The struggle of being loyal to your friends and knowing when to draw the line is interesting.
With Luke and Violet, we have two teens on opposite ends when it comes to socioeconomic status.
Did you intend to incorporate class as a theme inLies Like Wildfire?
It was not intentional, but none of the Monsters are wealthy except Violet.
They need college and their reputations, or to not be kicked out of their home.
She can handle any repercussions: fines, not going to college.
What are some of your favorite fictional groups of friends?
The first thing that came to my mind was Harry Potter and his friends.
They have that loyalty to each other, which is beautiful when it doesn’t involve crime.
Also, I loveOuter Banks.
Outside of Hannah’s friends, her biggest relationship is with her father.
What do you think we learn about Hannah through her dynamic with him?
With her dad, we see her protectiveness.
She’s trying to protect him from having to arrest her.
There are huge secrets throughout the book.
What did you want to explore about secrets and the impact of keeping them?
I consider the book a cautionary tale.
If you read it, you learn there’s a clear message that these huge secrets are not healthy.
They burned down their high school their teachers and everyone they grew up with would be disappointed in them.
