Kill Creatures

by Rory Power

 

From the bestselling author of Wilder Girls and queen of twisty narratives, Rory Power, comes her highly anticipated new Young Adult thriller. Last summer, Nan's three best friends disappeared into Saltcedar Canyon.

She's spent the year since grieving their loss and avoiding questions about what happened that night. Now, on the anniversary, she's ready to say goodbye, and so are the girls' families, who have reconvened to hold a memorial. But their vigil is interrupted by the shocking return of one of the missing girls alive. Everybody is overjoyed. Everybody, that is, except Nan, who was pretty sure they were dead.

After all, she's the one who killed them.

Atmospheric, fast-paced and vividly realised, Kill Creatures is a book about secrets, jealousy, violence and revenge. Perfect for fans of A Good Girls Guide to Murder and Gone Girl.  

Reviews for Wilder Girls :

'Your new favourite book' Cosmopolitan

'Wholly original and compelling'  Observer

'A staggering gut punch of a book' Kirkus 

Rory Power lives in Rhode Island. She has an MA in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia, and is the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls, Burn Our Bodies Down, and In a Garden Burning Gold. 

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, LGBT, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2025

About the author

Rory Power grew up in New England, where she lives and works as a crime fiction editor and story consultant for TV adaptation. She received a Masters in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia.

Reviews

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

💖🍀Hold your friends close and your enemies closer💖🍀. Kill Creatures written by Rory Power was bone chilling creepy. This book was so captivating, it had my attention captured throughout the entire book even though some parts dragged a little bit and was often repeitive, hence the four star rating. I have never read a book by this author before, but damn she gave me full body chills with this book, I will definitely have to check out her other books in the future. As many of you know by now, I'm such a sucker for those stunning covers, so of course I knew I had to get my hands on this book because just take a minute and admire that stunning cover. Kill Creatures reminded me of that case where that one girl stabbed and tried to kill her two best friends to prove that Slenderman was real. This book literally scared me to the bones, I can't even imagine being murdered by my best friend or by someone who I thought was my real friend. This is the type of book that will make you sit down and think about the people you surround yourself with or the people who you thought were your friends, but then you think damn that person is so two faced. I can't recommend Kill Creatures enough, if you are looking for a gory thriller, then look no further than Kill Creatures written by Rory Power and make sure it's on your thrilling thrillers list. This book does deal with super heavy topics, so please be mindful and check the trigger warning's before picking this one up, they will also be listed down below in my review, so be sure to check them out before you decide to pick up this gory book.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY AND RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN'S FOR AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW!!!!!

TRIGGER WARNING'S
~Descriptions of Physical Violence and Murder~
~Animal Cruelty (animals involved are NOT pets, the incidents are imagined or references rather than depictions)~
~Drowning~
~Gore/Blood~
~References to Underage Drinking~
~Implied Alcoholism in a Parent~
~References to Prolonged Captivity~
~Infidelity~
~Distortion and Manipulation of Memory/Perception~

"💗🌊My girls are the light off the water. They are heaven and high summer, they are clasped hands in the dark, and I will take whatever I can get💗🌊".

"👙🎨Choosing a bathing suit is an art👙🎨".

"😭💔No day at the canyon will ever be as perfect as the day my best friends died😭💔".

Nan Carver is a wicked bitch and a master manipulator. Nan is a girl whose biggest fear is not losing the people she loves, but getting them back. Last summer, Nan killed her three best friends in Saltcedar Canyon- their favorite swimming hole. Nan has one truth and one truth only that she told the police, they set off on a boat ride one last time before the summer ends, only for Nan to be the only one that returned alive. The girls set off with no mooring rope and no anchor, so someone had to stay behind on the boat so it didn't disappear, only Nan never did, she went into the swimming hole to murder her three best friends. After murdering her best friends, Nan has this voice in her head telling her "somebody knows, somebody knows, somebody knows what you did". After the murder of her three best friends, Nan kept a box of treasures from that night- gold hoop earrings from Jane, silver stud earrings from Edie, but kept nothing from Luce, hmm why could that be? I didn't like Nan one bit, she was so rude, a wicked bitch, a mean girl, and a master manipulator. I find joy in rooting for characters, but I could never find myself rooting for Nan at all, I mean after all she did kill her friends and she deserves to be locked up for life. Kill Creatures is a book about secrets, revenge, jealousy, and murder. Nan, I hope you rot like a bad apple behind bars, you are completely sick and twisted in the head.

Luce Allard, Jane Bristow, and Edie Gale are three sixteen year olds that are murdered the summer before their junior year of high school. Edie, Jane, and Luce are best friends and Nan's favorite people in the world, so why did she murder them? The three girls wandered into the dark and let Saltcedar Canyon swallow them whole. During the time they were murdered, the townfolks wear t-shirts saying BRING THEM HOME with the girls faces right in the middle of the t-shirt. Luce was murdered after a rock rocked her skull, and Edie and Jane were lured into the current to drown in Devil's Eye which was their favorite swimming place. On their final summer day on the lake, these four girls had a huge fight, because Edie thinks Nan is a fourth wheel and she's obsessed with Edie, Jane, and Luce, but no one apologized for the fight and or the words they said to Nan, so she just kills them before the end of summer. Nan also had a crush on Edie, but Edie had feelings for Luce, so maybe Nan felt jealous? But still, that's not a valid reason to kill your friends. During their one year memorial anniversary on the river, Luce returns alive, but doesn't remember anything, or she's just playing stupid so Nan can talk and say what actually happened. During the memorial anniversary, Nan is wearing the same outfit she wore the night the girls were murdered- cutoff shorts, sandals, and one of her dad's old button-ups shirt hanging open over her bathing suit. Please read this book to see how this story goes and what happens after Luce returns alive and finally get the answers as to why Nan murdered her friends that she so dearly loved. My heart goes out to these young girls and their families.

[Ricarda · Rating 4 out of 5]

And what if I said that the cover is the best part about this book? I didn't dislike it, but it really did not blow me away either. It's a fast read and I was kinda dying to find out what actually happened, but the reveals were a bit underwhelming and unsurprising in my opinion. I wanted to obsess over this the same way I did (and still do) over Wilder Girls, but it wasn't meant to be. 3.5 stars.

The cover artist is Kei-Ella Loewe, if you want to check her out!

--------------------------------------------------

I don't even read that much YA anymore, but this is absolutely my most anticipated release of 2025.

[chloé ✿ · Rating 1 out of 5]

the cover is absolutely the best part of this book.

dull, detached writing style, underwhelming, i hated everyone, and it was all extremely predictable.

i’m just glad it was short and the font was large. 🫣 1.5 stars.

[Igel :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5🌟 Okay, that was (quite ) disappointing. It wasn't terrible but compared to Rory Power's other books , this one was so underwhelming.

I can't really talk about my issues with this book without spoilers, so let's start with the things I enjoyed:

-The writing style. I love Rory Power's writing style , and the writing is as good as in her other books.

-I loved the premiss of the book. It is so sad to see how much of the potential was wasted.

-I enjoyed the beginning of the book.

-I love the queer representation in Rory Power's ya books. It always makes me feel very seen.

⚠️⚠️SPOILER ⚠️ ⚠️

🚨SPOILER ALERT 🚨

There is just so much wasted potential and I absolutly hated the ending.

Somehow I thought this book would have horror and supernatural elements (just like in Power's other ya books)

From the start we know that Nan killed her friends. IT'S LITERALLY WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF THE BOOK. So I thought this book would be about her friends returning from the dead as some kind of skinwalkers (or mabye something like the creatures in "House of Hollow ") and seeking for revenge. Well it wasn't about skinwalkers.
Since we know who killed the girls , I thought we would atleast get a good story WHY the main character killed her best friends BUT NOTHING. THE REASONS WHY SHE KILLED THEM WERE SO DUMB AND UNDERWHELMING. YOU WANT TO TELL ME SHE KILLED THEM BECAUSE SHE WAS JEALOUS AND HER CRUSH WAS MEAN TO HER ???? THAT'S IT???

I expected so much more from Rory Power. There was no interesting twist to the story, and NOTHING INTERESTING HAPPENED throughout the whole book . The entire time I always had faith that the ending would be groundbreaking and we would get some amazing twists.
And there is not even a massage to this book.




🚨 Spoilers End🚨


Conclusion:
-It's not a good crime book because we know from the beginning who killed the girls.

-It sadly isn't a horror book at all.

-It isn't thrilling for the most part.

-It doesn't have a good plot and it doesn't have a good ending either.

-Everything I liked about this book can be found in Rory Power's other books.

[Alex.andthebooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Serce wali mi tak mocno, że chyba nie zasnę

[Krysta ꕤ · Rating 2 out of 5]

”I looked at Luce’s body and I called us what we were— kill creatures, born for exactly this.”

i wanted to like this book more than i did, the beginning was strong but it started to drag and had a very anticlimactic ending for me. the main fmc Nan starts off the story by saying she had killed her 3 friends: Edie, Luce and Jane. but then at the funeral for them, Luce shows up and Nan starts to panic cause she doesn’t know what Luce remembers from that day. the direction this went was kinda obvious, it’s something i actually see happen a lot in thrillers. i never connected to any of the characters and didn’t care what had happened to any of them to be honest.. this just wasn’t for me.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gripping, twisty young adult mystery that you’ll devour in one sitting! The plot is thoroughly intriguing, keeping you hooked from start to finish. Rory Power is a brilliant author, and her previous works, especially Wilder Girls, are also exceptional—ones I highly enjoyed and recommend to any thriller enthusiast!

The story revolves around 17-year-old Nan, who recently lost her three best friends. A year ago, she joined Luce, Edie, and Jane on a night boat tour that ended in Devil’s Eye Canyon. Nan was the only one who returned. No one knows what happened to the other three girls—except Nan. She knows because she killed them.

On the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, the residents of Saltcedar, including the families of the missing girls, gather for a vigil. But during the ceremony, something unexpected happens: Luce returns. Nan suspects the girl claiming to be Luce is an impostor because Nan is certain she killed her, smashing her head with a rock. Luce wasn’t breathing when Nan left her. But now, she’s alive and claims to remember nothing.

Could it be true? How did she survive the head trauma, and where has she been hiding for the past year? Why has she returned now? Is she planning revenge? Meanwhile, someone knows what Nan did. Someone has found the keepsakes Nan secretly took from the dead girls. But who? Nan must act quickly to protect her secret—but what if there are even darker truths waiting to be uncovered?

Overall, the twisty ending was masterfully executed. While I predicted a few elements, I didn’t see the full picture coming. It’s a short, fast-paced, surprising, and well-developed thriller with a fantastic ending. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking something gripping, smart, and quick to read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press for providing this addictive YA thriller’s digital review copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

[angelpompom · Rating 2 out of 5]

every time she said “my girls” my stomach swirled.

[Stitching Ghost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started strong and proceeded to drag to a profoundly unsatisfactory conclusion. Not all books will have a satisfying ending, I get that, but here it was just frustrating.

[Charlotte May · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good!!!! 4.5 ⭐���

Nan has lived in the same small town all her life, in the same caravan park. She watches the tourists come each summer and leave by Autumn, all from the sidelines.

Until one day a group of girls invite her into their inner circle. Suddenly she has best friends, a purpose, sisters even.

However, one horrible day the three girls are killed. Only Nan survives - it is branded a horrific accident.

A year later at a memorial service, one of the girls returns. Back from the dead, how is it possible - because Nan killed them all.

With a story that flicks between past and present we see what unravels as the day of the murders arrives and also what truly happened that day as secrets come to the surface in the present.

Rory Power is great at writing the complexities and downright cruelty of female friendship. How one girl, desperate to belong can finally hit her limit.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

creo que la premisa es mucho más grande e impactante que el propio desarollo…

ideal para quienes estén 0 acostumbrados al thriller, sean más jovenes o no busquen una historia muy oscura.

el principio ha sido lo mejor, pero me ha decaído precisamente porque le ha faltado intensidad a una historia que lo pide a gritos, es terriblemente superficial para todo el jugo que se le puede sacar incluso siendo un YA.

no ha estado mal, pero podría haber sido mucho
mejor y el final es tanto predecible como vacío.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

1 Sentence Summary: A year after Nan’s three best friends disappeared into Saltcedar canyon, one of the missing girls returns, miraculously alive, which shouldn’t be possible—after all, Nan is the one who killed them.

My Thoughts: OH. MY. GOODNESS. I don’t even know what I just read! This was soooo good and unsettling in the best way. It had such an eerie atmosphere and was very well written.

The characters were really well developed and everyone was so unhinged and insane. I loved the setting of Saltcedar, and I loved how the narrative went back and forth between past and present.

I read this whole book in one sitting because I could NOT put it down. So twisty and suspenseful and creepy and unreliable. And that ending?!?!?!

Recommend to: People who enjoy YA psychological thrillers.

(Warnings: swearing; mentioned infidelity; blood/violence; death)

***
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review

[Brend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delicious

[zara · Rating 4 out of 5]

i'm telling you rn, it is so weird being in the head of a fundamentally unlikeable narrator... that was twisted and i hated every second of being in nan's head. it was fucking awesome but never again lmao

[Stormaloo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nan is an emotionally detached narrator, which could’ve been compelling if the book leaned into the whole “dark antihero” thing but instead, I just couldn’t connect with her. Her flat, casual way of talking about murder made it hard to feel any tension or urgency. I never really understood her motivations, and I didn’t feel invested in her inner world.
The structure didn’t help either. The flashbacks were constant and disrupted the flow. Instead of building suspense, they made the timeline feel messy and slow. I kept waiting for something to really happen, but it never quite took off.

[Abbey Lavinia ꕥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ☆

5 ☆ cover though

[Angyl · Rating 2 out of 5]

so... this was one of my most anticipated 2025 releases ....and it was a flop
😭😭😭

Kill Creatures is a YA horror/thriller following Nan, a young girl in the small town of Saltcedar. One year ago, her three best friends disappeared without a trace, so imagine the relief and surprise the townsfolk feel when, out of the blue, one of the girls comes back alive. Except, Nan feels the opposite of relief, because she was the one who killed the three girls.

Super promising premise, and I don't read much YA these days, but Wilder Girls is a 5 star for me - I wanted from Kill Creatures what I got from that one and it just did not deliver. The best way I can describe this book is: half-baked. Throughout the entire time I was reading Kill Creatures, I just couldn't shake the feeling of disconnect. Nothing seemed fully developed - not the town, the characters, or the mystery. I felt like I was reading a rough draft at times and was like ok, this is a cool concept, now send it back and build it out some more.

Everything was so underwhelming. One of the big "twists" was so painfully obvious from the beginning. And yes, I know I am not the target demographic for a YA novel, but I think even a younger audience is smarter than this. I really have no further thoughts except for the moment I finished this book, just being like "ok so where is the rest of it?"

Gorgeous cover, wish the inside matched! If you are looking forward to Kill Creatures because, like me, you loved Wilder Girls, I might think again before going into this with high expectations.

[Sandra Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Kill Creatures” starts with Nan, a girl whose three best friends vanished one night in Saltcedar Canyon. A year later, during their memorial, one of them walks back out of the woods. Alive. And that moment completely changes everything you think you know.

From the very first chapter, it’s eerie, intense, and claustrophobic. You can practically feel the heat of that small town, the weight of guilt, the silence no one wants to break.

The book switches between “then” and “now”, slowly showing what happened that night in the canyon while revealing how broken and haunted Nan really is. She’s not a clean, heroic narrator; she’s messy, defensive, and unreliable. And that’s exactly what makes her fascinating.

As the truth starts to unravel, the tension builds in such a slow, suffocating way. Every time I thought I had it figured out, Rory Power threw in another layer of guilt, jealousy, or denial that made everything murkier. The atmosphere is so vivid: the canyon, the dark water, the town pretending to move on. All of it adds to that sense of something rotten just beneath the surface.

“Kill Creatures” is haunting, emotional, and beautifully written. It’s the kind of book that lingers in your mind long after you finish, not just because of what happened, but because of how it felt to read it. Rory Power nails that blend of psychological tension and raw emotion.

[Anya Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good, I could not put it down.

[Kate♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars

I love when rory writes about sapphic murder horror girls

[Celine Ong · Rating 5 out of 5]

this had such hannibal energy idk how to elaborate

[v d · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I loved Wilder Girls and liked Burn Our Bodies Down enough. I really love Powers’s brand of sapphic eco-horror, especially with the beautiful, flow-y prose and fun, gripping concepts. That’s to say that I had high expectations for Kill Creatures, and crazy theories about how Luce came back.

Overall, Kill Creatures was just fine. The prose, as always, was beautifully written. But I didn’t love the mystery (how it unfolded or the anti-climactic ending). And honestly, there was a surprising lack of tension or stakes, especially for how interesting the concept could have been. Luce’s reappearance could have been MAJOR—I mean, I really wanted it to not *really* be Luce but rather some kind of mimic, but even with that in mind, the reintroduction of Luce as the girl Nan couldn’t kill had a lot of potential. But Powers’s rarely used her. Throughout the entire book, Nan interacted with Luce four times, if that. And for most of that I was just *waiting* for something to happen between them.

Don’t even get me started on the events leading up to the end—Nan sneaking into Luce’s room, finding the box, calling her dad, calling Luce’s number. Luce acting like she had some master plan in the final confrontation when, really, there was very little leading up to that made the reveal feel deserved. It just wasn’t satisfying in the slightest. And the final fight being broken up by the sheriff or whoever… idk man. The epilogue with Luce winning was sweet, though. And the reveal that Luce was going to kill Nan to get back @ her dad was fun. But still.

So what are the really great things about Kill Creatures that saves this from being a complete clusterfuck? Well, I really loved the characters. Nan being outrageously apathetic about murdering the girls felt very refreshing. The slow realization that she is, in fact, kinda nutty and weird also felt great. It’s only natural to believe Nan when she positions herself as one of the girls early on, but Powers did a great job of slowly showing how deeply that is not the case. When Nan buys the red hair dye to “become” Luce and then goes through her phone, I just about lost it lol. The other girls were fun, too—seeing their personalities and dynamics in the flashbacks were fun, even as someone who generally dislikes flashbacks in stories.

The vibe was also very fun. Nan’s voice is just great, especially as she’s spiraling about so many different things. Luce killing the bird, about liking Edie, about Luce reappearing, possibly remembering, and the sheriff being on her ass. The very few times I felt tension was when Marsden was grilling Nan, mostly because Nan just read so frantic sometimes that it was making me nervous.

Overall, Kill Creatures is a fun little ya thriller, though it had potential to be more. I don’t know if it’s fully realized, and I wish Nan or the story were more active, less passive (at a certain point it’s just Nan @ the mercy of everyone else, kinda letting things happen to her) but I enjoyed it all the same.

[Salomé · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is for all the lesbian losers out there 🤘🏽

It took me some time to get used to the first-person narration, but after that, I couldn’t put this book down. Nan is an amazing character to follow; you never guess where she’ll take you. She gives off so many unhinged vibes that you can’t help but be excited to see how far she will go.

Thank you Scholastic UK for the arc.

[ShannonXO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feral psycho gay girls are where it's at.

[⋆｡°·☁︎ sydney ⋆｡°·☁︎]

struggling on what to rate this.
i can't say i enjoyed a single second of this book
but also, idk what i was expecting?
at times this book was actually a bit sickening
this whole plot was just very disturbing to me, as i think it was meant to be?
i really don't know.
this was a short, difficult read.
beyond that i am trying not to think about it
seriously, im actually struggling
everything about the premise of this book, along with it's execution makes my skin crawl
maybe it is because i am around the exact same age as the characters that this just felt so creepy to me?
It also might have just been nan's internal dialougue, which was not so much unreliable as it was plain delusional, but it really made this book feel just so strange and unnerving.
in some ways it felt very similar to Adolescence on netflix, which was also a difficult watch
im really not sure what to think about this one.

(side note: i love the art style of this cover, the only reason i read it-- i need to start reading blurbs😨😨)

[Books_the_Magical_Fruit · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter read one of Powers’ other books and didn’t really like it, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this. I absolutely HAD to request an eARC when I read the synopsis, though! It’s such an interesting premise.

Nan is presented as an unreliable narrator right from the beginning, and she claims to have killed her three best friends a year ago. Imagine her surprise when one of them shows up, seemingly back from the dead!

I love the way Ms. Powers writes—this is beautifully written. The events enfold going back and forth between the present and the past, and it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. I was sucked in right from the get go, and I couldn’t wait to get back to it when I was forced to put it down. That said, I was confused and unsatisfied with the ending. I would’ve liked to see more explanations. I can’t go too much into detail without spoilers, but I really wanted to know more backstory.

Ultimately, I give it a 3.75, rounded up, because the story really reeled me in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the advance copy. I am writing this review entirely voluntarily.

[Karina (shedreamsinwords) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly this didn’t grip me which is disappointing because the cover has me drooling, but hey.. it happens.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

this short, fast-paced YA mystery thriller is an emotional ride. i was really into this during the first half, but once the reveals begin, the whole thing kinda falls apart.

✧ ALL SPOILERS UNDER TAGS ✧

so we have nan, a lonely teenager who says she killed her three best friends a year ago. the three went missing and were never found, until now, when one comes back alive.

on many levels, this feels like a story i've read before. simmering feminine rage, an unrequited sapphic crush, all the beauty and brutality that can exist among teenage girls. nan's unlikable, unreliable narration is a strong point in the book. there is a tangled web of emotions brewing within this young kid.

this book's long "now" chapters are interspersed with "then" flashbacks showing interactions between the girls when they were all alive. and from the very first flashback, it's clear that nan is extremely deluded about her place in the group, behaving as though they're all friends even though she's clearly on the outskirts. this is apparent in the beginning, yet toward the end, nan suddenly realizes the truth - that the other girls felt sorry for her, and thought she was creepy and weird and stalkerish, and regretted ever asking her to hang out - and it's like we're supposed to be surprised? the reader knew this, but nan didn't. and honestly, it doesn't sit right with me that one of the twists is that the lonely deluded misfit became a jealous, vengeful killer, wholly lacking self awareness. it almost feels in poor taste to dramatically reveal that nan's mental state is so fragile.

the other reveals about luce, her disappearance and return, are underwhelming too. it turns out nan's dad and luce's mom were having an affair, nan's dad killed her, and then he kept luce captive. i had predicted the majority of this, and i rolled my eyes at the final gotcha twist - that luce is just as tenacious and conniving as nan, both of them kill creatures. and ultimately, luce wins. meh.

perhaps the audiobook narration contributed to this, but the narrative felt very young YA to me, despite the gritty content. it's very engaging and i love the desolate desert atmosphere, but the story is disappointing and not very memorable.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

A year ago, Nan and her three best friends, Luce, Edie, and Jane, stole a boat to go for a swim during the summer. None of them knew that only Nan would come back. Now, the town is holding a vigil for the three lives lost, and Nan is meant to speak there, but when a body shows up in the river and it ends up being Luce, who is alive and well, Nan loses all color in her face. Luce is supposed to be dead, and Nan knows this because she is the one who killed her – who killed. them all.

The only other book I've read from Rory Power is her debut novel, Wilder Girls, which I want to say I read back in 2019. That one was very elusive, thrilling, and had an ending that still pisses readers off to this day. Kill Creatures was on my radar for this year as it sounded like the next book from Powers I was interested in, but to be honest, I don't think I would have picked this book anytime soon, if at all, if I wasn't given an ARC copy.

Kill Creatures has a dual timeline story. The past, both pre- and post-murders, and the main timeline during the present, as Nan figures out how much Luce remembers and how and why Luce is back in town. I read this on the same day, but I was bored for the majority of this. This book is less than 300 pages, but I still think it should have been much shorter. The summary gives away the big twist, so as the reader, you're just wondering how we get to that point. I honestly would have preferred if Nan being a killer wasn't given away in the synopsis, and we found that out rather at the beginning of this book or the very end. The last 50 pages were the most thrilling and the BEST out of them all.

The epilogue was definitely my favorite part of the whole book. I think an alternate reality version of this story where that storyline happens would also be really cool to see. I didn't love Amazon Prime's I Know What You Did Last Summer series, but this book reminds me A LOT of the vibes of that show despite the fact that they don't quite overlap.

Thank you to Delacorte Press for the ARC! This title was released on June 3, 2025. My review reflects the physical ARC copy I read.

[Casey Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a YA thriller, so know that going in because it does read as such, and I don't like it when people judge YA for reading as YA. It's exactly what it's marketed as. This is a fun little unhinged book of teen girl crazy! Nan Carver's three best friends died last summer, and on the one year anniversary during a vigil, one of the dead girls turns up alive. Everyone is overjoyed, except Nan. This cannot be! Why? Because she killed them. (This is literally written on the back of the book, so not a spoiler.) Nan has a story and she is sticking to it. Does Luce remember what really happened that night? This is an unhinged story of secrets, delusion, jealousy, girl drama and murder. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away, but I really enjoyed it and didn't want to put it down! I had a fun time with this one and the pacing was great. I love unhinged females. Also, this cover is incredible. Looking for a fun YA summer thriller? Look no further.