Review--Kill Creatures by Rory Power

Last year, Nan’s three best friends ventured into the canyons near their small town and never returned. Now one of them is back, and Nan can’t believe it…because she’s the one who killed them. From the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls comes another dark thriller about friendship, jealousy, desire, and revenge, with a twist ending that needs to be talked about.

Nan's story has always been the same. Last summer, she, Luce, Edie, and Jane took a boat out for one final swim in the river. It was a perfect summer night.

But the only one who returned that night was Nan. She maintains that she has no idea what happened to her three friends. The girls went ahead, and it was as though they disappeared into thin air.

Now, one year later, it's the memorial of that night. All of Saltcedar has gathered at the river. Nan is even wearing the same clothes she wore that fateful day last summer. And when Luce climbs out of the water, no one is more surprised than Nan.

Because Nan killed her. Right before she killed Edie and Jane.

Kill Creatures is my first book by Rory Powers and whoa, it will not be my last! This was an on the edge of your seat kind of mystery! So chilling and dark that I ate up the pages and since it was a shorter read to begin with, it was easy to devour this devilish mystery!

From the get-go, we know what Nan did! The blurb says it all. On the one year anniversary of Edie, Jane, and Luce's disappearance, the town came together for a memorial service and right in the moment of silence they hear something...and a body is found in the water...right where Nan had killed her friends. It's revealed that the body is Luce, one of the girls that Nan killed. Now she's back and Nan is terrified that her darkest secret will be revealed to all.

Just. Freaking. Whoa. This book was such a dark and twisty mystery that I really wish I would've saved it for a day where I didn't have to work because I ate up these pages! The mystery really knew how to drag you. While we know that Nan killed these girls, we don't know the how's or why's and this slowly gets revealed through some interspersed flashbacks.

Naturally, with the way my brain is hardwired, I thought there was going to be some supernatural explanation for Luce's sudden reappearance. I mean, a year has gone by. The question is where has she been all this time? I won't get into that part and whether any of my theories were right or not, but yes, I had a few going there! Lol.

Of course the biggest mystery of all seemed to be why Nan did what she did. The flashbacks build quite a story too. One that took awhile to really form to reveal Nan's motives. I mean, in the end, you're still kind of left with a big why. But the simplest solution is usually the one it is.

The ending was pretty spectacular! I mean, I was kind of suspecting something along these lines when it came to the mystery but then the mystery took a few unexpected turns that had me needing to redirect my theories! It's definitely a read that keeps you on your toes and endlessly guessing the why's and how's! The ending was ultimately satisfying and very chilling. Needless to say, I will definitely be needing another Rory Power book!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars