This book was a quick read, I’ll give it that. But unfortunately thats most of what I liked about it. The story kept be intrigued enough, but I just didn’t feel connected at all and din’t feel any sort of wow or shock factor at the reveal. The ending seemed a bit rushed, and also a bit confusing.

**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.**

Actual rating: 3.5

Rory Power returns with her newest YA thriller, Kill Creatures. Readers follow a split time line from the perspective of Nan. She's a teen in a small town and she happens to have been the last to see her three friends before they disappeared last summer. As the town convenes to honor them at a vigil, one of the missing three, Luce, is pulled from the lake. And she's alive. Which should be impossible since Nan swore she killed her along with Edie and Jane.

Thrillers are difficult to review due to the high risk for spoilers, but this will be my best effort given the circumstances.

Out of Rory Power's books, I would say this one is most like Burn Our Bodies Down. Personally, my taste runs more toward Wilder Girls. This one wasn't set up to be my thing, which I quickly found out based on the amnesia trope that came into play very early on. But, I enjoyed the fast pace and the straight-to-the-point quality. The "twists" were well set up and could be seen coming if a reader is paying attention.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Kill Creatures, and will continue to follow Rory Power with future releases.

This was such an intense and exciting read, I found it to be a fast-paced and unsettling read, packed with secrets, jealousy, and revenge.

Four girls, a trip to the canyons... a disaster and only one girl is left alive because she's killed the rest... or has she because a year later one of them has returned... and she wants revenge. Friendship, jealousy, desire, and revenge... all in this one fun read that is perfect for my Pretty Little Liars girls. Luce, Edie, Jane, and Nan are four friends who took a boat to swim in a river last summer... only everyone but Nan disappears and Nan says she has no idea what happened to the other girls and they just vanished... but now a year later Luce is back and the careful lies that Nan has created will begin to fall apart because the truth is Nan killed all three of them... but Luce is back and she wants revenge. I loved the twisted mystery this was. I was so intrigued throughout and I love how twisted the friendship, if you could even call it that, was between the four girls. I love the final twist as well because it really goes to show you just how vicious girls can be and I love it. I would highly recommend this read for fans of twisted mysteries!!

Release Date: June 3, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This was a YA suspense book that starts off with the main character admitting she killed her best friends. I thought the first third of the books was really strong but that feeling was not sustained. This was a quick read I would recommend to anyone who enjoys twisty suspense.

Kill Creatures was a riveting and suspenseful read. All of the female characters were well rounded and interesting. The twists at the end -- no spoilers -- caught me completely by surprise.

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.

5 STARS. Imagine 3 of your best friends go missing a year ago. Now, one of them is back. The problem? They're dead. How do you know this? You killed them.

The premise of this book had me hooked from the get-go. The writing immediately sucked me in as we enter the mind of the friend that killed them, Nan. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, trapped by the fear and anxiety of getting caught, while also trying to figure out how in the world someone came back from the dead, and the reason for WHY she killed her best friends.

The reveal was so satisfying...while also being extremely sad. The author did a painfully beautiful job of writing what it is like to be a girl on the outside, looking in.

Kill Creatures by Rory Power surprised me. Not because I didn’t expect it to be good, I most definitely did, but by just how quickly it hooked me. When I started this one, I was already tired and since I began reading this one late in the evening I only expected to read the opening chapter or so before bed…but that changed quickly. A year ago Nan’s best friends disappeared into Saltcedar Canyon. Now as the community gathers to mark the one year anniversary, something amazing happens. One of the girls, Luce, turns up. But Nan knows that isn’t possible because she killed them! She is certain about that…so who is this and what is going on? This is a fun, fast paced thriller. I saw a few of the twists coming but not all of them and it has a satisfying ending. And while I didn’t intend to read the book straight though, that’s exactly what I ended up doing. 4.5 stars Thanks so much to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me access to an ARC of Kill Creatures.

4.5 stars to this one because I literally couldn't stop reading - this never happens to me.

Kill Creatures by Rory Power is one of those stories that plays out in the reader's mind like a bingeable Netflix thriller. It drops on a Friday night and you turn it on based on the homescreen preview then 8 hours and three empty chip bags later, you emerge bleary eyed but exhilarated from the ride.

That's what it was like to read this book.

You know from the get-go that Nan is a murderer. It's in the blurb, she admits to it in the first few chapters. You also know that one of the girls she murders comes back ALIVE on the one-year anniversary of the disappearances (the town doesn't know what Nan knows).

What you don't know is the MEAT on the bones of this story. And it was oh so juicy. Nan is, at times, both revolting and pity-worthy and she made for a fascinating FMC. The twists and turns this tale took were a teensy bit predictable but I'm still giving it the 4.5 stars because of the feeling it gave me while reading it - this sort of dumbstruck morbid fascination mixed with a smidge of downright terror.

I was a little scared when I realized this book wasn't as darkly whimsical as Rory Power's other books, but that was quickly erased from my mind. This world was so eerily familiar. This character was so uncomfortably real. The story was engaging, enthralling, wonderful. A must-buy from my insta-read author.

An interesting first read for me from Rory Power. The cover was the first thing that caught my eye about this YA thriller, and it sucked me in. I am admittedly moving out of my YA era and I have found less success with recent reads, but this one surprised me in terms of how compelling the narrative was. I ate this up. It was probably the fastest I have read a book in a long time. That is not to say that it equates to how well written the story was, but just how easy Power's writing style is to ingest.

The problem I find with many YA novels is the characters. It is hard, as an adult on the other side of my adolescence, to not find YA characters annoying, pretentious, and cringey. That was definitely the case here. I was immediately put off by the characters and found them unlikable and unrelatable. Our MC was unhinged and creepy, but, given the narrative, that worked in the favor of the book, establishing the story and setting everything up quite well.

In terms of the story itself, it was a bit predictable but enjoyable. I thought we were going to get a faster paced story than we got and the ending was a little rushed, but overall I had a good enough time. The twist at the end wasn't as shocking as I hoped, but if you are experiencing a book like this for the first time, or are new to thrillers I think you will eat it up. I feel like this will absolutely be a hit for the target YA/Teen audience. Power's writing is extremely easy to read and if you're not a jaded old man like me, I think you will have a great time and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to those who want a good YA thriller with messy friendship dynamics, a compelling mystery, and some action. I know Power has written a handful of books, including some adult novels, and I quite enjoyed her writing style so I think I will definitely give her another read.

Kill Creatures was one of my most anticipated YA books of the year. I love Rory Power’s writing and I was so excited to read this, however, it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

I loved the premise of this book - a teen girl kills her best friends, and a year later one of the friends she thought she killed returns. It’s a cool premise! I also liked how the protagonist wasn’t your cookie-cutter, good girl protagonist. She was a character with a lot of issues.

I enjoyed the mystery, but it felt like everything moved too quickly. I think I would’ve liked this more if it was a little longer. It just felt like something was missing.

I would still recommend this one to lovers of YA mystery thrillers. I look forward to Power’s next book.

3.5⭐️

This was a fun one with lots of twists. I wasn't sure who to root for and it felt like there were no winners or redeemable characters, which makes the read all the more fun!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced reader copy.

On the one year anniversary of the death of her best friends, Nan is as shocked as the rest of her lakeside town when one of those friends, Luce, shows up in the water--alive. Now Nan is freaking out because Luce should be dead, along with Jane and Edie; Nan is certain of this because she killed them. What does Luce remember? And what does this mean for Nan?

Wow. Rory Power knows how to write the underbelly of female friendships: the ways young women can pull each other together and rip each other apart. The writing throughout felt taut and having the narrator start with telling us the terrible thing she did created a different mystery. I definitely didn't see the end coming, but not in a deus ex machina kind of way. Every breadcrumb was subtly laid. After reading WILDER GIRLS, I was excited to read Powers' new novel, and I wasn't disappointed.

Kill Creatures is out June 3, 2025.

This was such a good mystery/thriller! Even though most of the book was relatively calm, my heart was pounding the entire time. I enjoyed the dual timeline and how it eventually revealed the true story. My only two complaints are the length of the book and the epilogue. I think the story could have benefited from being expanded and more detailed. Under 300 pages is pretty short, even for thrillers, and it could have used another 100. The epilogue also didn't work for me because it felt very "the villain has been unmasked and is now giving a 10-minute monologue on their master plan." That being said, these two details barely made a difference because of how much I loved the story. 4.25/5⭐.

"The girls are all dead. And I should know, because I'm the one who killed them."
INSTANT CHILLS. i fucking love rory power.

i will say i'm not really a fan of alternating timeline POVs and that's maybe the only reason i gave this 4 stars. also because this could have been so much twistier and crazier than it was - it didn't quite go in the direction that i expected but i still thoroughly enjoyed it.

i'm just obsessed with rory power's writing. it's so engaging and atmospheric, and this book in particular was a page-turner that i didn't want to put down.

5/5
Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an arc. All opinions are my own.

Omg SO GOOD!!
First of all, a moment of appreciation for the cover because I am OBSESSED with it.

Anyways, I was hooked the second I read the summary for this book, and the tension was amazing the whole way through. I did kind of guess some of the big twists, but I still loved the drama of it. This kind of reminds me of You (specifically the tv show adaptation) but sapphic, and I am so here for it.

A year ago, Nan’s three best friends disappeared during one last summer adventure, and she’s been the only one who knows the truth–she killed them (or so she thought). Now at a memorial by the river, one of them shows up alive. A dark, twisty thriller about friendship, jealousy, and the kind of secrets that never stay buried. Rory Power creates a world dense with mystery and raw feeling, pulling you deep into a small-town summer that’s crowded with tourists and haunted by the lingering presence of the missing girls.

The story gave me strong ‘Cruel Summer’ meets ‘Yellowjackets’ vibes, which had me instantly intrigued.

Nan, our narrator, is disturbingly obsessed with her friends to a point that made me uncomfortable. Her fixation, especially when she refers to them as “her girls,” felt unhinged and at times hard to follow. She seems to lack a moral compass, and the biggest mystery for me was understanding why she was so consumed by them, and why she couldn’t seem to read the room.

Despite not being entirely believable, the conclusion was well executed. I had lingering questions and tried to piece together moments that didn’t quite add up, but even with a few clues dropped along the way, the final twist still caught me off guard. Something I really value in a thriller is when the surprises feel earned. However, I struggled with the believability of the characters’ motivations. Their actions didn’t always feel justified, and that weakened the emotional impact for me.

Still, this is a tightly written, fast-paced story that keeps you guessing. While it could have packed more emotional intensity, I enjoyed the ride. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, chilling thriller you can devour in one sitting.

What a strange and enticing thriller! When one of Nan's best friends comes back from the dead, she can't be quite sure how. After all, Nan killed her. Was it something supernatural? Is Nan mistaken? Is it really her best friend? As the police zero in and clues are left behind, Nan struggles to keep up all her lies.

Told anachronistically between 'Now' and 'Then', we see both the aftermath of Luce's murder and how Nan decided to become a killer. There's plenty of small town intrigue, dark family secrets, and a setting that makes for an eerie backdrop.

I enjoyed this--I don't typically read thrillers or mysteries, but this one had me going and questioning just what the heck happened all throughout each chapter.