I've read so many murder mysteries lately that I have grown a little tired of them, but I can honestly say that this book was absolutely riveting. For some reason, I kept getting "All the Colors of the Dark" vibes from some of the characters. Any of you who have followed my reviews for the last few months will know that that book is one of my top reads this year, so the comparison is a good thing!

The book is set in a sleepy town in South Birmingham, Ireland, in the 1980s and primarily focuses on 14-year-old Ava Bonney. Ava is not your average teenager in that she has a morbid fascination with decomposition - primarily the decomposition of dead animals. Ava likes to sneak out of her apartment at night and walk the road looking for roadkill. She will then take the dead animal to a secret area where she places it and then take notes on the rate of decay over several days. What Ava doesn't know is that there's also someone else lurking in the woods - someone with more sinister intent. When she discovers the body of her classmate, Mickey Grant, lying near her animal graveyard, she is faced with a dilemma - to reveal her secret obsession or stay silent and risk being implicated in a murder investigation.

The other main character is Detective Seth Delahaye, who takes on the murder investigation. Ava refuses to sit back and let others solve the mystery and uses the knowledge she has gained to do her own investigation. It's not long before Delahaye and Ava team up to bring down who is killing teenagers in this small, sleepy town.

While the plot is pretty familiar to avid readers of serial killer thrillers, the characters are what really make this one shine. I absolutely loved both Ava and Detective Delahaye. Ava was whip-smart and very tough for a fourteen-year-old. She comes from a broken home and deals with an abusive mother, and I loved seeing her find a purpose. I also loved the relationship that developed between her and the detective, as he became a source of stability for her. She had a lot of adults in her life who had failed her, and she needed his trust and kindness.

The pacing of the novel is perfect, and I loved how it all unraveled. I am usually pretty good at figuring out who the killer is early on, but that wasn't the case this time around. I was actually surprised by it. I also liked how the author used a mental health diagnosis that I had never heard of before. It made the story that much creepier. I was surprised to learn that this is a debut novel. I am definitely looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.

I had the pleasure of both reading and listening to this one, and I must say I absolutely loved the narrator. Olivia Dowd perfectly portrays all of the characters. She also does a great job hitting all the important beats and keeps the story moving.

I was really surprised by how much I loved this one. The story was captivating, the pacing was perfect, and I absolutely loved these characters. This is an impressive debut, and I look forward to reading more from this author. Fans of serial killer thrillers should definitely bump this one up on their TBR.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt for the free ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Ava is a very smart 13 year old who likes to conduct experiments on the decay and anatomy of roadkill animals for her own edification. She's very smart, lovable, and a bid odd which is ok. When young boys start to go missing in her town, she starts investigating along with the police to figure out who the killer is.

There is a lot of good in this dark and macabre novel: there are close friendships and general kindness offsetting the darkness. I did enjoy the friendship between Ava and Detective Delahaye. Heed the trigger warnings but I did not find this overly gruesome. Recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the eARC.

This book is unlike anything I have read in a very long time, maybe even ever. Our main character's obsession with death and decomposition really makes her an interesting narrator. This book is spooky and gave me the "heebie jeebies" more than once.

This was a different type of horror story and while the content was heavy, it was also entertaining. I love the sci-fi element. Ava’s fascination with dead things/animals was strange but captivating. I was definitely uncomfortable at multiple points in the story, especially when she found the bodies but I say this in the best way possible. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a haunting mystery work a little sprinkle of science.

Ava isn't a normal teenager. Intrigued by death and the world around her, Ava latest enterprise is her roadside den, where she brings roadkill to monitor the rate of decomposition. When she stumbles upon the very real boy of a town boy who has been missing, Ava knows her hobbies could put her in an uncomfortable position and reports the body anonymously. As Detective Seth Delahaye begins his investigation, he'll get help

Set in the early 80s and told primarily through Ava and Detective Delahaye's POVs, Deadly Animals, the story is also broken up into parts, though I won't say how to avoid potential spoilers. The extra POVs were a nice way to break up the story while also adding extra context and an additional layer of mystery to the plot.

Finding Ava to be odd, I didn't immediately click with this story. For me it had a very slow reading pace, but I ended up finding Ava to be such an interesting character. She is quietly brilliant, and I enjoyed getting into her mind throughout the story. She was such an asset to the investigation and though she seems morbid at first meeting, her respect of living things and her morals are unmatched. She is such a fascinating character and original character, especially for a 14year old girl. I kind of hope we get a sequel to continue following Ava.

As the 2024 winner of the Val McDermid debut award, Deadly Animals is a dark, macabre, and extremely well written debut. It definitely won't be for everyone and certainly touches on some darker topics and themes (TW: child death, animal death). While it's being listed as a Horror novel, it's more gruesome and darker theme wise than scary. Overall, this was a fantastic literary mystery that I strongly recommend.

Deadly Animals comes out November 12, 2024. Thank you to Henry Holt and Co. for my advanced copy in exchange for my review. If you liked this review, please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting:
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◈𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗟𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗦◈
𝓈𝓊𝓈𝓅ℯ𝓃𝓈ℯ/𝓂𝓎𝓈𝓉ℯ𝓇𝓎
🗓️𝙿𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟸, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺
🤩𝕄𝕪 𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: 𝟜 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤!!★★★★

🤏𝚃𝚎𝚎𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚍𝚋𝚒𝚝...”in this chilling mystery, only the obsessive spirit of youth can save a sleepy town from the savagery within…”

♡𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢...This one has been out in the UK since February & has already won a big debut award🥇 I can’t lie I was a little nervous since this one had “animal cruelty” 😬in it, but I can say that this nerdy & precocious teenager named Ava only studied these animals AFTER they were dead. Roadkill. Gross, I know, but this girl was something special. 💜She helped along with a detective find this serial killer that was killing young boys in Birmingham, ENGLAND…🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿I put that in caps because I thought it was Birmingham, Alabama until about the first 1/4 of the book 😆…The chapter was titled Birmingham so what is this hillbilly here supposed to think🤠😆(& y’all know I go in blind as possible in these books).🙌 The forensic side of things was hella interesting & it’s set in the 80s which is my fav(I think 🤔) decade to read on! 2 more weeks til this one hits shelves. 🎉📚

I LOVE Ava! If you like the Enola Holmes or Flavia de Luce novels, then you've found their modern equivalent in Ava. She's spunky, curious, likes to do her own experiments, but is a modern child with modern issues. At first she is adversarial to Det Delahaye, as she doesn't want him to find out what she does in the middle of the night, but soon she realizes she is the only one who can help him solve the murder and keep other children safe. But who is the murderer-another child or an adult? This roller coaster keeps you reading long into the night and begging for another book featuring Ava, even if it's set after she's grown and joined the police herself!

This book was so great and Marie Tierney is definitely going to be an author to watch out for! I love that even though the main character was a teenage girl, the book itself was not young adult. (Young adult isn't my preferred genre, so usually when the lead character is a teen, it's a turn off for me.) I think that's such an interesting scenario! The characters throughout the book were so well written. Although it wasn't a big secret as to who the killer was (it seemed pretty obvious about halfway through the book), I don't feel like that detracted from the suspense as the end of the book approached. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading whatever Marie Tierney writes next!

A solid, atmospheric thriller. The plot is sharp and believable. I think the narrative could be a little tighter, particularly concerning the POVs of certain characters that feel repetitive and a bit of a slog. I really enjoyed the young protagonist who feels real and is easy to root for. This is dark subject matter, make no mistake, and cozy mystery readers should look elsewhere.

Such a good thriller/police procedural for the season! Set in 80s England, a young girl named Ava stumbles upon the body of a teenager during her nightly search for dead animals (hey, we all have hobbies!) and tries to help the police track the killer without letting them know she's just a kid. The plot and vibes are genuinely creepy, and I did not see the big twist at the end coming! It's slow at first but I was fully invested when it started to pick up about 30% in. Would be fun to follow Ava and the police detective in other books in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this novel. This police procedural focuses on a precocious 13 year old girl named Ava with interests in forensic pathology and criminal psychology. She happens upon a young boy's mutilated body and joins a hunt for a serial killer. I found Ava to be a vibrant character. I also felt that the descriptions of 1980s Birmingham were very realistic, especially from a young girl's perspective. The problem is that the identity of the killer is telegraphed early on, and most of the story is predictable from that point on. By 65%, I started skimming because I knew what had happened and what was going to happen, down to the last scene. I need at least one good twist in a serial killer novel. If there are no twists, the author might as well tell part of the story from the killer's point of view to add interest. So big thumbs up in terms of character and setting, big thumbs down in terms of plotting.

"Deadly Animals," the debut novel by Marid Tierney, is a haunting and unforgettable read. With its dark and unsettling atmosphere, it masterfully weaves suspense throughout the narrative. Set in 1980s England, the story revolves around a serial killer targeting young boys within a tight-knit community. The protagonist, Ava, is an unconventional yet immensely lovable teenager who plays a pivotal role in assisting the police with their investigation. This gripping tale will linger in my thoughts, both for its merits and its darker themes, for a long time to come. It's a book you won't want to miss!

(Rounded down from 2.5)

I am seeing the many great reviews for this debut novel and I am glad people are enjoying it, but it didn’t do it for me.

Starting positive: I enjoyed the main character quite a bit. Due to the structure of the narration, we didn’t spend as much time with her as I would have liked, especially in the back half of the story. But I thought she was interesting, unapologetic, confident, and had a rich set of relationships, some of which were complicated and problematic and others of which were uplifting and empowering for her. So, I liked her quite a bit, and while we didn’t get to spend much time with most of them she had an interesting collection of other children as ancillary characters around her. Additionally, I thought the writing itself was, overall, good. For the most part it didn’t feel forced, the dialogue felt genuine, and it suited the story being told.

Other than that, well, I had some problems. While I liked that the chapters switch POV, giving us the adult/detective perspective along with the child’s, the adult perspective was often dense and dull. And this narrative technique didn’t make the book feel urgent, instead it felt like it dragged on, way longer than it needed to. The pacing really made this difficult. Especially as the killer was pretty clearly indicated at somewhere like 30% - 40% into the story. At first I thought it might be a red herring, but then it just felt like all the “clues” were hitting me and all of the characters over the head again and again, without any other potential culprits. Knowing the killer that early can still make for a tense game of cat and mouse, but that wasn’t the case here, it felt like it just made everything slower, and frustration with the characters get more pronounced. The world building and setting felt really generic. I could place it in any small town in the early 80s, sure, but nothing felt specific or really brought me to that time or space. The adult characters all felt like caricatures. Firstly, the amount of disclosure and child endangerment to a 14-year-old child was appalling, especially but not including he final sequences of the story, even for 40 years ago. Plus, there was what felt like an apotheosis of the police, every one of them always a shining example of doing the right thing, and yet they also seemed wildly inadequate at their jobs in any meaningful way. Often stories with child protagonists have somewhat incompetent adults, that is a familiar trope, but here it felt like we were expected to side with them and be impressed by them, our protagonist was, she never felt she was working against them, and that just made them more frustrating. And while the actual culprit and their motivations were interesting enough, it was laid on really think in the final chapter and the epilogue in a way that felt a little icky. It is hard to really say why without spoilers but what could have been an interesting psychological grey area was just given a heavy-handed black & white solution that basically absolved individuals for things in ways that felt unsatisfying and felt like it was kneecapping the more complicated and messier ending she had created. I think these things piling up are what turned me off, as any one or two of them would have been fine… But mediocre world-building, slow and drawn-out pacing, a mystery that isn’t much of a mystery from very early in the story, poorly developed and unbelievable adult characters, and this attempt at the end to have your cake and eat it too that just neutered the potentially interesting psychological exploration of the culprit… Add all of these together and it just made the whole back half of the book somewhat of a chore, and not very satisfying at that.

The main character is really promising, as are many of the (child) ancillary characters. And while the culprit was very obvious, none of the clues or indicators subtle, the overall idea behind the murders and violence and pathology also had a lot of potential. If the story was a little faster paced, the clues a little more subtle, a few more (believable) red herrings thrown in, and the adults not be cartoonish, and it would have been a really stellar read. So, no, it didn’t work for me, but it feels like there is a lot of potential and it is still impressive as a debut novel. And it was willing to violently murder children, which not everyone is willing to do, so the author definitely gets kudos for being willing to go there. Hopefully her future work will be tighter and hit a little harder for me.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Henry Holt & Company, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The language, the setting, Ava - I loved this book and couldn’t put it down! Figuring out who the murderer most likely was early on only added to my enjoyment of the story. A classic in the making.

This book wasn’t really my reading taste, but I think it will be hugely popular with fans of Chris Whittaker. (And there are many!) I loved the young protagonist and the many British words and turns of phrase were really fun. It’s a little darker and gorier than Whittaker’s novels, but I would recommend this to readers who loved All the Colors of the Dark.

14 year old Ava Bonney is fascinated and extremely knowledgeable about dead animals knowing everything about their bodies. On evening as she sneaks out to check on the decomposition of her corpses she finds the body of a boy who’s been missing for weeks. As more are killed she figures how hard can it be to track the real killer. With a unique plot, a wonderful and unusual main character, and sharp writing Deadly Animals is not to be missed.

Great book. I would recommend to others. Love the cover and writing style. I would read more books by this author

Decomposing animals, neighborhood boys turning up dead, and a creature stalking the woods with glowing eyes.

An exciting, twisty, and thrilling psychological horror that grabbed me from the jump and didn’t let go. The plot was fast paced, the psychology behind the case was excellently researched and implemented within the story, and the characters were beautifully drawn, seeing the world and what is happening around them in their town through the brutal honesty of a child’s eyes.

Ava is the star of this show; an incredibly intelligent child, though strange to some of her peers, she leads the reader through the plot with determination, protecting her friends and developing new, honest relationships along the way.

A transportive 80's crime thriller set in Birmingham, England, I was hooked by the details and imagery of the writing, finding myself impressed by and feeling protective of Ava as I read. Though the identity of the killer is made obvious to the reader a little more than halfway through, the drama and tension didn't cease, as the characters are still left in the dark right up until the end.

A stunning, well-executed debut!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Co for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately I was unable to finish this book but I have decided to refrain from sharing any reviews online. I gave the book until 25% but I was having a difficult time connecting to Ava and buying into her being far more educated/skilled than the seasoned detectives on the murder case. I was also put off by the way the men around her were treating her, the "you're so mature for your age" overtones were offputting.

Wow this was such an entertaining mystery read. Yes the character is a child, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a YA book. This had me looking over my shoulder. It’s like a mystery and a lit fic had a baby. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and can’t wait to pick up my shelf trophy. Thank you for the chance to early read ❤️