KILL CREATURES - Rory Power

Nan's three best friends, all of the students at the local school, have gone missing at one of the popular watering holes. It's been a year and something's been nagging at Nan, a little voice in her head telling her that someone knows something. And then one of the missing girls walks out of Saltcedar Canyon and into town. Everyone is excited and happy to have the girl return. Everyone but Nan, that is, since Nan's the one who killed her.

This isn't giving anything away from the story - the book pretty much puts that description right on the book. Which means this isn't a mystery about what happened to the girls - at least not what INITIALLY happened. Instead, this is a creepy, eerie, YA about teen girls and the extraordinary lengths they might go to when dealing with jealousy and angst. Times ten.

Rory Power, author of Wilder Girls, goes inside the mind of what we might, at first, think is an ordinary teen dealing with some extraordinary circumstances - losing her three best friends. Anyone who's ever had a teenage girl in their house will recognize the high drama and sometimes nastiness that comes from girl 'friends.' But it doesn't take long for the reader to recognize that Nan is different and maybe, just maybe, not in a good way.

And then the book turns even darker.

What works well is that Rory Power understands teen girls and gets inside the mind of this one with ease.

What's disappointing is that there isn't much happening here. It's a book about character - one character - who doesn't grow or change. It is only our perception and understanding of her that changes.

There's a suggestion that this book is that the book is on the supernatural spectrum and there might be something even darker (than murder) going on, but at it's core this is just a pedantic story of teen jealousy taken to an extreme. Even the ending is a let-down, though I'm not sure what would have been more exciting. I recognize that 'truth' of the ending, but it doesn't offer the reader anything satisfying to the reader.

Looking for a good book? There are YA readers who will really get excited about the extreme drama in this creepy story, Kill Creatures by Rory Power, but most readers may find it disturbing for nothing.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

Kill Creatures

author: Rory Power

publisher: Delacorte Press

ISBN: 9780593302316

hardcover, 288 pages

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