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Title details for Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney - Wait list

Deadly Animals

A Novel

by Marie Tierney
Olivia Dowd
Audiobook
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Wait time: About 2 weeks

This audio program includes an exclusive Q&A between the author and narrator.
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?
A Macmillan Audio program from Henry Holt and Company

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 12, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781250367624
      • File size: 353952 KB
      • Duration: 12:17:23

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 19, 2024
      A precocious teenager helps British cops hunt a killer in Tierney’s offbeat debut. Aspiring 14-year-old forensic pathologist Ava Bonney is sneaking out of her South Birmingham home at 2 a.m. to visit the secret spot where she stashes and studies roadkill when she discovers the corpse of local teen bully Mickey Grant, who’s been missing for two weeks. It’s dark, but Ava can still see human bite marks on Mickey’s decomposing flesh. She calls the authorities from a phone booth, disguising her voice, and returns home. When Det. Sgt. Seth Delahaye of the West Midlands Police comes canvassing the next day, Ava keeps quiet about the call, but offers keen observations about Mickey that prompt Delahaye to consult her when other children go missing. Meanwhile, Ava conducts her own clandestine investigation, discovering a disturbingly cruel animal death that may be the work of the same killer and digging into rumors about a man-sized wolf. Despite two-dimensional supporting characters and the disorienting juxtaposition of wacky plotting with lurid descriptions of violence, Ava earns readers’ investment in this macabre procedural—she’s a clever, compassionate, and resourceful protagonist with series-carrying potential. Mo Hayder fans will find much to admire.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Olivia Dowd performs a thrilling tale about a macabre teenager with a love of studying decomposition. Ava is only 13, but she has an intense interest in forensics, which includes studying the decaying bodies of animals along the road. When she discovers the bodies of a teenager and a child, Ava alerts the police and winds up assisting a detective in stopping a killer who is preying on children. Dowd shifts from her natural accent with subtle care, ensuring that the characters not only sound real but also dynamic and unique. Some of the gory descriptions are vivid and unsettling, but Dowd keeps the tone respectful with a tinge of heartbreak. This is a suspenseful story of a ruthless killer and the young teen who is driven to channel her fierce intelligence to save lives. J.M.M. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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