Are you looking for those thrills and chills that would excite your summer? You may be stuck inside this summer but you can still have those thrills for this season. And mystery books are a great way to do that! However, instead of trying out the same old mystery authors, why not try out a new genre? The YA genre has spun great mystery tales that are perfect for the dedicated mystery lover. Get ready for suspense and excitement because these recommendations will knock your socks off:
Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis
Welcome to Harrow Lake. Someone’s expecting you . . .
Lola Nox is the daughter of a celebrated horror filmmaker – she thinks nothing can scare her.
But when her father is brutally attacked in their New York apartment, she’s swiftly packed off to live with a grandmother she’s never met in Harrow Lake, the eerie town where her father’s most iconic horror movie was shot.
The locals are weirdly obsessed with the film that put their town on the map – and there are strange disappearances, which the police seem determined to explain away.
And there’s someone – or something – stalking her every move.
The more Lola discovers about the town, the more terrifying it becomes. Because Lola’s got secrets of her own. And if she can’t find a way out of Harrow Lake, they might just be the death of her. (Credit: Penguin)
The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown
Sydney’s dad is the only psychiatrist for miles around their small Ohio town.
He is also unexpectedly dead.
Is Sydney crazy, or is it kind of weird that her dad-a guy whose entire job revolved around other peoples’ secrets-crashed alone, with no explanation?
And why is June Copeland, homecoming queen and the town’s golden child, at his funeral?
As the two girls grow closer in the wake of the accident, it’s clear that not everyone is happy about their new friendship.
But what is picture perfect June still hiding? And does Sydney even want to know? (Credit: Penguin)
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
One of the best innovative and compelling YA thrillers I have read in a long time. If you are a fan of mystery genre but wary of YA, this is book that definitely makes the exception. It’s one compelling and intriguing mystery but also an examination of how media covers a high profile murder. Pip’s articulate and passionate nature is very identifiable. To me, she is the next Nancy Drew!
The Last Witness by Claire McFall
I was a little surprised by this one, particularly with the twist towards the end. It started off slow but I expected it needed to do that to lead to the momentum towards the end. I thought I had it all figured it out but then it completely thrown me a curve ball at the end. Adult readers may expect more from this but I believe that teen readers would enjoy this one, particularly enjoy the ride the story takes them on. It is a good starter for thrillers for other YA readers.
The Things She’s Seen by Ambelin & Ezekiel Kwaymullina
This was one thrilling and satisfying mystery that leaves you not only chills down your spine but making you really think about the populations that have been both persecuted and marginalized by so-called superior groups due to them wanting to express power and dominance. Catching’s narrative was told in verse and I don’t think it was possible it could be done more beautifully. It was both haunting and engrossing and manage to capture that essence of the tradition of storytelling. I always knew about the indigenous people of Australia but I don’t think I really understood about their tragic history, or the tragic history of any indigenous population, until I read this book. Now, I want to read more about them.
The Sisterhood by A.J. Grainger
Seventeen-year-old Lil’s heart was broken when her sister Mella disappeared. There’s been no trace or sighting of her since she vanished, so when Lil sees a girl lying in the road near her house she thinks for a heart-stopping moment that it’s Mella.
The girl is injured and disorientated and Lil has no choice but to take her home, even though she knows something’s not right. The girl claims she’s from a peaceful community called The Sisterhood of the Light, but why then does she have strange marks down her arms, and what—or who—is she running from? (Credit: Simon & Schuster)
The Truth and Lies of Ella Black by Emily Barr
Seventeen-year-old Ella has two sides: the good side…and the bad side, named Bella. She has always had dark thoughts and has a hard time hiding this side from her family and friends. However, when her parents suddenly pull her out of school and whisk her to Rio de Janeiro, Ella makes a shocking discovery that makes her dual personality the least of her worries.
Heartstream by Tom Pollock
Cat is in love. Always the sensible one, she can’t believe that she’s actually dating, not to mention dating a star. But the fandom can’t know. They would eat her alive. And first at the buffet would definitely be her best friend, Evie. Amy uses Heartstream, a social media app that allows others to feel your emotions. She broadcasted every moment of her mother’s degenerative illness, and her grief following her death. It’s the realest, rawest reality TV imaginable. But on the day of Amy’s mother’s funeral, Amy finds a strange woman in her kitchen. She’s rigged herself and the house with explosives – and she’s been waiting to talk to Amy for a long time. Who is she? A crazed fan? What does she want? Amy and Cat are about to discover how far true obsession can go. (Credit: Walker Books)
For The Kid I Saw in My Dreams by Kei Sanbe
Get ready for manga series that will have you have you one edge of your seat! As a young child, Senri saw his parents get brutally murdered before his very eyes and his brother disappearing without trace. From that day on, he has always seek vengeance. From his daily duties to his school work, it all leads up to Senri attaining the power and the money to find the killer…and he’s not afraid to get himself a little dirty.
Whiteout by Gabriel Dylan
‘She sat us all down and told us a story. About things that lived in the woods. Things that only came out at night.’
For Charlie, a school ski trip is the perfect escape from his unhappy home life. Until a storm blows in and the resort town is cut off from the rest of the world. Trapped on the mountain, the students wait for the blizzards to pass, along with mysterious ski guide Hanna.
But as night falls and the town’s long buried secrets begin to surface, the storm is the least of their problems…. (Credit: Stripes (RedEye))
Sadie by Courtney Summers
A missing girl on a journey of revenge. A Serial―like podcast following the clues she’s left behind. And an ending you won’t be able to stop talking about.
Sadie hasn’t had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she’s been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water.
But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie’s entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.
When West McCray―a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America―overhears Sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late. (Credit: Wednesday Books)
Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
Mary B. Addison killed a baby.
Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: A white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? She wouldn’t say.
Mary survived six years in baby jail before being dumped in a group home. The house isn’t really “home”—no place where you fear for your life can be considered a home. Home is Ted, who she meets on assignment at a nursing home.
There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary must find the voice to fight her past. And her fate lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But who really knows the real Mary? (Credit: Katherine Tegen Books)
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger—and a possible murderer—to inherit his vast fortune, one thing’s for sure: Sam Westing may be dead … but that won’t stop him from playing one last game! (Credit: Puffin)
