"[A] deliriously creepy tale...that'll keep your nightmares up at night." --Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Wilder Girls comes a feverishly twisty thriller about a girl whose past has always been a mystery--until she decides to return to her mother's hometown . . . where history has a tendency to repeat itself.
Ever since Margot was born, it's been just her and her mother, struggling to get along. But that's not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she may have just found the answer: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Only, when Margot gets there, it's not what she bargained for.
As soon as they see her face, everyone in town knows who Margot belongs to. It's unmistakable--she's a Nielsen. And when a mysterious girl who could be Margot's twin is pulled from a fire, Margot realizes that her mother left Phalene for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what's still there?
The only thing Margot knows for sure is there's poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she's there, she might never escape.
Praise for Wilder Girls: 4 STARRED REVIEWS!
"Fresh and horrible and beautiful....readers will be consumed and altered by Wilder Girls."-NPR
"This thrilling saga...is sure to be one of the season's most talked-about books, in any genre."--EW
"The perfect kind of story for our current era."--Hypable
Burn Our Bodies Down is the second book I’ve read by Rory Power, and I’m really wondering if she is maybe just not the author for me. Wilder Girls was enticing but the ending just left me a bit dissatisfied because I was expecting more, and Burn Our Bodies down had such potential to discuss a tense mother-daughter relationship but instead it was a slow burn story that, again, ended kind of strangely?
Also, this author has a real thing for plants.
I will say, though, that the audiobook was really well done. I really liked the narrator for it, which is a surprise to me because I often don’t click with American narrators. So good job with that.
The rest of the book, though, felt very average. I think Rory Power might be better off writing adult fiction where she can really go to town with the horror elements, because Burn Our Bodies Down felt like it barely touched the surface of the true horror vibe it was going for.
As others have said, this is a tough one to review because it’s definitely better that you don’t know much before you go into it.
I was expecting more of a discussion about the mother-daughter relationship in this book, but unfortunately while there was a lot of that in the beginning, it kind of dropped off towards the end and left me hanging.
I would recommend giving Burn Our Bodies Down even if you didn’t love Wilder Girls because the ending is nowhere near as frustrating and if you’ve read Wilder Girls then you’re presumably ready for that kind of vibe, but a tighter storyline. Also, the main character is gay, but doesn’t rush into a relationship! Love that. Overall, this book was just okay, and while I’m glad that I listened to it, I’m not sure I want to pick up any more books by Rory Power as I find her stuff quite underwhelming.
