Okay, I'm officially smacking myself for taking so long to read this one, because oh, my God, it's fantastic! Definitely going on my faves of 2025 list. I swear I just smashed through the last hundred pages in like a half an hour, because it was so compelling. The structure of the Now and Then really keeps you on the edge of your seat, and Nan is a fantastic protagonist, messed up but also relatable (barring the obvious) as a teenager. It feels so fresh and brutal and doesn't miss any beats, in my view, like one gut punch after another. So, if that's what you like in a YA thriller, KILL CREATURES is absolutely the book for you!

A really solid read, great writing and plot. I haven’t been reading much YA in recent years but this is a prime example of a very good YA mystery thriller book! Really liked the friendship group in this and it was just so believable, they read as really real.

Thank you to Scholastic UK and, Rory Power and Netgalley for this e-ARC of Kill Creatures.

At the vigil held to mark the one year anniversary of the disappearance of Luce, Jane and Edie, their best friend Nan is more shocked than most when Luce suddenly reappears. After all, she's the one who killed them...

This is the first book I've read by Rory Power but I would definitely love to read more, I loved the beautiful writing style they used throughout this compelling story. Full of twists and turns, this mystery was always engaging and easy to read. Told between the dual timelines of 'then' and 'now', I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a quick, interesting YA thriller/mystery.

I absolutely LOVED this book!

I was intrigued right from the start and the story continued to keep me gripped the whole way through. It was such a fun and twisty read and I absolutely loved that we were reading from the perspective of an unreliable narrator (I need more books like this please!!).

Also, the following quote will live in my head rent free for the foreseeable future.. ‘If i ever kill her again, it’ll be with my bare hands.’ HELLO??! DO YOU SEE THE HANNIBAL VIBES?! I’M OBSESSED!

I’m so glad that Kill Creatures was my first Rory Power book! I’ve been meaning to pick up something by this author for literal years now, and after reading this one, I can not WAIT to read more of this authors work!

If you enjoy fun, twisty thriller books with murderous lesbians, then I definitely recommend this one!


Thank you to Netgalley and Scholastic for the ARC!

Set against the eerie backdrop of a sleepy lake town in Utah, Rory Power’s latest novel is a haunting, tightly-wound thriller about girlhood, obsession, and the line between love and violence. A year after her three best friends vanished during a summer swim, Nan is still carrying a heavy secret: she killed them. Or so she thought. When one of the girls, Luce, mysteriously returns - very much alive - Nan’s carefully constructed lies start to crack.

Told in alternating timelines that slip between the past and the fallout of Luce’s reappearance, Kill Creatures delivers twist after twist. Nan is the kind of narrator you’ll enjoy hating - unreliable, villainous, and deeply human. Her voice pulses with teenage fury and yearning, making her descent both horrifying and heartbreakingly familiar.

This is a book about friendship at its most feral. About girls who love each other too much, too fiercely. About secrets that cling like sweat in summer heat. The sapphic element is subtle but powerful, adding another charged layer to the already electrified relationships between these girls.

Short, sharp, unflinching, and kind of difficult to put down, Kill Creatures is a quick and gripping summer thriller..

- Lake town setting
- Messy, queer teenage friendships
- Unreliable narrator with villain origin energy
- Themes of obsession, betrayal, and identity

Rory Power’s prose is hypnotic, visceral, and unsettling, but still has emotional weight. The story is dark and unsettling, and a little weird, and I devoured it pretty quickly.

This was a gripping, edge-of-the-seat read! Perfectly encapsulated the realities of toxic teen friendships. Things aren't quite what they seem and there is plenty to keep you guessing right to the end. If you're a fan of One of Us is Lying or A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, this will be right up your street!

A great book I loved the characters, the unforgettable plot. It was a story that will stay with me for a long time.

Kill Creatures centers on Nan the only survivors of her friend group who disappeared last year. Except they didn't disappear... Nan killed them. Or so she thought till one of them reappears during a vigil.


Kill Creatures is an atmospheric and creepy YA mystery about friendship, delusion, jealousy and revenge. It is fast paced and compelling and I would recommend it for readers who enjoy detailed narratives, and unexpected twists.

Thank you to NetGalley and Scholastic UK for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

This was brutal and vicious and I inhaled it almost in one go. Definitely recommend if you're looking for a summer holiday murderous thriller. I was making predictions all the way through and didn't quite manage to get the twist but had so much fun trying to figure it out. My second Rory Power book (I read Wilder Girls years ago) and it ticked all the boxes I was expecting to with sharp prose and endlessly complex female characters.

3,5 stars rounded up.
I like to follow clearly unbalanced characters and Nan is one of those.
She supposedly killed her 3 best friends last summer and doesn't feel bad about it.
When one of the best friends shows up 1 year later, very much not dead, we start to pick up on things that dont seem quite right...
But again, killing your best friends isn't quite right either...

It was enjoyable and I kept reading because I wanted to know.
I only bumped down the 0,5 cause the ending was a bit too cliché / too easy in my opinion...
But still a very enjoyable fast paced YA book.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Scholastic UK for access to the ebook against an honest review.*

2.75/5 stars

The premise of Kill Creatures was so interesting and got me very curious. But the execution left me nonplussed and wishing for a different ending - such a disappointment.

With lyrical, immersive prose and a profoundly haunting atmosphere, Kill Creatures is one of my most enthusiastic five star ratings of the year.

Kill Creatures is an atmospheric and creepy YA mystery about friendship, delusion, jealousy and revenge. It is fast paced and compelling and I would recommend it for readers who enjoy detailed narratives, and unexpected twists.
Thanks to Scholastic Uk and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this captivating story in exchange for an honest review.

Wow what a thrilling read! Kill Creatures centers on Nan the only survivors of her friend group who disappeared last year. Except they didn't disappear... Nan killed them. Or so she thought till one of them reappears during a vigil.

The book was full of twists with a fantastic unreliable narrator who we gain further insights into her reasoning and also delusions later on in the book. I was able to guess the reveal pretty early on but fast forgot it as I got caught up in the fast paced writing. Not a bad thing at all and it's clear what's happened from the start if you keep an eye out. The flashbacks throughout the book help drive things forward and give the reader further insights into what's at play.

Overall, a fun fast paced thriller in a nice setting, perfect for an relaxing summer read.

Thanks to Netgalley & Scholastic for this arc.

Kill Creatures picks up with Nan staring at a photo of her missing friends. She’s on her way to their tribute, which is taking place a summer after they were last seen. The town and their families don’t know if they’re dead…but Nan does, because she’s the one who killed them.

I loved Nan as a character and even though she had done these horrible things, I was still rooting for her. I was mostly rooting for her to have been mistaken, and that she never actually did what she said she did, but well…Nan did enjoy her murderous thoughts and actions.

The writing in this was quite good, although sometimes confusing. Some sentences that aimed to be descriptive just felt confusing and I often had to reread to get the gist of it. I did like the structure of Now and Then, although sometimes, despite the heading, the times didn’t always feel that distinct.

Additionally, while I felt Nan felt like a distinctive character, I felt she was the only one. All the other girls sort of blended together for the majority of the book. Although, in many ways, I suppose this also does show how Nan didn’t really know them…

I think the book was well paced and well plotted. The reveals were good. I think for some reason I was expecting a bit more and felt a little let down. But overall, I think it all made sense.

This was a super interesting book. I was hooked and found it thrilling. The entire time I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what was going on.
I thought the style of writing was wonderful and flowed super well. I will be ordering the authors other books.

I clocked quickly that we had an unreliable narrator, although I didn't realise to what extent it would be.
I thought that it was super intriguing that the MC was actually the girls stalker, and I would have loved if we got more info about how exactly Nan was acting that Summer towards the girls to make them feel this way. Was she in love with Edie or obsessed or both? She was talking about BECOMING Luce to please Edie which was definitely unhinged.
I wish we had more info about how much Luce's dad knew or suspected, and also after the reveal some info from Nan's dad. Why did he keep Luce alive when it put his daughter at risk? I'd also like to know how much Nan's mum knew. She said "I'd do anything to you" to nan halfway through the book and I was certain she had some knowledge of everything. I know she was arguing a lot to the dad so was she mad at him because of this?
I also thought the female detective was really interesting and wish we had more time with her.

In general I enjoyed this book and would just have liked some points further explored. However I am aware that in this genre often stories are left with unanswered questions. Thank you for the e-arc.

This is such a messed up book in the best way possible.

It's a year after Lucy, Jane and Edie disappeared without a trace and Nan is trying to move on from mourning her best friends. But then, on the anniversary of their disappearance Lucy is back, safe and sound and with no memory of what happened. It shocks everyone, especially Nan who was sure she managed to kill Lucy.

Nan is such a disturbingly fun character to follow the perspective of. She's very much an unreliable narrator but the way she never seems to feel any guilt over what she's done, seems only annoyed that one of her friends actually survived, makes it weirdly enjoyable read. I can barely count the amount of times I laughed at her internal monologue.

The mystery, even with the early reveal of what Nan done, is still so well done. It makes this book completely impossible to put down. You just want to find out exactly what happened. You get enough hints throughout the story to get some of the picture down but the final twist will still make you gasp.

Amongst all of it, I think there's also an interesting commentary on what alienation and loneliness can boil into. In the end all Nan was looking for was acceptance and love. And she had no one who would step in and brought her back into reality with some kindness.

I was absolutely hooked from the start with this one, and on edge the entire time reading it - I don't read a lot of thriller style books, after this though I'll definitely be getting into more of them.

This was fast paced, gripping, and truly the twisty YA thriller I needed. I like that the timeline wasn't exactly linear and we moved between 'then' and 'now' moments, which gave us little moments of information gathering but not enough for you to work it out straight away. All the characters in my opinion were pretty unlike-able, and I FEEL like that was possibly the point? even by the end you don't lean towards supporting Nan, maybe in the way you would have in the beginning. Even though Nan wasn't a good person, I still felt for her in the end even though I could see throughout the book how she'd misinterpreted her relationship with these other girls. There were so many moments where Nan became unhinged and it really highlighted her stressors as a character.

I'd definitely recommend this if you like an atmospheric, twists and turns YA thriller!

A year ago Nans best friends disappeared into Saltcedar Canyon. She's spent the last year grieving them and avoiding probing questions. Now on the anniversary the girls families and Nan are ready to let go and say goodbye. But when the memorial is interrupted by the return of one of the girls no one is more shocked than Nan shes believed for the last year the girls were dead. After all she's the one who killed them.

This was such a fast paced twisty ya thriller. I was hooked from the first page and didn't want to put it down. I liked that this had both a past and present pov so we could slowly see how the events unfolded and how it led to Nan commuting such drastic actions. Even though Nan wasn't a very good person I still felt sorry for her by the end of this. The twists in this we're done perfectly. I'll definitely be reading more by Rory Power as I loved this highly recommend.

This was so addictive! I read it in one sitting.
A YA mystery thriller that’s incredibly compelling and a definite page-turner: I couldn’t put it down!
Absolutely loved it.
The main character was fantastic, and the lake city/canyon setting was so atmospheric.

I love it when a book keeps you guessing about who did what and why, and that was definitely the case here: everything was so enigmatic and mysterious! So good!

5 stars! 🌟

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!!