I received an eARC from the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review as part of this tour. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Thriller Age Range: YA Star Rating: 4 stars Series: Standalone CW: murder, car crash, gore
Synopsis:
From its creepy town mascot to the story of its cursed waterfall, Burden Falls is a small town dripping with superstition. Ava Thorn knows this well – since the horrific accident she witnessed a year ago, she’s been plagued by nightmares.
But when someone close to her is brutally murdered and Ava is the primary suspect, she starts to wonder if the legends surrounding the town are more fact than fiction.
Whatever secrets Burden Falls is hiding, there’s a killer on the loose, and they have a vendetta against the Thorns…
Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
Another tense thriller from Kat Ellis, set in a small American town (called BURDEN FALLS, which is the US title) full of creepy stories and family feuds.
If this was a movie, and it would translate well, I think, it would be a more psychological thriller with horror elements than jump-scare-y spooky beings. WICKED LITTLE DEEDS really plays into the “what’s real and what’s not?” idea, with a lot of the uneasy happenings reminding me of the first Nolan Batman Begins movie when people can’t trust their minds. The ending is very action packed and hyper lucid in some ways, the truth in some ways worse than the uncertainty of whether Ava can trust her mind before.
People will vary on whether they think this book is horror or thriller. As someone who doesn’t believe in ghosts and all that, I fall firmly on the thriller side. I read the things she saw as PTSD from seeing her parents die and then the dead bodies, rather than anything supernatural.
There was actually a rational explanation for what had happened, and I liked it. It explains it well for those like me who don’t believe in all that, but also leaves room for those who do. Personally, I just don’t like non-fantasy/speculative books that try to give a paranormal explanation as it undercuts the tension and believability for me. I want the villain to be human, because that makes it feel more grounded.
I hadn’t solved the mystery when the reveal came, and it didn’t feel like a twist for shock factor. I mean, it was a shock, but in a satisfying way. I’m usually quite good at picking up clues to who the villain is, so out of the blue often feels like the author didn’t want to make it obvious so didn’t do it.
Read my reviews of other books by Kat Ellis:
Standalones:
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