Ava knows she’s different and she’s okay with that. She enjoys studying roadkill and records her findings in her red notebook. She obsesses over this and has experiments she conducted on the roadkill.

During one search, she finds the body of a missing child. This missing, now dead child, is the first of many. Ava finds herself trying to connecting the dots with what is going on.

This story also gives POV from Seth, the detective in charge of the missing children case. He was a likable character but the chapters from Ava’s POV were my favorite because I loved her obsessive and unique mind. Neurodivergent representation - yes !

Very impressive as a debut!

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holy & Company for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In 1981, the quiet town of Rubery, England, is shaken by a string of murders, with 14-year-old Ava Bonney at the center. Fascinated by death and decomposition, Ava’s nighttime animal studies lead her to a human body. Using a fake voice, "Miss Misty," she calls in crucial tips to the police, who are baffled by the case. While they suspect wild animals, Ava’s sharp observations point to someone with clinical lycanthropy. This dark, suspenseful debut has a gripping start and a fantastic ending, with Ava’s eerie brilliance stealing the show. Four stars!

Deadly Animals definitely isn’t a light whodunit. It’s a grim and often disturbing mystery—not exactly the kind of story that will help you relax at the end of the day. But if you’re not the type to shy away from dark crime dramas, you’ll enjoy this grisly read.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.

This book is such a wild mix of vibes. Ava is one of the most unique characters I’ve ever read—dark, quirky, and surprisingly likeable. The whole “roadkill body farm” thing? Super weird but oddly fascinating. That said, the pacing dragged in places, and some parts felt a little too far-fetched. It’s not for the faint of heart, with some heavy themes like animal cruelty and child trauma, but if you’re into slow-burn, dark, and unusual stories, it’s worth checking out.

1981 was quite a year for the town of Rubery, England, and for a 14-year-old girl named Ava Bonney. This small town sees some petty crimes, some graffiti, but nothing like what this year has in store. And young Ava? I wonder if she sensed something was coming; this is a very astute young lady, with a mind that doesn’t work like others.

Ava has different interests than most teen girls, the biggest one being her love for death and decomposition. Don’t think she’s harmful though - she has nothing but respect for the road kill and other dead animals she finds. She brings them to her special hiding place, then takes notes like a laboratory student on how they break down, what environmental factors play a role, how they might have died and what their skeletons are like. After they are done decomposing, she buries them all and says a prayer over them.

It’s one night when she’s out to look at a fox she recently obtained when she sees her first dead human body next to it. It’s a young boy, and of course Ava is freaking out. She calls emergency services and puts on a posh woman’s accent to report the obvious murder, knowing they would never listen to a child who was in the woods at 2 a.m., checking on a dead fox. When the police get there, Detective Delahaye begins the investigation, but he does get some things wrong…

Soon, more young boys go missing, and Ava is always the one to find them. When she realizes Detective Delahaye needs help, she keeps calling with crucial information, always using the same voice which the police come to start calling “Miss Misty”. The police think deadly animals may be the cause of this, but Ava believes this is a case of clinical lycanthropy. Yes, the boys all had numerous bite marks, but they were clearly human bite marks - she knows, she found them. They were all found curled up near dead canines. She believes this is someone who thinks they are a werewolf and acts as such, and the police start taking her seriously.

This book was so good - it got slow in the middle, but the beginning and (especially) the ending were FANTASTIC. Ava is a great character, and while she is the main character, I wish the book spent more time on her and her mind. Those are my only complaints though, this book is feral, gory, suspenseful and creepy as hell. This being a debut only makes it that much more impressive. Four stars!

(Thank you to Henry Holt & Co., Marie Tierney and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

[TW/CW: Gory scenes, blood, graphic sexual abuse, toxic family relationships, underage sexual abuse]

*****SPOILERS*****
About the book:
Fourteen-year-old Ava Bonney is unlike other children. She has an obsessive interest in the rate at which dead animals decompose. The motorway she lives by regularly offers up roadkill, and in the dead of night, Ava likes nothing more than to pull her latest discovery into her roadside den and record her findings.

One night, she stumbles across the body of her classmate Mickey Grant, and fearing that her secret ritual could be revealed, she makes an anonymous call to the police. When Detective Seth Delahaye is given the case, Ava won’t step back—not when teenagers in her sleepy South Birmingham town are going missing.
Release Date: November 12th, 2024
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 368
Rating: ⭐

What I Liked:
1. Cover is pretty
2. Lots of in-depth character development
3. Some parts of book interesting

What I Didn't Like:
1. Boring
2. So unbelievably slow
3. Found myself not caring about characters

Final Thoughts:
Perhaps the problem with this book lies with me. I found this book very slow and boring. I found myself wondering about other things as I was reading it. There's a lot to digest in this book and I think I stopped carrying 20% into it. The characters have a lot of in-depth descriptions and I never felt like they were underwritten, but I just didn't care about who did it or why they did it, which if you don't care about those things then the book's not for you.

There is a lot of sensitive subject matter in this book such as sexual assault of minors that really is just kind of joked about at certain points in the book. Those parts made me feel uncomfortable. I don't think two PC Detectives would be making jokes of a situation of this matter

I got 50% into this book before I decided it wasn't for me and I was just going to dnf it.

IG | Blog

Thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt and Co for the ebook & thanks to Macmillan Audio for the audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
9 likes

I am so conflicted about this book. I loved the characters. I loved the uniqueness of the voices the author, not to mention the narrator, gave to them. I am conflicted about the descriptions of animal death and cruelty. With all of that, the book should have flown by. Instead it seemed to drag at points, making me force myself to push through them. Overall, I'd read about these people again.

This was a great spooky murder mystery with one of the best MCs I’ve read in a while. Am hoping for a second in this series with Ava as the lead, a fresh Nancy drew.

Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney, it’s the early 1980s and Ava Bonnie lives with her neglectful mom and little sister Vivian. she’s 14 and obsessed with death from a scientific and research viewpoint so on the night she sneaks out to go check on the decay of a dead fox. She finds her missing classmate in a ditch near the fox and he is also dead. since it was 2:30 in the morning and she had no excuse or at least not a good one for being out, she used one of her mini voices to call 999 to alert them of the dead boy. Little does little Ava know, but this is going to start her on a new career along with her best friend John, as an amateur slueth where the case takes her and lieutenant detective. Seth Delahay. on the wild and crazy ride because this will not be the only child taken, and although they have some good suspects, the real perpetrator is going to be a much stranger animal. There was so much to this book and I really am not doing it justice with this simple review. This is a fast entertaining read. I thought Ava was such a great character and so likable along with Lieutenant detective Seth and his partner, little Ava was so smart, and it all seem so believable. This was just a great book with likable and lovable characters that usually don’t find murder mystery. At certain points, I thought I knew who the perpetrator was but Miss Tierney is such a skillful writer that I would start to doubt myself when you think the impossible is impossible… Think again. This was a great read. #NetGalley, #HenryHoltAndCompany, #MarieTierney, #DeadlyAnimals,

I cannot believe this is a debut! This book was so gripping, I was hooked until the very last page. If all of Tierney's work is this amazing, I can't wait to read more!

This is a very engrossing and well written story. The character development is good and the pacing is perfect. I would recommend this! Special Thank You to Marie Tierney, Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am so thankful to Henry Holt Books, Macmillan Audio, Marie Tierney, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this galley before publication day. I really enjoyed the dialogue and plot of this book and can’t wait to chat this one up with my friends!

Creepy atmospheric and twisty. There's some very gruesome stuff here and an unsettling plot with a serial killer who lures young boys. Ava, a 14 year old who is fascinated by dead things discovers the body of a missing boy and then becomes the ally the police did not know they needed. Detective Seth Delahaye values her input, especially when he realizes that she's also the one who found a second missing boy. Ava's home life is unhappy but she's got a good friend in John. Keep your eyes on the dogs. Tierney does a good job with amping up the tension and, even if you, like me, figure this out before the end, there are still surprises here. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A page turner.

Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney was such a wonderfully written debut.
This book had me hooked from the start and I could not put it down. The story is suspenseful and twisty from the beginning to the end.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

There’s a myth about geniuses. It’s been said they prefer solitude.

There’s a myth about teenagers, too. It’s been said they’re sullen and hard to talk to.

Ava Bonney is a teenage genius. The thing about being a teenage genius? It’s just lonely. The genius part of her lacks intellectual stimulation from…anyone. Only her best friend really puts up with her shenanigans. The teenage girl part of her just can’t seem to care about anything other teenage girls care about because she’s too busy dodging her mother’s blows, avoiding her mother’s boyfriend’s lingering eyes, and protecting her sister.

So if she’s awkward and a little off-putting, try not to be too offended. She’s just grown up a little too fast.

This is the third debut novel I’ve rated five stars this year, a story about children that’s not necessarily meant to be read by children. A book about childhood but not necessarily meant to be read by someone who’s currently going through it.

This book is both compelling and engaging from the start, as we’re introduced to committed, brave, sarcastic, and genius Ava as she sneaks out of her family’s flat and out to her makeshift animal body farm, where she’s been deeply engrossed in learning all about the decomposition of different animals for some time. We learn so much about this book’s protagonist in these opening scenes, and I dare a reader not to become immediately attached to her. This attachment only grows and solidifies as the book goes on, making the stakes in this book feel extremely high as your concern for Ava’s welfare tightens that suspenseful rope around you.

That feeling of dread and suspense is also held in place by the concern and care for the book’s children, teenagers, and domestic pets. (Oh, yeah, if you’re sensitive to any sort of animal-involved triggers, please seek out content warnings for this book before reading).

All of that heavy emotional lifting is mitigated by one Detective Seth Delahaye, who genuinely enjoys being a cop because he wants to do the right thing (not to be mistaken for the good thing) and takes an immediate shine to the knowledgeable and no-nonsense Ava. In Ava’a world, adults are people you don’t trust, and Delahaye knows that. His open acceptance of Ava’s expertise and the trust he puts in her efforts to help with the case is a really appealing depiction of an adult who knows sometimes you just have to trust your gut, even if your gut takes you to a fourteen-year-old girl who is smarter than you.

I loved how the 1981 setting was faithfully depicted in every aspect of the novel, from the criminology and pathology to the underlying social and economical themes. It’s a truly fantastic novel and well worth the read.

I was provided a digital copy of this title by the publisher and author via Netgalley. I’d like to thank the publisher for also sending me a finished copy of this title. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Amateur Sleuth/Crime Thriller/Historical Fiction/Historical Mystery/Kidnapping/Literary Fiction/Murder Thriller/Serial Killer/Suspense Thriller

There is no better Troupe than Creepy Children!! This book was great pace, well written and very dark and odd.

The story is about 14 year old Ava who is obsessed with dead animals and decomposition! While on her adventures she comes across the body of one of her classmates and she makes the call to the cops but then becomes involved with the case.

There definitely are trigger warnings for this book..... Animal death, Child Abuse and Death of a child. Make sure to look before proceeding.

I thought the book kept you engaged and will read more from the author.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Fourteen year old Ava is a different type child. She has an obsession with watching dead animals decompose and collects roadkill to study. When her searches bring her to the body of a missing classmate, she makes an anonymous call to the police and becomes involved in the case.

If you enjoy books with unusual children, you’ll like this one. The main character is dark and odd, but likeable. She’s definitely a uniquely developed character that really makes the story. It is a slower paced read so be prepared to sit with it and its darkness for a bit. Some major trigger warnings off animal death, child abuse and death.

Deadly Animals comes out 11/12.

Deadly Animals is an intriguing YA thriller with murders, a monster, a long chase, and a satisfying conclusion. This is a debut novel with the potential to be developed into a series following the very smart Ava and Detective Delahaye. Set in the UK in 1981, the story at times feels unlikely due to the faith of the relationship between the copper and the teenager, but I believe teens especially will love this, plus the positive portrayal of a law enforcement officer is a huge bonus. I enjoyed the story despite understanding very early on all the twists because the characters are extremely likeable. This is a 4.5 I don't feel bad about bumping to 5 because of the amount of research that must have gone into some of this writing is astounding. Excellent debut novel. Additionally, I listened to the audiobook, read by Olivia Dowd, who did an excellent job with all accents and voices. It was an enjoyable read all around.
Thanks to NetGalley, Henry Holt & Co, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies to review!

What a unique plot line! With characters you want to meet and situations that are hard to fathom, this book had me gripped from start to finish! While dark and intense, the characters bring a life of their own that give the story the personal touch needed to carry you through. It’s hard to believe that this beautifully worded book is Tierney’s first. With a slight hint at the end, I’m hoping to see more of Ava in future stories! Glad that this was a dual read/listen because I didn’t want to put it down! Thank you to Henry Holt, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for and ARC and ALC of this book.

Ava is an unusual 14 year old who spends her time monitoring the decomposition of roadkill. Late one night, when she sneaks out of the house to make her daily observations, she finds the body of a missing boy, and thus begins her involvement with a local serial killer.

Ava was a smart and spunky character, and I was always rooting for her. The adults around her, though, were incompetent at best and pretty much negligent in every way. Even the detective, who secretly knows Ava called in the dead body and doesn’t tell anyone, keeps coming back to her for assistance with the investigation, which seemed unrealistic and morally questionable.

The serial killer’s MO was more unique and interesting than most of the mystery/crime I read, but I was kind of disappointed that the author gave it away so early. It felt like for much of the book, I was waiting for Ava (and separately, the detective!) to catch up and figure it out. For this reason, the middle felt a little slow for me and didn’t keep me as engaged as I wanted to be. I was also waiting for Ava to be a suspect - even though the reader knows it’s not her, there were a lot of reasons for law enforcement to be suspicious - but it never happens, and that felt like an underutilized element to the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy, in exchange for an honest review.