Kill Creatures

The sinister cover of this book perfectly sets the tone for what is to come-and the tension never abates. The narrative begins with a vigil for 3 girls-Luce, Edie and Jane-lost a year ago in the treacherous Devil’s Eye, part of the mountain trails which rise above the town of Saltcedar. Nan was the only survivor of the tragedy which killed her best friends. At least, that was the official story, but the reality was that Nan killed them all, high up there in the mountains, when she discovered that she wasn’t liked by the girls she loved but instead was pitied or resented.

She has become adept at creating an appropriate front for the outside world to divert suspicion from herself but this is shockingly tested when, just as the vigil is about to start, a body is seen in the adjacent lake. It is Luce – and she is alive. The game now begins – what, if anything, does Luce remember of Nan’s attempts to kill her, as she appeared to be totally lifeless after the attack? And more urgently, if memory is slow to return, will the presence of Sheriff Marsden be able to bring it back into being? Power creates a masterly triangle – Nan’s fear of exposure, Luce’s apparent memory loss and Sheriff Marsden’s determination to discover the truth about what really happened.

The narrative push and pull between conventional, unfettered responses to tragedy and those which are artfully constructed and managed is the driving force behind the compelling weave and reveal of the story. Just as one scenario seems established it is slowly nudged out of the way until the murders which Nan committed-and the one which failed-become the centre of a complex spider’s web of revelation, shock and surprise, destroying the world which Nan thought she knew. This is masterly writing, drawing in Nan’s family and neighbours in entirely unexpected ways. The ending of the novel, another double-layered facade of deceit, reveals Luce not just as a perceived victim but also an instrument of revenge.