Deadly Animals

Thank you Netgalley. Marie Tierney and Bonnier UK audio for the Audio Arc of Deadly Animals.

Having read the blurb on 13 yr old Ava, who has an interest in animals, decomposition and documenting her findings who finds a dead teens boy. Having the insight beyond her years ends up being a resourceful addition to helping solve the case of how and why this boy has been killed.

I felt engaged with Ava straight away and loved her personality. Throughout the book, you can feel her personality develop even more and how emotionally intelligent she is as well as intellectually. To the point when she reports to the police, she knows that she wouldn't be taken seriously as a child. So she invents a sudo name to report not only her findings, but other leads too. It's not often that a teen sleuth works with the police so it makes a wonderfully unusual combination. I also loved her interlinking relationships with her friends and also the detective Seth Delahaye

Also, make sure you read/listen to the interview at the end with Marie Tierney to find out why and how this is based on a true crime and how Marie got her inspiration !

The narrator, Olivia Dowd did a wonderful job in narrating this true crime based mystery thriller. She also made it engaging and interesting. A solid 5 stars

Really love this mash up of teenage investigator and police detective, it has a really good vibe between the adult/young adult worlds, so it doesn't feel like the two are unnaturally juxtaposed, even given that the crimes they are investigating are the murders of young children.

The characters a engaging, and the denouement is neither easy nor obvious one either which ensures you are gripped with whodunnit all the way through.

Here's hoping we see more of Ava!

I really loved Ava as our MC. I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy reading from a younger teenager’s perspective but this was done so well.

I thoroughly enjoy the blend of teenage investigator and police detective in this story. The dynamic between the adult and young adult worlds is seamlessly integrated, avoiding any sense of unnatural contrast, especially considering the gravity of the crimes being investigated.

It’s not for the feint hearted as there are some disturbing aspects - but I really liked it. It was well done without being too gruesome or bits added for the shock factor. Twists and turns throughout kept you guessing the whole time. Even though I did work out who’d done it, there was still shocks in store for me. So my enjoyment of the book never wavered.

The audio narrator did a brilliant job with the story and it really added another layer to it all for me.

A brilliant debut. The characters are captivating, and the resolution of the mystery keeps you guessing until the end. Massively recommend.

Wow
Ok I’m gonna need a minute
I loved it literally spent the whole listening
I adored Ava she’s such an easy character to like.
This was a gripping intense i was so invested. I hope for more from Ava
I loved the mash up kind of thing going on with a young teen and older adult. It was so well written it wasn’t confusing.
Definitely a must read for any crime thriller mystery fan. !

I was provided with an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review - thank you!
I really enjoyed this - the writing was great, the storyline kept me hooked and the characters were likeable. It didn't go the way I expected from the blurb (in a good way, it kept me guessing) and even once it becomes clear who the killer is, the story is still so twisty turny and interesting that it kept me hooked until the last moment.
It was nice to read a crime book where the detective is an all round nice guy with no baggage/issues/drama!
The narrator was excellent and suited the book perfectly.
I also liked the questions to the author at the end, as this really helped me to understand Ava and the inspiration behind her as a character. Definitely worth listening right to that end part.
Overall I found it a solid, quite unique thriller and very surprised to find out it is a debut novel. I will be looking out for more from this author!

I was thoroughly impressed by the story and found myself connecting with the main character, Ava, on a deeper level. It felt like she was a reflection of my younger self, although much braver than I was at her age.

One of the highlights of this book was the relationship between Ava and the other characters, especially the police officers who handled the case. Their interactions were refreshing, and it was interesting to see how they all dealt with the challenges that came their way.

The plot was well thought out, with just the right balance of suspense and detail. The story moved quickly enough to keep me engaged, but it also allowed enough time for the atmosphere to build. While I did guess the identity of the main villain relatively early on, it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the story.

As an audiobook, I thought the narrator was perfect for the story. She brought Ava and the other characters to life, and I felt like I was right there with them throughout the entire journey.

I sincerely hope that this book becomes a series, as I believe there's so much more to learn about Ava and her life. She's a fascinating character, and I'm eager to see what she does next.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys crime thrillers, dark stories, and strong female characters who don't conform to gender stereotypes. It also falls into the "weird girl" genre, which is currently trending on TikTok and other social media platforms.

This book was something else - in a really good way. It’s definitely not my usual genre but I was totally hooked on it. It’s got just the right amount of weird in it for me, with the strange murders, the dead animals and Ava herself - a thirteen year old with a scientific interest in death and decomposition, and her very own body farm to study dead animals in different situations. This experience helps Ava in her bid to uncover more about the murders happening in her city, where young boys keep disappearing and turning up dead in unusual circumstances. This story is told primarily from Ava’s point of view, but another perspective we have quite frequently is the detective in charge of the case who sees something in Ava that makes him reach out for her help. There are lots of different avenues followed in both the police investigation and in Ava’s, and we’re taking around different parts of Birmingham on the hunt for clues and the search for evidence. This is a dark, and interesting tale that for a long time kept me guessing, speculating about who could be hurting the boys. I did work it out as more and more clues came together but there was still plenty to discover from there, some final pieces that needed to click into place for me to have the full picture. I have to admit I wasn’t sure I was going to like this novel but it really is something. It kept me engaged throughout though I did find it hard to keep track of all the names thrown into the mix, which left me trying to remember who was who and how they’d featured before.

It was extra special reading the audiobook as the narrator was fantastic and Ava had a wonderful Birmingham accent, one I’m familiar with and fond of from my time in the city. The narrator voiced the different characters well, making their voices distinct without sounding strange or forced. Being set in Birmingham, there were also lots of mentions of places I’d heard of (though in most cases, ones I hadn’t been to) and it helped to further absorb me into the story. If you’re up for something weird and dark, this is definitely worth a read!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Having taken a semi-extended break from crime fiction in favour of reads that are a little lighter and a whole lot less stressful - this was a perfect read to restart my love for the more macabre. Well paced, Deadly Animals keeps you guessing for a good while before the pieces all finally fall into place.

If you’re looking for a British crime novel that’s stand alone, dark, and thrilling - this could be the book you’ve been waiting for.

The narration is wonderful and really immerses you in the story.

An enjoyable murder mystery with an interesting twist. The psychology was too simplified for my tastes and the youngster with sherlock-esk inductive reasoning is a rather tired trope. However i enjoyed the characters in the police team and the unique characteristics of the murderer.

Deadly Animals
By Marie Tierney

THE INCREDIBLE DEBUT BRITISH CRIME NOVEL OF 2024!

Ava Bonney is 13, and she is on the trail of a serial killer…

Ava is different to her friends, she has several ‘road kill body farms’ dotted around the area where she lives in Birmingham. They are carefully hidden from prying eyes and she visits them at night, noting her findings in her red book with her blue pen.

Her interests include pathology, serial killers and animal biology.

When she discovers the body of a missing teenager, she becomes an integral part of the police investigation.

Ava is the teenage incarnation of Temperance Brennan and Kay Scarpetta.

The interactions between the children are so authentic and a total joy to read. I loved that the kids are so much more clued up and clever than the adults.

The book is set in the 1980’s and each reference to those times transported me right back to my fondest memories of growing up. Police 5 and Shaw Taylor, red phone boxes, Audi Quattro,

It reminded me of some of my favourite childhood books and authors; Harriet the spy (Louise Fitzhugh), The undertaker has gone bananas (Paul
Zindel), Nancy Drew and anything by Nicholas Fisk, Roald Dahl and Judy Blume.

I just know you will enjoy reading or listening to this gift of a book as much as I did. You need Ava in your life.

This is my new favourite book ❤️.

And this book led me to the beautiful music of Isao Tomita ❤️

Quote from the author on her lead character…..

“Ava wasn’t hard to write. The only difficulty was going back to that time, in that place, behind that face, because so much of it was unhappy, frightening and almost overwhelmingly enchanting.

She is not a ‘creation’ – she was the seed of the woman she would grow to become… me.

And Ava’s interest in dead things was rooted in the same pragmatic conclusion I had come to at the same age: dead things can’t hurt you.

It’s the living you’ve got to watch.”

And the author interview at the end of the audiobook is so so good! The narrator is superb! Thank you so much!

A bit of a slow starter for me, which soon warmed up. As the narration encouraged me as a listener, so too did the storyline start to resonate with me.

An interesting premise, whereby a school girl was able to identify leads that experienced police officers could not see may seem improbable, but Ms Tierney overcame that with her skilful storytelling.

I think that the audio version of the book may actually be better than the written one.

Really enjoyable.

This debut novel brings something really fresh in the world of mystery, crime thrillers. Tierney has been influenced by her fascination with true crime, and it shows – this is spattered with references to real life murder and murderers, as well as nuggets of details about how crimes where investigated in the early 1980s, and the developments that were being made in the world of forensic investigations. 

Ava’s character is a step-up from the usual child detective, and this is certainly no children’s novel. Smart, curious and with lots of empathy, Ava is a likeable character from the start. Her approach to investigation is thorough to say the least – how many thirteen year olds have set up their own body farm? – and her attention to detail is well above that of the average teenage sleuth. I don’t know if Tierney plans to follow Ava through her inevitable career into policing or forensics, but there’s enough scope in her character for a whole series of follow-up crime mysteries.

I also really liked the character of Detective Seth Delahaye. My assumption was that he’d soon get tired of ‘those pesky kids’ sticking their noses in where they aren’t wanted, but Ava and Seth’s suppheortive collaboration is refreshing to see. Ava is clearly the star of this show, and Seth doesn’t aim to steal her limelight.

I listened to the audiobook of the novel. Experienced narrator, Olivia Dowd, is a great choice. Her voice is engaging, and expressive in all the right places.

Overall, this macabre new novel is great for anyone who loves a layman’s view of forensics with a twist of the supernatural. I’d certainly read more by Marie Tierney, and look forward to her future novels.

"Deadly Animals" by Marie Tierney is a captivating and dark novel that follows thirteen-year-old Ava Bonney as she delves into the chilling mystery of a series of deaths in her community. Ava's unique intellect and fascination with animal decomposition make her an intriguing protagonist who defies traditional gender stereotypes. The relationships between Ava and the other characters are well-developed and add depth to the story.
The plot is well-paced, with just enough suspense and detail to keep the reader engaged. While I could guess the villain's identity early on, it did not diminish my enjoyment of the story.
Overall, "Deadly Animals" is a must-read for crime thrillers and dark stories fans. I hope this book becomes a series, as there is much more to explore with Ava's character. I highly recommend this book for its strong female lead and unique storyline. The audiobook narration was a delightful addition to the experience. Olivia Dowd's narration was engaging and brought the characters to life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook production of Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney. The quirky and unorthodox 13 year old protagonist, Ava, made this book for me; along with the 1980s setting. An excellent read - I can’t wait to read book number 2!

Gorgeous, GORGEOUS narration is the standout element of this debut, which I received from Bonnier UK Audio for review.

Olivia Dowd is a prolific and impressive vocal talent (I loved her contribution to 'The Guest List' by Lucy Foley), her performance characterised by clarity and terrific self-assurance in an assortment of accents and dialects.

It might seem a trivial thing, but Dowd's narration exhibits a marked absence of missayings and mispronunciations, the importance of which to my enjoyment of an audiobook can't be overstated.

Although the serial-killer plot isn't itself thrilling, I'd recommend 'Deadly Animals' simply on the basis of Marie Tierney's characterisation of her protagonist, Ava Bonney, the dazzling light of this British Crime Thriller.

Ava is a character of conviction: forceful, organic in her transformative arc from introspective at thirteen to the affable and brave fourteen-year-old at the novel's close. Ava is as absorbing a character as any Bildungsroman star - a self-possessed juvenile of Fox Network's Dr Temperance Brennan.

I felt like I was re-reading Deirdre Sullivan's 'Perfectly Preventable Deaths' throughout, with notes of 'Follow Me to Ground' by Sue Rainsford.

Aside from comparisons, though, this is a robust debut. My thanks go to author and publisher for a pre-release digital copy.

It is May 1981 and Ava Bonney is a 13 year old girl who has an interesting, unusual and macabre hobby. She has a secret roadkill body farm – she enjoys studying their decomposing bodies, noting how the elements (temperature, water and air) effect the bodies. On one of her night time jaunts she comes across the body of missing teenager Mickey Grant. Ava knew him from the local area and he was the sort of boy she’d give a wide birth to – he had been missing for two weeks. She recognises that Mickey wasn’t killed where she find his body and notices that he has been dead for a while and has human bite marks on his arm. She isn’t scared, more fascinated and rings the police, putting on a posh voice so they don’t recognise her, to tell them where they can find Mickey’s body.

Detective Sergeant Seth Delahaye is charged with investigating Mickey’s murder and meets Ava when he is doing house to house enquiries. He crosses Ava’s path a few times and when another boy goes missing, the race is on to find him. The police realise they have a serial killer on their hands, one that prays on boys. Unbeknownst to them, Ava continues to helps them with their enquiries – her unique knowledge means she is able to point the police in directions they wouldn’t ever have considered.

I listened to the audio of this, expertly narrated by Olivia Dowd who captures the Birmingham accents perfectly. I wasn’t sure at first what to make of Ava whose hobby is very unusual but she soon captured my heart. Her family life isn’t ideal – a mum who is prone to violent outbursts who has a boyfriend who is starting to look at Ava in a way that makes her uncomfortable. She has a good friend in John who knows about her hobby and a burgeoning friendship with an older boy Nathanial who saves her from an attack by another boy and who looks out for her.

I really enjoyed Deadly Animals, a crime thriller read that is perfectly paced with a wonderful character in Ava who I hope to hear more from in the future. I really enjoyed the added elements of Ava’s knowledge in helping the police in solving the case and at no point did any of it seem unbelievable. I also really liked the relationship and mutual respect between Ava and Detective Delahaye. The 80’s setting makes for a nostalgic feel – the use of phone boxes especially and the freedom that the kids are given to roam the streets are things I remember from my childhood! A gritty and well written thriller which is an excellent debut from Tierney – I can’t wait o see what she does next!

I suppose one way of describing this would be as a Nancy Drew mystery written by Stephen King. That isn't meant to be a criticism as it works very well. It subtly conjures up the eighties nostalgia and the Birmingham localities where it is set at that time.
Listening to the audiobook, at the end there is an interview with the author where the character of Ava is explained as largely autobiographical . That shines through in the fullness of her character and the sympathy the writer has for her. This is the first book and Ava will be reappearing though interestingly she will age unlike some other crime novel characters.
At one stage I thought it was veering in to the area of fantasy but instead it took a neat turn into even more dark horror. I think there are enough clues for people to work out the perpetrator before his actual reveal and indeed as the author says having it set in the eighties is kind of a clue in itself.

I listened to the excellent audio production of this book. This story does have a dark side, so I would suggest suitable listening for older teenagers and up. Set in the 80s, with a thirteen year old female lead. Ava’s character is central to the story. Exceedingly bright, an interest in wildlife both dead and alive, already worldly wise, dry sense of humour and a very sharp pencil for protection from bullies. When children go missing and she finds them dead, she is determined to find the killer. The interview with the author, shared at the end, is one of the most interesting I’ve listened to. Thank you to Bonnier UK Audio and NetGalley for the Audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

Well what an exciting new voice in fiction we have here! Whilst it is a crime novel in many ways, this one feels far more literary and gritty, and makes for a bloody good, albeit gruesome, story!

Ava is an absolutely unforgettable character - yes she has a pretty dark hobby (and the whole book is VERY dark and macabre), but she does it for a beautiful, kind reason and she’s also wicked smart! I found her so compelling, and was very emotionally invested in her from the beginning.

As you can probably guess from the title and the blurb, there are quite a few dead animals and children in this which I did find difficult to stomach at times - but it is so woven into the heart of the story that you couldn’t have the book without that, and for me it just threw up more questions about who the actual animals are (spoiler alert: always the humans). If you love those dark, twisted and unexpected stories then definitely add this one to your list!