Young Entertainment Mag
"Any fans of How to Get Away with Murder here? If so, this novel’s for you."
April Genevieve Tucholke
"A small town legend, a missing redhead, a monster in the forest...Sirowy'sThe Creeping is a haunting, modern day folktale, in the darkest sense of the word. Fantastic."
PeruseProject
"I freaking loved this book. This book was like everything I hoped and dreamed it would be, to put it simply."
Stacey Lee
"Alexandra Sirowy's latest thriller spills its secrets drop by drop, exposing the murkiest corners of the human psyche. Disturbingly compelling, and guaranteed to make you shiver this summer."
starred review BCCB
* "Hand this to readers who like their mysteries dark and deep, with strongly developed characters and stunningly good prose."
Booklist
"Sirowy is a master of suspense...Shocking, inventive, and woven through with dread, this is a satisfying mystery."
The Fandom
"Dark, edgy, and wholly unpredictable, Alexandra Sirowy’s First We Were IV is the wild summer read you need."
Romantic Times
"The concept alone makes First We Were IV stand out in the ever-expanding roster of small-town YA thrillers. But Sirowy’s phenomenal execution will have readers salivating to get to the end. Her fine-tuned writing style draws an intricate sketch of events as they unfold and there are no extraneous details that delay the plot. The characters are unique, well-developed and perfectly flawed."
on THE CREEPING Romantic Times
"Genuine and truly eerie. Readers will be up all night finishing Sirowy's debut."
on THE CREEPING BCCB
"[For] horror fans looking for a creepy thrill."
Bookpage
"Alexandra Sirowy uses creepy imagery to peel back the layers of a quaint, coastal town to reveal its seedy core and to bring this twisty ride to its inevitable yet shocking conclusion."
on THE TELLING BCCB
"Lana’s got a steely edge to her narration, even in her most vulnerable moments, and her confident determination that she’s going to figure out what is going on may inspire plenty of readers to follow her."
Teenreads
"FIRST WE WERE IV is one of those books that hooks readers from the first page."
on THE TELLING Booklist
Will leave readers stunned and satisfied.
From the Publisher
"A disturbing, morally gray, intense page-turner." ---Kirkus
Booklist
"Sirowy is a master of suspense...Shocking, inventive, and woven through with dread, this is a satisfying mystery."
From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY
"A disturbing, morally gray, intense page-turner." Kirkus
School Library Journal
07/01/2017
Gr 8 Up—A secret society born through shared slights and promises among four friends is the centerpiece of this YA novel about revenge, friendship, and small-town murder. Izzie Pendleton can't stop thinking about the murdered runaway girl whom she and her friends found when they were younger. Izzie, Viv, Graham, and Harry, now seniors, create the secret society, IV, whose mission is to wreak havoc on their community. "We start a group dedicated to clandestine activities. We'll have rituals. Ones that we swear to repeat." What starts out as empowerment turns into retribution as the members of IV take revenge in the name of the girl murdered as well as on their high school tormentors. Although the book is told through Izzie's perspective, the other characters' thoughts are interwoven throughout via transcripts of recorded videos. As their pranks escalate, so do the consequences each member faces, leading to a suspenseful climax. Izzie, Viv, Graham, and Harry are all well-developed characters with their own rationales for their destructive actions. VERDICT A strong choice for fans of E. Lockhart's We Were Liars and Lauren Oliver's Panic.—Michelle Foster, North Caroline High School, Ridgely, MD
Kirkus Reviews
2017-05-01
Four friends cement their bond with a secret society that gets beyond out of hand.Opening with the arrival of the police and the statement that "First we were four. Now we are three," the story then jumps back to relate how the four became friends, leaving the mystery of what happens to one of them (and to which one) to tantalize and pull readers through the story. The complicated bond among the four is born when they discover a dead body—it's a teenage girl, a written-off runaway, a murder never really investigated. Years later, now seniors in high school and wanting permanence for their friendship, the four invent a secret society, IV, to rebel against authority with meaningful pranks. Turned toward justice when they take down a pervy educator, they step things up by prodding at the long-buried murder. The destruction and cultlike mythos continue to escalate (brutally, for some animals), as popular kids—some their tormentors—want in on the action. The intoxicating power morphs justice to vengeance as the secrets unravel. Of the four, two are white and two are people of color; class tensions play the primary role in the conflicts, from the dead girl to school bullying. Sirowy's emphasis is on moral complexity, nailing the way good intentions can have catastrophic unintended consequences A disturbing, morally gray, intense page-turner. (Thriller. 16-adult)