The best young adult thrillers & teen fiction mysteries.
The Bottom Line: Jane Eyre meets The Haunting of Hill House. A terrifying gothic horror novel that readers won’t soon forget. Set in the early 1800s, author Emma Beavan delivers a deliciously twisted tale of three sisters and the family secrets that threaten to haunt them all. After the passing of their stepsister, Sarah, sisters Rose and Maggie […]
The Bottom Line: Harry Potter meets The Hunger Games. Sadly, there’s no audiobook version, so fans will have to devour this book the old fashioned way. We’re not in Texas anymore, Bluebell. In the opening chapter of Shadowspell Academy, the compelling farm girl known as Wild says, “My family got kicked more often than most.” […]
The Bottom Line: The brilliant first entry in a promising new YA adventure series. What do you get when you cross Star Wars with Top Gun and The Hunger Games? The answer is Skyward, a sci-fi military thriller that even Tom Clancy fans may love. In the action-packed Skyward, a girl dreams of becoming a […]
The Bottom Line: A deliciously dark and timely teen crime thriller deserving of a TV series. While tackling heavy-duty subject matter with grace and sophistication, Death by the River is tailor-made for fans of Riverdale, Twin Peaks and Twilight. A monster lurks in the halls of Louisiana small town St. Benedict High School, and his […]
The Bottom Line: A deftly-written, all-American teen mystery deserving of a broad audience. When a Minnesota Alzheimer’s patient implies knowledge about an unsolved death dating back to the 1960s, his 15-year-old granddaughter launches an investigation. Until Proven Innocent begins as a local university is buying the former home of Henry Springs, who disappeared after a […]
The Bottom Line: An essential whodunnit for both YA and adult crime fiction fans. Karen M. McManus’ teen murder mystery is the perfect antidote to Netflix’s Riverdale, the Twin Peaks-meets-Archies mashup that never really feels set in high school. By contrast, McManus artfully sets up a believable single-setting high school atmosphere that feels inspired by […]
The Bottom Line: A sophisticated young adult novel that will appeal to all readers, regardless of age. The Dream Keepers stretches the idea of fantasy to its limits, incorporating a larger-than-life dreamland where anything can happen with a narrator that’s at once naïve and completely in charge. Mona and her friends are a comforting cast […]
The Bottom Line: Fans of Divergent and The Hunger Games will find plenty to love in this enthralling, fast-paced story filled with richly drawn characters and the injustices they face. A track star, Daniela Machado has the opportunity to escape the world she knows — the squalor, oppression and constant vigilance required to survive in […]
Academic overachiever Abbie Cooper Cooper is desperate to get accepted into Princeton University. But when a mysterious stranger threatens to expose the dark secret that could destroy her future, it’s only the beginning of a diabolical game with no limits—a game Abbie will break every rule to win.
The Bottom Line: With Robin Wasserman at the helm, it’s never too early or late for Halloween. This barnburner of a novel about intense obsession is a must-read. Halloween, 1991. A popular high school basketball star ventures into the woods near Battle Creek, Pennsylvania, and disappears. Three days later, he’s found with a bullet in […]
