In the suffocating heat of a Utah summer, where secrets fester like open wounds in the desert sun, Rory Power delivers her most uncompromising work yet. Kill Creatures by Rory Power is a psychological thriller that doesn’t just unsettle—it excavates the darkest corners of human nature with surgical precision, leaving readers breathless and questioning everything they thought they knew about friendship, truth, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
A Deceptive Opening That Grips From Page One
The novel opens with Nan Carver standing beneath a billboard bearing the faces of her three missing best friends—Edie, Jane, and Luce—who vanished into Saltcedar Canyon exactly one year ago. Power immediately establishes an atmosphere thick with dread and unspoken truths. What appears to be a straightforward missing persons story quickly transforms into something far more sinister when Luce Allard emerges from the lake alive during a memorial vigil, and Nan’s first thought isn’t relief—it’s panic.
Power’s genius lies in her narrative structure, which unfolds through alternating timelines that slowly peel back layers of deception. The author, known for her breakout hit Wilder Girls and subsequent works Burn Our Bodies Down and the adult fantasy duology beginning with In a Garden Burning Gold, has refined her ability to create unreliable narrators who force readers to question every assumption. In Kill Creatures, this technique reaches its apex through Nan’s fractured perspective, where memory and truth become fluid concepts shaped by guilt and self-preservation.
The Poison of False Friendship
Perhaps the most devastating element of Kill Creatures by Rory Power is its unflinching examination of one-sided relationships and the delusions we construct around them. Nan’s “friendship” with Edie, Jane, and Luce is revealed to be an elaborate fantasy—she was never truly part of their inner circle but rather a peripheral figure who convinced herself otherwise. Power captures the painful reality of being the friend who tries too hard, who misreads kindness for genuine connection, and who builds an entire identity around relationships that exist primarily in her own mind.
The revelation that the girls viewed Nan as a “summer project” rather than a true friend cuts to the bone. Power doesn’t shy away from the cruelty that teenagers can inflict, often without fully realizing the damage they cause. When Edie calls Nan a “leech” and a “spare part,” the words carry the weight of devastating truth wrapped in adolescent brutality. This dynamic will resonate with anyone who has experienced the sting of social rejection or the desperate desire to belong.
A Setting That Breathes Menace
Saltcedar Canyon emerges as more than mere backdrop—it becomes a character unto itself, hungry and patient. Power’s description of Devil’s Eye, the hidden swimming hole where the climactic events unfold, is particularly masterful. The natural siphon that can drag swimmers to their deaths serves as both literal threat and metaphor for the way secrets and lies can pull entire families into darkness.
The contrast between the tourist-friendly facade of Saltcedar and its hidden dangers mirrors the novel’s central themes. Like the canyon that appears beautiful on the surface while concealing deadly currents beneath, the characters present carefully constructed versions of themselves that mask their true natures. Power’s background in creating atmospheric, isolated settings serves her well here, as the claustrophobic small-town environment amplifies every tension and suspicion.
The Complexity of Unreliable Memory
One of Rory Power’s most sophisticated achievements in Kill Creatures is her handling of memory and truth. Nan’s selective amnesia regarding her father’s involvement creates a narrative puzzle that slowly reconstructs itself through carefully planted clues. The revelation that Don Carver has been covering up murders—first Luce’s mother Maggie, then helping to hide his daughter’s crimes—recontextualizes everything that came before.
Power demonstrates remarkable skill in showing how trauma can fracture memory, allowing individuals to compartmentalize horrific truths to preserve their sense of self. Nan’s ability to forget her father’s complicity while remembering her own actions speaks to the complex psychology of survival and denial. This isn’t simple amnesia for plot convenience—it’s a psychologically authentic portrayal of how the mind protects itself from unbearable knowledge.
Character Development That Refuses Easy Answers
The characterization in Kill Creatures by Rory Power defies simple categorization. Nan emerges as neither pure victim nor irredeemable monster, but something more unsettling—a lonely teenager whose desperation for belonging leads to unthinkable actions. Power refuses to offer easy explanations or redemptive arcs. Instead, she presents characters who are fundamentally damaged, products of neglect, abuse, and their own worst impulses.
Luce’s transformation from victim to orchestrator of revenge is particularly compelling. Her year-long captivity at the hands of Don Carver has hardened her into someone capable of elaborate psychological manipulation. When she returns not to seek justice through conventional means but to psychologically torment both Nan and her father, we see how trauma can transform its victims into perpetrators of new cruelties.
The adult characters are equally complex. Don Carver’s evolution from seemingly protective father to revealed killer highlights how evil can hide behind facades of respectability and community standing. Power’s portrayal of his relationship with Nan—simultaneously loving and manipulative—captures the confusing reality of toxic family dynamics.
Technical Mastery and Narrative Structure
Power’s technical skills have evolved significantly since her debut. The dual timeline structure in Kill Creatures by Rory Power is expertly managed, with revelations timed for maximum psychological impact. The author’s use of white space and fragmented sentences during moments of high tension creates a visceral reading experience that mirrors Nan’s fractured mental state.
The pacing deserves particular praise. Power maintains mounting tension while allowing space for character development and atmospheric detail. The final confrontation at Devil’s Eye feels both inevitable and shocking, a testament to the author’s skill in building toward climactic moments that satisfy both emotionally and plot-wise.
Minor Shortcomings in an Otherwise Stellar Work
While Kill Creatures succeeds on most levels, it occasionally suffers from Rory Power’s tendency toward overwrought metaphor. Some descriptions of the canyon and its symbolic significance feel heavy-handed, though this may be intentional given Nan’s dramatic internal monologue. Additionally, certain plot revelations, while shocking, stretch credibility—particularly the logistics of Don Carver’s year-long imprisonment of Luce without detection.
The novel’s bleakness, while thematically appropriate, may prove overwhelming for some readers. Power offers little hope or redemption, which serves the story’s themes but may leave readers seeking some form of catharsis unsatisfied.
A Dark Mirror to Contemporary Anxieties
Kill Creatures by Rory Power arrives at a time when discussions about toxic relationships, gaslight, and the nature of truth feel particularly urgent. Power’s exploration of how individuals can construct elaborate deceptions—both for others and themselves—speaks to broader concerns about authenticity and manipulation in the digital age. The novel’s examination of how communities can enable and protect predators while ignoring their victims also resonates with contemporary movements demanding accountability.
Essential Reading for Psychological Horror Enthusiasts
Kill Creatures by Rory Power represents a significant achievement in young adult psychological horror, demonstrating that the genre can tackle complex moral questions without sacrificing entertainment value. Power has created a work that will linger in readers’ minds long after the final page, challenging them to examine their own capacity for self-deception and the stories they tell themselves about their relationships and choices.
For readers who enjoyed the psychological complexity of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, the atmospheric tension of Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, or the dark academic vibes of The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Kill Creatures by Rory Power offers a unique blend of adolescent angst and genuine horror that feels both timeless and urgently contemporary.
Recommended Similar Reads:
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus
- People Like Us by Dana Mele
- Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
- Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
Rory Power has crafted a novel that refuses to provide easy answers or comfortable resolutions, instead offering a mirror that reflects our own capacity for darkness. In a literary landscape often sanitized for young adult consumption, Kill Creatures by Rory Power stands as a bold reminder that teenagers are capable of both experiencing and perpetrating genuine evil—and that sometimes, the most horrifying monsters are the ones we create within ourselves.
