#deadly animals

Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney

"We are our bones."

This one took me a lot longer than it should've, thanks to the holiday and sickness, and I damn-near DNF'd it a few times because of that. Thankfully, I did not.

Despite my predicting the murderer almost immediately upon meeting them, I enjoyed the hell out of both the fantastic procedural aspect and the fascinating scientific study of madness and cruelty throughout Marie Tierney's debut, Deadly Animals. And the characters are just so damn good. Ava is such a compellingly off-kilter protagonist, filled with a unique curiosity that never once feels precocious or becomes an obstacle. Delahaye works incredibly well both on his own and as a sparring partner for Ava; filling this investigation with authentic dedication and detection.

The story is gripping, and the scenes with which Tierney constructs it are full of such raw heartbreak, desperate terror and palpable suspense; filling the narrative with an urgency and empathy that work effortlessly together to create a thematically resonant, effectively dark serial killer thriller.

Pain and madness often mongrels cruelty but sometimes cruelty is born pedigree.

8/10

📖 What are you currently reading?

I have FINALLY finished Yellowface, and let me tell you, that ending had me SHOOK 😭 Thankfully that means I can now start a new annotating project: Red, White, & Royal Blue 👑 So far I’ve finished four books this month, and I’m currently reading three more 📚Here’s what I’ve read so far this month:

Deadly Animals 🦊

The Four 🍀

Murder By Candlelight 🕯️

And I was like, huh. Yea that's true, hell even herbivores like moose and Canada geese will fuck you up, like if you don't mess with them, you see one you gtfoutta there.

Book of the Day