Thank You very much to the publisher – Zaffre for the review copy.
ISBN13: 978-1804181874
Genre: Murder mystery
Release date: 15 02 2024
Price*: Kindle £3.99 (GBP)/ Paperback £6.00 (GBP)
Kindle $14.99 (USD)/ Paperback $29.99 (USD)
Pages: ~ 400
My rating: I liked it
You can get this book here:
Amazon UK
Bookshop.org
What I learned from this book: It was hard to solve cases in 1985…
Description of the book: Thirteen-year-old Ava Bonney is different. While her friends play, Ava searches for roadkill. She knows studying animal decomposition is an unusual hobby, but Ava doesn't care what other people think. Then, one night, when Ava sneaks out to find a fox, she instead stumbles upon the body of Mickey Grant.
Despite his many years in the police, Detective Seth Delahaye has never seen a murder case like this one - as though the victim was set upon by a wild animal. Nor has he met anyone quite like Ava: so determined, resourceful and . . . unusual. And when another boy goes missing, he has no idea that Ava will become his secret weapon in the hunt for a killer.
How this book made me feel: I had very high hopes for this novel, I was very intrigued with the blurb. However, I was left slightly disappointed.
The protagonist in this book is Ava, a teenage girl living in a council estate with a self-centred mother, but she has a very unusual hobby: studying dead animals. I loved Ava in this book, she is knowledgeable and resourceful. She was sharing her spotlight with Detective Delahaye who was very disappointing in this case. Ava was 5 steps ahead of them and that looked embarrassing to the police.
Multiple perspectives were shared in the novel, but Ava's ones were the most interesting, I loved seeing how her mind worked. The plot was interesting but towards the end it became more and more far-fetched and unrealistic. The topics discussed in this novel were egotistical parents, unusual interests, friendships and more.
The book is set in 1985 and it was very interesting to watch cases being solved back in the day. No mobiles, DNA, and back then people were more trusting than they are now. Today, a girl getting into a police car multiple times a week would be speculated by many… The chapters of this book were quite short and I enjoyed reading this novel. The ending was very unusual but it rounded this book well.
So, to conclude, I enjoyed Ava and her quick thinking, she will be a great police officer one day, but the police need to pull themselves together… The plot was interesting but it did not charm me entirely. I hope you will give it a go and enjoy it more than I did.
Thank yo for your time ❤
About the author: MARIE TIERNEY was a finalist in the Daily Mail First Novel competition and her debut crime novel, Deadly Animals, was selected by bestselling crime writer Peter James as his winner. She cites Richard Adams, Margaret Atwood and Stephen King among her literary influences and, when she is isn't researching criminal history, she writes plays, poetry and creates art in different mediums. Born and raised in Birmingham, Marie held various jobs across four counties and dedicated almost twenty years to working in education before becoming a full-time writer. She now lives in The Fens with her husband and son.
*-The price was taken from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com on the current date. The price might change at the time of your purchase. The links used in this post for book purchases are affiliates.
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