‘I looked up because of the laughter, and kept looking because of the girls. I noticed their hair first, long and uncombed. Then their jewellery catching the sun. The three of them were far enough away that I saw only the periphery of their features, but it didn’t matter – I knew they were different from everyone else in the park.’

It’s summer in California, 1969. Teenager Evie Boyd is desperate to be noticed. When she meets a group of girls she is immediately flattered by their attention. At the centre of their group is Russell, who lives at the ranch. Rumours of sex, frenzied gatherings, teen runaways. Was there a warning sign of what was to come? Or was Evie too in thrall to care?

Billed as one of the top books of summer 2016, with a quote from Lena Dunham on the front cover exclaiming, ‘This book will break your heart and blow your mind’, it’s fair to say I had fairly high expectations for The Girls. It was unfortunate that I read this book so soon after reading Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman (a book that really did blow my mind). The two share many themes in common, and I couldn’t help comparing them.

Despite the fact that I much preferred Girls on Fire, I still really enjoyed The Girls. A twisted tale of teenage friendship and the pains of growing into a woman, of rites of passage and keenly felt betrayals.

Evie will be a relatable character for the majority of readers. Nursing conflicting emotions of insecurity and a desperation to be noticed, she is swept away by her first chance of truly fitting in. You’ll be well aware that the ending won’t be happy, that dark things lurk beneath the relaxed exterior of the ranch, and you’ll find yourself reading with clenched teeth as the story rolls to its inexorable end.

Cline is undoubtedly a brilliant writer. She captures brilliantly the fearful uncertainty of being a teenage girl, the willingness to put up with almost anything if it means staying close to those you desperately want to be friends with. I’m sure most readers will thank their lucky stars that they are no longer in that awkward teenage phase after reading this book.

Perhaps the book’s biggest strength is its subtlety, a quality that I admit Girls on Fire sometimes lacked. Cline leaves so many things unsaid, whole conversations shared in a meaningful glance, building the tension to almost unbearable levels. It’s almost comparable to watching a horror movie; you know something horrifying is going to jump out at you, you’re just not sure when it’s going to happen.

The main problem I had with this book was the structure. The story is written with a middle-aged Evie looking back on what happened the summer she met the girls. I wished Cline had spent more time on the main story, with Evie as a teenager in 1969, as this was definitely the more interesting part of the novel. Despite this, the chapters concerning the older Evie do a decent job of building suspense as she hints at the dark things her relationship with the girls will lead to.

The other problem I had was that Russell, the Charles Manson-like figure the eponymous girls cling to, lingers always at the edge of things. He has no real presence and so the reason for the other characters’ infatuation with him remains unclear. I understand that this is because Evie’s fixation was on the girls rather than Russell himself, but it means that we don’t understand the reason for the girls’ obsession.

Despite these problems, I would recommend this book as an engrossing holiday read. Let go of all the hype, and you’re sure to enjoy it.

Many thanks to Penguin for my review copy.