These YA Thrillers Kept Us at the Edge of Our Seats

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What would we do without a good thriller? well, i probably spend less time sleeping with the lights on, but we digress. his thrillers are the best in the game and we can’t get enough of them. Sign us up for all the books that hurt us!

You are reading: Young adult thriller books

Whether supernatural or painfully realistic, these thrillers are ones you won’t want to miss. scroll down to see some of our favorite exciting and suspenseful books.

24 epic thrillers

that kept us guessing from start to finish

1. dragonfly girl by marti leimbach

Things aren’t going well for Kira. At home, she cares for her mother and fends off debt collectors. At school, she’s awkward and shy. Plus, she may flunk out if she doesn’t stop obsessing about science, her passion and the one thing she’s good at . . . very good at.

When he wins a prestigious science competition, he catches the eye of celebrity professor dr. Gregory Munn (as well as his handsome assistant), which landed him a part-time job at a top-secret lab.

The job consists mainly of cleaning floors and equipment, but one night, while conducting his own experiment, he revives a lab rat that died under his care.

one minute it’s dead, the next it’s not.

Suddenly, she’s the extraordinary child prodigy, the girl who can raise the dead. everything goes her way. But it turns out that science can be a dangerous business, and Kira finds herself drawn into a world of international rivalry with dark forces that threaten her life.

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2. all these bodies by kendare blake

Summer 1958. A gruesome killer ravages the Midwest, leaving behind a trail of bloodied bodies.

Michael Jensen, an aspiring journalist whose father happens to be the town sheriff, never imagined that bloodless murders would come to his backyard. Not until the night the Carlson family was found murdered in his home. Marie Catherine Hale, a diminutive fifteen-year-old, was discovered at the scene, covered in blood. she is the only suspect in custody.

Michael didn’t think he’d be a part of the investigation, but he gets involved when Marie decides he’s the only one she’s going to confess to. As Marie tells his side of the story, it’s up to Michael to find the truth: what really happened the night the Carlsons were killed? And how did a girl end up in the middle of all these bodies?

but all these bodies now!

3. white smoke from tiffany d. jackson

marigold runs away from ghosts. The ghosts of her from her old life continue to haunt her, but moving with her new family from their small California beach town to the beleaguered Midwestern city of Cedarville might just be the fresh start she needs. Ella’s mom has taken a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The picture-perfect renovated house on maple street, nestled among dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors, has its . . . mysteries. that’s only half the problem: household items go missing, doors open by themselves, lights go out, shadows pass through rooms, voices can be heard on the walls, and there’s an unpleasant odor seeping through. the vents that only mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari to go away.

But “running away from ghosts” is just a metaphor, right?

As the house closes, Mari discovers that the danger is not limited to Maple Street. Cedarville also has the secrets of it. and secrets always find their way through the cracks.

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4. any sign of life by rae carson

Paige Miller is determined to take her basketball team to the state championship, maybe even beyond. But as the running madness intensifies, Ella Paige falls seriously ill. days later, she wakes up attached to an IV to learn that the entire world has perished. Everyone she loves and all her dreams for the future are gone.

but paige is a warrior. she overcomes her fear and her pain and spends each day looking for food, shelter, safety. As she struggles with her new reality, Paige learns that the apocalypse didn’t happen by accident. and that there are worse things than being alone.

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5. don’t walk away from me by mindy mcginnis

The world is not tame. Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof.

so when she hikes into the smoky mountains with her friends for a night out, the falling darkness and creaking trees are second nature to her. but the people are not meek either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, her drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine.

the morning brings the realization that she is alone and far from the road. Lost in a quiet forest with nothing but the clothes on her back, Ashley must figure out how to survive with the red streak of infection running up her leg.

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6. all the things we do in the dark

something happened to ava. the curved scar on her face is evidence. ava would rather keep that something hidden, buried deep within her heart and soul.

But in the woods on the outskirts of town, traces of someone else’s secrets lie frozen, awaiting Ava’s discovery, and what Ava finds threatens to tear down the carefully constructed wall of normalcy she’s spent years building. around you.

Secrets leave scars. but when the secret in question is not yours, do you ignore the truth and walk away? Or do you pull him out of the shallow grave of him and let him reopen old wounds, wounds that have finally begun to heal?

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7. you were never here by kathleen peacock

Cat hasn’t been to Montgomery Falls, the town her family founded, since she was twelve years old. Since the summer she discovered she could do things that no normal twelve-year-old could do. Since she had her first kiss with Riley Fraser. Since she destroyed their friendship.

Now, five years later, she’s back and Riley is missing.

When riley’s brother noah asks for help finding out what happened, cat is torn between wanting to know the truth and protecting the secret she’s been keeping since that summer she and riley stopped speaking. only one option will put her in the sights of an assassin…

but you were never here now!

8. sadie de courtney summers

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 turns up dead, sadie’s whole world comes crashing down. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister’s killer to justice, and she sets out on a few clues to find him.

When west mccray, a radio personality working on a segment about America’s small, forgotten towns, hears sadie’s story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. She starts her own podcast as she follows Sadie’s journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it’s too late.

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9. nobody knows except you by anica mrose rissi

Kayla is still holding on to Lainie’s secrets.

after all, lainie is kayla’s best friend. And despite Lainie’s painful obsession with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, and the ways he has tried to come between them, her friends don’t reveal each other’s secrets. they do not betray the other’s trust.

The murder at the end of the summer doesn’t change all that.

Also, Kayla knows that the truth is not the whole story.

buy now nobody knows more than you!

10. broken things by lauren oliver

Five years have passed since the Summermarks were brutally murdered in the forest.

everyone thinks mia and brynn killed their best friend. that, driven by their obsession with a novel called the road to falling in love, the three girls had imagined themselves in the magical world where their fantasies turned twisted, even deadly.

the only thing is that they didn’t.

On the anniversary of Summer’s death, a seemingly insignificant discovery resurrects the mystery and brings Mia and Brynn back together. But as the lines between past and present and fiction and reality begin to blur, the girls must confront what really happened in the woods all those years ago, no matter how monstrous.

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11. this is not a ghost story by andrea portes

I am not welcome. Somehow I know that. Something doesn’t want me here.

daffodil franklin has plans for a quiet summer before her freshman year of college, and luckily she’s found the job that can give her exactly that: tending a mansion for a wealthy couple.

But as summer progresses and the shadows lengthen, Narciso realizes that the house is more than meets the eye. the spacious house seems to close in on her, and as he takes the long drive into town, he feels eyes on her all the way and something pulling her back.

daffodil does not yet realize that his work has a high price. the house has a long-standing grudge it needs to resolve…and the daffodil is the key to resolving it.

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12. while descending by robin talley

Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—but one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey. Golden child Delilah is a legend at exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize.

but delilah doesn’t know that lily and maria are willing to do anything, absolutely anything, to unseat delilah from the scholarship. After all, she would secure Maria’s attendance at Stanford and secure her and Lily four more years in a shared bedroom.

Together, Maria and Lily harness the dark power long rumored to be present on the old plantation that houses their school. But when feuds turn to fatalities and madness begins to blur the distinction between real and imagined, the girls must try to put an end to the chilling series of events they’ve accidentally set in motion.

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13. claire legrand sawmill girls

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

marion: the rookie. clumsy and simple, constant and reliable. overwhelmed by tragedy and hungry for love that she is sure she will never find.

zoey: the outcast. unlucky and lonely, hurt but hiding it. aching with grief and dreaming of missing girls. maybe she’s broken, or maybe everyone else is.

val: the queen bee. beautiful and privileged, ruthless and majestic. words like silk and eyes like knives; a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on Sawkill Rock Island, where shimmering horses graze on rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. where children whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires. where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen by a ravenous evil that no one has dared to fight…until now.

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14. claire eliza barlett’s good girls

the troublemaker. The winner. the cheerleading captain. the dead girl Like all high schools in the United States, Jefferson-Lorne High contains all of the above.

After the shocking murder of Emma Baines, three of her classmates top the list of suspects: Claude, the notorious party animal; Avery, the head cheerleader; and gwen, the aspiring valedictorian.

but appearances are never what they seem. And the truth behind what really happened to Emma may be out in the open. As long-buried secrets come to light, time is ticking to find Emma’s killer, before another good girl falls.

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15. grown by tiffany d.

Award-winning author Tiffany D. jackson delivers another riveting mystery ripped from the headlines that exposes horrible secrets that lurk behind the spotlight and embraces the power of a young woman’s voice.

When legendary R&B artist Korey Fields sees a delighted Jones at an audition, her dreams of being a famous singer come true. until she is delighted she wakes up with blood on her hands and zero memories of the night before. who killed the fields of korey?

Before there was a corpse, haunted dreams had turned into a nightmare. Because behind Korey’s charm and star power was a controlling dark side. now he’s dead, the police are at the door and all signs point to haunted.

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16. the athena protocol by shamim sarif

Bourne Identity meets Karen McManus in this action-packed series opener about a spy gone rogue, perfect for fans of Ally Carter and Killing Eve.

Jessie Archer is a member of the Athena Protocol, an elite organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice around the world.

Athena’s operatives are never supposed to shoot to kill, so when Jessie can’t help but pull the trigger, she’s kicked out of the organization, just before a big mission to take down a human trafficker in Belgrade.

Jessie needs to fix her mistake and prove herself, so she starts her own traffic investigation. but going rogue means she has no one to watch over her as she digs into the horrors she uncovers. Meanwhile, her former teammates have been ordered to take her down. Jessie must face danger from all sides if she wants to complete her mission and survive.

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17. one of us lies by karen m. mcmanus

Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.

only simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon is dead. and according to investigators, his death was not an accident. on Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he had planned to release juicy revelations about his four high-profile classmates, making them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect scapegoats for a killer still on the loose?

everyone has secrets, right? what really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

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18. genuine fraud by e. lockhart

Imogen lives at the Playa Grande Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She spends her days working out in the hotel gym and telling other guests how she was forced out of Stanford.

but imogen isn’t really imogen. she is july and she is running away from something. or someone what it means. . . where is the real imogen?

rewind: jule and imogen are best friends. obsessed with each other, even. imogen is an orphan, heiress; She and Jule spend a summer together at a house in Martha’s Vineyard, sharing secrets they would never reveal to another soul.

but that was months ago. where is immie now? and why does jule use her name?

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19. monday doesn’t come because of tiffany d. jackson

Charles is missing on Monday and only Claudia seems to notice. claudia and monday have always been inseparable, more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn’t come for the first day of school, Claudia worries.

when he doesn’t show up the second day or the second week, claudia knows something is wrong. her on Monday she would not leave her alone to endure trials and bullies. not after last year’s rumors and not with her grades at stake. Claudia now needs her best and only friend more than ever. But Monday’s mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday’s sister April is even less helpful.

As Claudia digs deeper into her friend’s disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time she saw her on Monday. How can a teenage girl disappear without anyone noticing that she’s gone?

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20. sara faring’s tenth girl

At the very southern tip of South America looms an isolated finishing school. Legend has it that the land will curse those who settle there. But for Mavi―a bold Buenos Aires native fleeing the military regime that took her mother―it offers an escape to a new life as a young teacher to Argentina’s elite girls.

mavi tries to embrace the strangeness of the imposing house, despite warnings not to wander at night, threats from an enigmatic young man, and rumors of other mysterious ones. But one of Mavi’s ten students is missing, and when students and teachers alike begin to behave as if possessed, the forces that haunt this unholy cliff will no longer be ignored…and one of these spirits holds a secret that could unravel the existence of mavi.

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21. all your twisted secrets by diana urban

“Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting.”

What do the queen bee, the star athlete, the valedictorian, the stoner, the loner, and the music geek all have in common? they’ve all been invited to a scholarship dinner, only to find out it’s a setup. someone has locked them in a room with a bomb, a syringe full of poison, and a note that says they have one hour to choose someone to kill… or they all die.

Amber Prescott is determined to get herself and her classmates out of the room alive, but that’s easier said than done. no one knows how they are all connected or who would want them dead.

As they review the events of the past year that could have triggered their captor’s ultimatum, it becomes clear that they are all hiding something.

and with the clock ticking, confusion turns to fear, and fear turns to panic as they race to answer the most important question: who will they choose to die?

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22. contagion by erin bowman

After receiving a distress call from a drilling team on a distant planet, a skeleton crew is sent into deep space to perform a standard search and rescue mission.

When they arrive, they find the planet littered with debris from the project, including the corpses of its members. As they try to rebuild what could have possibly decimated an entire project, they discover some things are best left buried, and some monsters are just too ready to wake up.

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23. the year of grace by kim liggett

survive the year. Nobody talks about the year of grace. is prohibited.

in garner county, girls are told they have the power to drive grown men out of their beds and drive women mad with jealousy. they believe that their own skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the verge of femininity. that is why they are banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not everyone will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life, a society that doesn’t pit friends against friends or women against women, but as her own grace year approaches, she quickly realizes they’re not only the brutal elements need fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls to make a fortune on the black market. their greatest threat may very well be each other.

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24. now entering addamsville by francesca zappia

When someone burns down the school janitor’s house and he dies in the fire, everyone in addamsville, indiana points fingers at zora. never mind that zora has been on the right track since his father was jailed. With everyone searching for evidence against him, his only option is to discover the identity of the real killer.

there is a big problem: zora has no clues. no one does. Addamsville has a history of tragedy, and thirty years ago a similar series of fires left several residents dead. the arsonist was never caught.

Now, Zora must team up with her cousin Artemis, a self-proclaimed annoying historian from Addamsville, to clear her name. But with a popular ghost-hunting TV show irritating the townspeople, almost no support from her family and friends, and rumors spiraling out of control, things aren’t looking good. Zora will have to read between the lines of the addamsville ghost stories before becoming one herself.

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What are your favorite thrillers? tell us in the comments!

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These YA Thrillers Kept Us at the Edge of Our Seats | Epic Reads