A Different Kind of Murder

When a murder of crows begins wreaking havoc on a small town, a girl with OCD must come to terms with what it means to be a “good” person in order to stop the crows from enacting the worst of her intrusive thoughts, in this YA horror for fans of Don’t Let the Forest In and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth!

On the surface, seventeen-year-old Paloma O’Hare is gentle, well-behaved, and balanced, especially compared to the troublesome step-sister taking up most of her parents’ attention. But Paloma’s anxiety and OCD have been worsening since her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend found the journal that she’d been using to detail her disturbing intrusive thoughts. It feels inevitable that soon, everyone else will discover what she’s always feared most: she’s actually a terrible person.

For months, Paloma left the journal untouched and instead spent all her free time birding in the forest surrounding her small town, befriending the crows there and convincing herself things might be okay. That is, until dead animals start showing up with page scraps from her journal stuffed inside them, preceding violent attacks by the crows . . . attacks that are making her worst intrusive thoughts come true. Horrified, Paloma knows this is all her fault.

Teaming up with an unlikely ally, town loner Alise Cordova, Paloma tries to find a way to stop the crows before they take things too far. But unless she can reconcile with the cruelest parts of her brain and accept her own imperfections, there may be no way of stopping the murder.