2024 McDermid Debut Award
Finding a dead body is not normal. But Ava is not a normal teenager. In this chillingly beautiful mystery, only the obsessive spirit of youth can save a desperate town from the savagery within.
Ava Bonney is a compassionate and studious fourteen-year-old girl with a dark secret: she has an obsessive interest in the macabre. She is fascinated by the rate at which dead animals decompose. The highway she lives by regularly offers up gifts of roadkill, and in the dead of night Ava loves nothing more than to pull her latest discovery into her roadside den and record her findings.
One night, she stumbles across the body of her classmate and, fearing that her secret ritual could be revealed, she makes an anonymous call to the police. But when Detective Seth Delahaye is given the case, Ava won’t step back—not while teenagers continue to go missing.
Racing alongside the police or against them, Ava is determined to figure out who is hunting her classmates before she becomes the next prey. How hard can it be to track a killer?
Genre: Mystery
Ava Bonney is a compassionate and studious fourteen-year-old girl with a dark secret: she has an obsessive interest in the macabre. She is fascinated by the rate at which dead animals decompose. The highway she lives by regularly offers up gifts of roadkill, and in the dead of night Ava loves nothing more than to pull her latest discovery into her roadside den and record her findings.
One night, she stumbles across the body of her classmate and, fearing that her secret ritual could be revealed, she makes an anonymous call to the police. But when Detective Seth Delahaye is given the case, Ava won’t step back—not while teenagers continue to go missing.
Racing alongside the police or against them, Ava is determined to figure out who is hunting her classmates before she becomes the next prey. How hard can it be to track a killer?
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"Marie's writing is beautiful." - Belinda Bauer
"With writing as sharp as a canine's claw and an unforgettable protagonist, this is a dark glittering gem of a book." - Lisa Gray
"Feisty Ava and her sidekick John are just the heroes we need as they track down a serial killer in eighties Birmingham. Original, and as fascinating as it is macabre, Tierney is a name to watch." - Sam Holland
"An incredible debut - original, epically dark and with such a strong voice. Damn near perfect." - Susi Holliday
"A masterpiece. Bold, daring, beautifully written and utterly chilling." - William Hussey
"Utterly mesmerising . . . This writer has huge talent." - Peter James
"A crime novel I wish I had written." - Lynda La Plante
"Gloriously dark, deadly and deathly . . . Gobbled it up - and it was absolutely delicious." - C J Skuse
"Exceptional in every way, Deadly Animals is a shockingly beautiful, rare and heartbreaking gem. A story both harrowing and exquisitely told. I really can't recommend it highly enough." - Chris Whitaker
"With writing as sharp as a canine's claw and an unforgettable protagonist, this is a dark glittering gem of a book." - Lisa Gray
"Feisty Ava and her sidekick John are just the heroes we need as they track down a serial killer in eighties Birmingham. Original, and as fascinating as it is macabre, Tierney is a name to watch." - Sam Holland
"An incredible debut - original, epically dark and with such a strong voice. Damn near perfect." - Susi Holliday
"A masterpiece. Bold, daring, beautifully written and utterly chilling." - William Hussey
"Utterly mesmerising . . . This writer has huge talent." - Peter James
"A crime novel I wish I had written." - Lynda La Plante
"Gloriously dark, deadly and deathly . . . Gobbled it up - and it was absolutely delicious." - C J Skuse
"Exceptional in every way, Deadly Animals is a shockingly beautiful, rare and heartbreaking gem. A story both harrowing and exquisitely told. I really can't recommend it highly enough." - Chris Whitaker
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Used availability for Marie Tierney's Deadly Animals