First off, Rory Power is a queen of twisty, atmospheric vibes. This is my first foray into her writing but I’ll be keeping her on my watch list (that sounded less creepy in my head). 

The story follows Nan, who’s been haunted for a year after her three besties vanished into Saltcedar Canyon. She’s all set to say goodbye at this one-year memorial thing, but then—plot twist of the century—one of them, Luce, stumbles back ALIVE. 

Everyone’s overcome with joy, but Nan’s over here sweating bullets because, um, she’s pretty damn sure she KILLED THEM. Like, what?! 

Nan is such an unreliable narrator, and I was living for it. She’s messy, jagged, and honestly a little feral, but I was rooting for her anyway. I don’t care if she’s a cold-blooded murderer. There’s this one scene where she’s staring at Luce, trying to figure out if she’s real or if she’s losing it, because she’s rather certain she killed her and why would her memory hide that from her in a trauma blackout when she’s proud of the fact? 

The friendship drama? Toxic and enjoyable. These girls are all jealousy and secrets, and it’s so real it hurts. Nan’s crew takes it to a whole new level, and I was here for every petty, violent second. The twists kept coming, too. Is Nan losing it? Seems likely to be l sure, the way she keeps seeing flashes of weird little hallucinations. Or is something supernatural afoot? Because there’s no way a teenage girl with a catastrophic head wound can survive unnoticed in a canyon for a year, right? 

If I had one tiny gripe, it’s that I wanted more from Luce’s side of the story. I was dying to crawl into her head a bit more, but it’s such a small thing because the rest was perfection. The ending left me shook. It’s not super twisty in a cheap way—it’s more like a gut punch that lingers. I feel like I’m watching Heathers.  

If you love thrillers with messy girls and unreliable, potentially deranged narrators, Kill Creatures is your next read. I’m already counting down to her next book because I need more of this in my life.