GINGER NUTS OF HORROR

YA and Middle Grade Roundup, April 2023

27/4/2023

YA and Middle Grade Roundup, April 2023

Welcome to our latest roundup of both YA and Middle Grade horror/dark fiction which includes eight books for you to check out. In the Middle Grade section we have Yvonne Banham’s The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie and the third instalment in Jennifer Killick’s Dread Wood series, Flock Horror. Jim Ody’s Camp Death (Eerie Things Series, book 1) nicely crosses between Middle Grade and YA and could be read by either age group.

Of the other five YA titles very few of them could be classed as traditional horror novels, with most blending into other genres. Chad A Clark makes a cool YA debut with The Curse Of Worthwood Castle (New Horizons) after writing a range of impressive adult fiction, his latest blends science fiction and fantasy into an engaging time-travel romp. Three of the remaining four are thrillers which all have very dark elements, Kayla Cottingham’s This Delicious Death, Kesia Lupo’s Let’s Play Murder and Chelsea Sedoti’s Tell Me What Really Happened. However, if you are after a more traditional horror read then Andrea Hannah’s Where Darkness Blooms ticks many of those boxes in style.

The books are presented alphabetically and do get in touch if you have something we might like.

Yvonne Banham - The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Firefly Press

Middle Grade fiction is top-heavy with excellent supernatural fiction and The Dark and Dangerous Gifts of Delores Mackenzie, Yvonne’s Banham’s debut is another solid read for the 9-12 age group. Even though the main character Delores Mackenzie is a slightly older teen, her mannerisms and behaviour are fairly young (and there is no romance) so it is definitely pitched at the younger age group. The supernatural element of the story was rather tame and so it fits nicely for the top end of primary or the youngest secondary aged pupils. Delores comes from a family with supernatural ability and has been able to see ghosts since she was young, but as she struggles to control this gift the ghosts, called Bòcan (Gaelic word for spirit) are relentlessly attracted to her. When the novel opens she is staying with her elder sister (her parents disappeared and this is obviously a mystery for a potential sequel) but is soon sent to Edinburgh where she is to be taught in the supernatural arts by the mysterious ‘Uncles.’

What follows is a fairly standard but entertaining supernatural mystery and although the action takes place in Edinburgh I felt the book could have done more to bring this fantastic city to life and although the odd Scottish word is thrown in, the book did not come across as especially ‘Scottish.’ Set predominately in the Tolbooth Book, Store Delores meets the Uncles and a few other kids who have varying supernatural powers and the ways in which they contrasted were nicely portrayed. Delores is a necromancer, able to see the dead, though most of them are merely passing spirits brushing past her some are much, much more dangerous. Gabriel is a diviner, with the ability to read other people and uses tarot cards. Prudence is an illusionist, able to plant suggestions and visions in people's minds, and the way she uses her powers to give Delores a tough time is a key part of the story and developing friendships. Yvonne Banham sets the groundwork for a potential sequel with a well described supernatural world which coexists with ours in which the Scottish First Minister is aware of the existence of the supernatural. Soon Delores is knee deep in a mystery surrounding the disappearance of another girl who was recently taught by the Uncles and uses her gift to investigate further. A fun not too-threatening supernatural thriller with engaging characters.

AGE RANGE 9-12

Chad A Clark - The Curse Of Worthwood Castle (New Horizons)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Darker Worlds Publishing

I have been a fan of Chad Clark, who is well established as an adult horror writer, for a few years and have read most of his work. His fiction often blends horror with both science fiction and thriller, and in regard to non-fiction has written a highly regarded primer on the world’s most famous horror writer, Tracing The Trails: A Constant Reader's Reflections on the Work of Stephen King, which ranks amongst the best ever books written about King. So The Curse of Worthwood Castle is Clark’s first foray into the world of Young Adult fiction and on the whole his debut is a fast paced, engrossing mash-up of genres with a nostalgic nod to the famous eighties film Back to the Future, even if Chad’s story is set a few years later (1993). If genuine teen readers don’t appreciate the jokey references to ancient 14.4 speed modems and taking 24 hours to download a film (or even a picture!) I had a good chuckle.

The story is built around three teens Arthur Roberts (the tecky), and siblings Jenny and Hitch Crenshaw who all live in Ohio City and are in their final days of high school. After trying to film a theft at the school lockers they are chased to Worthwood Castle, a huge, abandoned building with a strange history. Whilst avoiding the bullies something in the castle transports them to 2018. The jump takes place after fifty pages of this fast-moving novel and stranded in a future Ohio City they both have to survive and find a way back to 1993. However, they realise something is off about 2018 and it connects to Tower Investments and a former classmate who is now the town mayor in their future. This tall tale was a lot of fun, with nicely drawn sympathetic characters who find themselves being stalked by other beings who do not want them meddling in this version of the future. All of which connects back to Worthwood Castle and the magic gateway. The Curse of Worthwood Castle had a lot of great moments and I loved the messages from across time “to the three adventurers” and is blessed with a terrific ending which promises a sequel.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Kayla Cottingham - This Delicious Death

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

Ginger Nuts reviewed Kayla Cottingham’s debut My Dearest Darkest, an entertaining supernatural thriller set in a posh boarding school, and her follow up This Delicious Death is satisfyingly different from its predecessor. Once again we have a tightknit group of older teenage girls who are in their final days of high school (but they come across as much older) who head out on a road-trip to attend a desert music festival. The dynamics of this part of the novel played out as a blend of teen drama and comedy, with an LGBTQIA+ storyline and a snarky first-person narrative from one of the girls, Zoey. However, the second major plot was significantly more off-beat and one wonders whether it deserved something more substantial than a group of teens fooling around at a musical festival, who get caught up in some trouble.

Partly told through convincing flashback, we find out that three years earlier the melting of the atmosphere, causing a small percentage of people to undergo a transformation that became known as the Hollowing (the word ‘zombie’ is used only twice in the novel). Those impacted slowly became intolerant to normal food and were only able to gain sustenance by consuming the flesh of other human beings. Those who went without flesh quickly became feral, turning on their friends and family. However, scientists were able to create a synthetic version of human meat that would satisfy the hunger of those impacted by the Hollowing. As a result, humanity slowly began to return to normal, albeit with lasting fear and distrust for the people they'd dubbed ghouls. The main characters (Zoey, Celeste, Valeria and Jasmine) are Hollows and have accepted they have to eat SynFlesh to survive. However, things take a turn for the worse when Val goes feral and ends up killing and eating a boy from one of the bands they watched. This Delicious Death was an odd blend of comedy, teen drama, romance, and horror thriller which although the tone misfired on occasion was a quirky imaginative tale that had LGBTQIA+ storylines flowing naturally with the cannibalism!

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Andrea Hannah – Where Darkness Blooms

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wednesday Books

Andrea Hannah’s Where Darkness Blooms was a slow (maybe too slow for some readers) blend of supernatural thriller and intense family drama. The setting was outstanding, an isolated Kansas town eerie oozing with secrets (but no answers) where there are frequent weird goings on with very localised storms and sunflowers which seem to be alive. There is something dodgy with the land, a cross-generational web of secrets which seems to impact the women of the town. Even though it took a while for much to happen, the central characters were incredibly well drawn and the town of Bishop was outstanding. The supernatural story simmers in the background and it was interesting to see where it fitted into the main plot of four teenagers trying (and failing) to get over the disappearance of their three mothers two years earlier.

The story picks up two years after the women disappeared and nobody is looking for them, or particularly surprised as they are by no means the first to vanish. Where Darkness Blooms deals with the aftermath and how their daughters deal with this and never give up their search, even if they do it in different ways. We have Delilah, who is dating Bennett, but there are intimacy issues, and the fact that one of the other girls, Jude, had a summer fling with Bennett also. There is a convincingly good LGBT+ storyline with Whitney both trying to recover from the loss of a girlfriend and move on with somebody new. Finally, there is Bo who is desperate for answers and is sure the town locals are hiding something. Even though this was a thoughtful book, all the men and boys in it were painted so negatively it seemed to lack balance and it was relatively obvious where everything was heading with a Children of a Corn vibe, sacrifices and all.

AGE RANGE 13+

Jennifer Killick – Flock Horror (Dread Wood book 3)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farshore

I am a major fan of Jennifer Killick and have reviewed most of her novels, from the excellent Crater Lake duology to Dread Wood and its sequel Fear Ground, which this third entry is set not long after. In both previous books a group of Year Seven (aged 11 or 12) go up against a pair of nasty/mad scientists, with the plots including creepy spiders, dodgy social media and very creep clowns. When I reviewed Fear Ground I mentioned that if there was to be a third book the series needed a new villain as I found the Latchitts (the mad scientists) to be seriously underwhelming, but they are indeed back in Flock Horror and although they do not feature much, they are just as dull as previously and add little to the book. As villains go they are as tired as they come and I already see Killick has book four planned Deadly Deep, it really needs to move beyond the Latchitts before it becomes seriously stale.

In comparison to the best of Middle Grade horror, although Flock Horror is an easy enough fun read if rather pedestrian and adds little character development or anything new to the series. This time out Angelo, Gus, Naira, Hallie and Colette (AKA ‘The Loser Club’) are menaced by aggressive flocks of birds which start attacking people. Thinking the birds are either possessed, genetically modified or are being controlled in some way the evidence soon points to the Latchitts, even if the police think the scary couple are in France. For kids who are in Year 5 and 6 this is a non-threatening fun read, some of the scenes when the Loser Club were attacked at school were great action sequences and the banter between the kids was enjoyable. Even though some of the promotional material connects it to Stranger Things, I thought it was too easy and young for that audience. If you already have book one and two in your library I would still buy this for existing fans of the series, but it is a fairly undemanding book for the Year 7 age group.

AGE RANGE 8-12

Kesia Lupo – Let’s Play Murder

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury YA; 1st edition

Back in 2019 we reviewed Kesia Lupo’s debut We Are Blood and Thunder, which was an engaging fantasy novel, Let’s Play Murder is Kesia’s third novel and a notable change of direction. In her latest fantasy is nicely blended with both science fiction and murder mystery with five teenagers trapped in a dangerous virtual reality computer game which turns out to be very real and incredibly dangerous. Ultimately Let’s Play Murder is a computer geek version of an old fashioned whodunnit with red herrings, sneaky twists and with the finger being pointed at most of the characters at one time or another. Although it was a solid read, ultimately was not tecky enough for my taste and on numerous occasions I almost forgot that the story was set in a VR environment and everything was just too normal and like the real world. This game world lacked the creative and visual flair of the classic Ready Player One and although it attempted to create an escape room feel I found some of it underwhelming as the characters moved through the rooms in the game house.

The concept behind Let’s Play Murder was clever, Veronica is visiting her little brother in hospital, hears some awful news and wakes up in a snowy wasteland. In quick succession four others find themselves in the same situation, finding themselves in ‘The Game’ a semi-mythical or notorious computer game which lurks on the Dark Web. You cannot choose to play but are automatically transported there through easter eggs in other games. The group soon discover a sprawling mansion and a dead body and are instructed to examine the house for clues and identify the murderer through a succession of levels. The problem is you cannot choose to leave and they realise death in the game means death in the real world. There was a lot of fun to be had, but I found I did not particularly like any of the characters, but I am sure genuine teen readers will have much more fun breaking down the clues and in tune with the teen angst.

AGE RANGE 12+

Jim Ody – Camp Death (Eerie Things Series, book 1)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Question Mark Horror

Summer camps with gruesome goings on set in America are a dime-a-dozen, but since Camp Death is set in Devon (south of England) I just had to drop in for a visit! Published back in 2021, with the second Eerie Things title The Brood to be reviewed in my next roundup, it also features a teenage boy as a central character. Boy narratives have sadly all but disappeared from horror/dark fiction, so it was refreshing to spend time with Ritchie, who is a rather shy teenager and when the story opens is painfully regretting asking his best friend out on a date and is dealing with all the anxieties connected to this rejection. On one level Camp Death is reminiscent of the classic Point Horror, other RL Stine fiction or Christopher Pike but has more than enough fresh ideas to turn into a solid page-turner for any young teen. For the most part Jim Ody keeps much of the plot nice shrouded, including some particularly good twists, until close to the end. I was not convinced by the very end, which seemed like one twist too many, but the potential supernatural angle was nicely managed.

The action opens with Ritchie, his eighteen-year-old sister and their parents arriving at ‘Camp Deathe’ where the parents stay in a resort area and the teens are bunked in cabins. Initially dreading it, Ritchie soon finds a group of outsiders like himself and makes friends and finds himself attracted to a girl who seems to like him back. The story nicely captures the awkwardness of teenage hormones and kicks off when one of the camp leaders disappears and there is talk of a creature stalking the encroaching forests or a curse. Ultimately there is a lot more going on than you might initially think, which touch upon some very real subjects which were sensitively overseen. The banter between the teens was convincing and readers will have fun uncovering the secrets of the camp and understand his own problems in order to survive which are much more complicated than being rejected by his best friend at the start of the novel.

AGE RANGE 11-14

Chelsea Sedoti – Tell Me What Really Happened

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

Tell Me What Really Happened is Chelsea Sedoti’s fourth novel and the first I have read and is more of a dark thriller than horror novel, but you might have to keep your eyes peeled for Bigfoot (or not!) depending on which of the four contradicting narratives you believe. The novel has a clever premise, with four teenagers being interviewed by the police after the disappearance of a mutual friend on a camping trip. The police officers do not play a part in the story, but at the start ask a question which is then answered in the first person by the four (probably unreliable) teenager narrators. When you get beyond the fact that all the characters are incredibly shallow and self-serving they deliver a very readable page-turner, which keeps the reader guessing, has decent reveals, an LGBTQ+ story, twists and a huge dollop of teen angst. Whilst the big question remains, what actually happened to Maylee and is she alive or dead?

Through the police interviews we are taken back to the woods around Salvation Creek, where other teens had disappeared and there was a myth that Bigfoot wandered the area. The four narratives were hugely different and part of the fun is deciding who or what to believe. Right from page one Nolan is certain Maylee was killed by Bigfoot and tells the police he saw the creature eating her. The other three do not verify this claim and as the interviews continue their stories change and they turn on each other. Petra is the extremely confident best friend of Maylee and daughter of a police officer, with Nolan being obsessed with Cryptozoology, John was her supposed boyfriend and Abigail a friend with history. This was an extremely fast paced story where all four friends come under suspicion, hide lies, whilst the police try to uncover what really happened in the woods. Considering the book was leading up to the big reveal of what actually happened to Maylee I found the ending rather underwhelming, sure it made sense, but was not worth the build-up. But it was still a very solid thriller.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Tony Jones

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YA AND MIDDLE GRADE ROUNDUP: 2022 CATCH-UP OF BOOKS MISSED FIRST TIME AROUND

30/3/2023

Over the last few months my reading has significantly outpaced the speed at which I review, so in this latest roundup I am herding together all the books published in 2022 I missed upon initial release or read further down the line.

Of the nine books featured I only consider two to be straight YA, the others are either crossovers with Middle Grade or purely Middle Grade titles, aimed at the age group nine to twelve. The Restless Dark is Erica Waters third novel, I am a massive fan of Erica who always has great LGBTQ+ representation in her fiction, although this was a decent read, it failed to reach the heights of her previous two novels. Monochrome is the highly impressive YA debut from adult crime from Jamie Costello, AKA Laura Wilson, a dystopian tale in which colour is drained from the world. This was very clever, original, and is highly recommended.

The crossover titles include the second book in Jonathan Stroud’s The Notorious Scarlett and Browne series and I preferred this instalment to the original which includes excellent world building and a promise of a third juicy part with big revelations. Stroud is the author behind the smash Netflix hit Lockwood and Co series of books and has a seriously good back catalogue which is worth investigating should you be unfamiliar with his work. I was also greatly impressed by Manon Steffan Ros’s quiet apocalyptic tale The Blue Book of Nebo which has been longlisted for the 2023 Carnegie Medal and was first published in Welsh a few years ago. Angharad Walker follows the excellent Ash House which we reviewed last year with Once Upon a Fever a dark fantasy set in an alternate version of London. Both were very enjoyable reads.

Middle Grade has great representation in this roundup, including Katherine Arden’s Empty Smiles which is the fourth book (but far from the best) entry in the Small Spaces series. I was impressed by Yvette Fielding’s second book in her Ghost Hunter Chronicles series, preferring The Ripper of Whitechapel to the original The House in the Woods which we reviewed in 2021. Book three The Witches of Pendle arrives later this year and I will definitely be reading that. Sequels are always big news in Middle Grade fiction and Kate Alice Marshall closes out her excellent Thirteens Trilogy (the Secrets of Eden Eld series) with the engaging Glassheart. We featured AF Harrold much earlier in his career and his latest The Worlds We Leave Behind is also included on the 2023 Carnegie Medal Long List and it is great to see this highly creative author getting the attention his very original and wildly inventive fiction deserves.

The novels are presented in alphabetical order by author.

Katherine Arden – Empty Smiles

Publisher ‏ : ‎ G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Empty Smiles is the fourth book in the Small Spaces Quartet which began back in 2018, all four novels feature the same characters, Ollie, CoCo, Brian and Phil and have a recurring supernatural villain, the dastardly ‘Smiling Man’. The books are probably best in correct order as the friendships developed in Small Spaces are strengthened over the sequels, with lonely Ollie overcoming the death of her mother through her new friendships. This series is a great example of small-town Middle Grade horror, they are not too scary and there is no swearing and the teen angst is generally kept just around the corner. Empty Smiles is a direct sequel to Dark Waters where the children battled with the Smiling Man after being shipwrecked on an island on a Vermont lake, with the ripple of the events of book three stretching into the Empty Smiles. If you like creepy clowns and dolls then jump right in.

In this latest book Ollie is trapped inside a weird carnival and is held prisoner by the Smiling Man whilst her friends do their best to help her escape. The problem is they do not know where she is until a boy who went missing at a nearby town reappears and gives them a message and they realise the carnival will soon be coming to their little town. Brian, Coco and Phil will risk everything to rescue Ollie, but they all soon realize this game is much more dangerous than the ones before and they have only until sunrise to beat him once and for all otherwise they will never see Ollie again and she will remain trapped with the Smiling Man. Although Empty Smiles was enjoyable it lacked a strong ending, it was incredibly abrupt, and I felt it missed a trick in revealing more about the villain considering the key role he had across the series. It is probably time to put this series to bed and it is a shame it did not do so with more of a bang.

AGE RANGE 10-13

Jamie Costello - Monochrome

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atom

I was extremely impressed by Jamie Costello’s debut Monochrome, set in a version of our world (initially London) where colour gradually disappears from the world’s population and everybody only sees in black and white or monochrome. The novel has a strong environmental twang to it and is reminiscent of Green Rising by Lauren James which also involves big business and government conspiracies with teens fighting back against ‘the man’ to save the planet. The world Costello paints was very convincing, how might things be if there were no colour? Many animals die, there are car crashes everywhere and the speed limits are reduced, depression is rampant, eating disorders increase as food becomes strangely unappetising and slowly but surely public services begin to grind to a halt. Monochrome was a thoughtful book which was cleverly restrained and does not go full out into the stereotypes popular in teen dystopian fiction. The main character, sixteen-year-old Grace, is a million miles away from Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and is all the better for it. Strangely, this great book made me thing of the seventies Charlton Heston film The Omega Man, but I doubt any genuine teen readers will have seen it.

Monochrome starts with Grace waking up to seeing the world in black and white and after heading to the hospital her family realise this is happening all over the world and soon nobody can see in colour. The manner in which the shades of grey were described and the impact upon moods was vividly portrayed as the Greyout’ or the ‘Monochrome Effect’ continued to spread. Loss of colour vision is traced to polluted water systems; microplastics covered in harmful bacteria have been poured into the ocean for years. With failing harvests and stay-at-home orders in a world on the brink of a major ecological disaster, there appears to be no cure - until one day Grace sees a single flash of red. This leads us to the main part of the novel, teens who see flashes of colour become lab rats because of these ‘colour episodes’ and they realise the scientists are up to no good. Adult readers will realise where the plot is heading, which has a great message without ever getting patronising or worthy. Let the fightback begin! This was a great blend of science fiction, dystopia and political intrigue, there was virtually no swearing or sex so any strong reader might enjoy it.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Yvette Fielding – The Ripper of Whitechapel (The Ghost Hunter Chronicles book 2)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Andersen Digital

Back in 2021 TV personality Yvette Fielding from the hit show Most Haunted released her entertaining Middle Grade debut The House in the Woods, which introduced three kids, Evie, Clovis and Tom, who were all obsessed with the supernatural. After fooling around with a Ouija board they found themselves in all sorts of trouble. The Ripper of White Chapel was a great sequel, which I preferred to its predecessor and shows the series has legs. I will certainly be hanging around for The Witches of Pendle, the third instalment, later in 2023. In this sequel the trio of very likable London kids, who all live on a housing estate, are thirteen and get sucked into another spooky mystery via Evie’s university lecturer uncle who is an expert on the supernatural and helps nurture their unorthodox passion. Mixed into the story are some of the personal problems the teens are facing, particularly Tom whose mother has recently left the family home and he gets on badly with his father. This is nicely mixed into the story and delivered with a light but convincing touch.

The Ripper of White Chapel concerns the ghost of Jack the Ripper and specifically the ghosts of two small children which are connected to him. Through Uncle Rufus the three find out there is a secret government organisation which monitors supernatural activities and they are asked to join. This sort of thing has obviously been done many times before but it added a new level to the story which blended action and mildly scary sequences nicely. However, friendship trumps all and it was the three kids which kept the story jogging along at a nice rip. A nice not-too-scary but fun series for younger readers.

AGE RANGE 10-13

AF Harrold – The Worlds We Leave Behind

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Children's Books

Many authors deserve way more recognition than they probably get, but none more so than the wonderful AF Harrold. He seems to be some sort of best kept ‘secret’ and in reality his Middle Grade fiction is so good it deserves to be front and centre in every bookshop than takes selling children’s fiction seriously. I’ve previously read or reviewed The Imaginary (2012), The Song From Somewhere Else (2016), and The Afterwards (2018) with Harrold now back with another beauty The Worlds We Leave Behind, which features on the Carnegie Medal Long List. All his books have a vaguely unsettling fairy-tale feel, often lonely children and pictures which are integral to the plot. They beautifully blend fantasy, childhood and more than a little taste of darkness and otherworldliness.

In The Worlds We Leave Behind Hex and his best friend Tommo are out fooling around in the local woods and let a younger tag along. When she is messing on the rope-swing Hex throws a stone and accidently hits her and she falls and breaks her arm. The two boys do not deal with the incident well and the story deals with the otherworldly repercussions as there is an old lady living in the woods which promises she can make things right again (but at what price?) At a certain point the story is seen from Tommo’s eyes and other realities are presented. I expect strangeness with Harrold and in this story it is pitched perfectly with the friendship between the two boys, who are obviously growing up at different speeds. A strange, moving and almost hypnotic tale of friendship and regret.

AGE RANGE 10-13

Kate Alice Marshall – Glassheart (Thirteens book 3, the Secrets of Eden Eld)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers

I have reviewed a number of Kate Alice Marshall’s novels and few authors move as effortlessly through Middle Grade to Young Adult fiction and she is equally skilled at writing for both age groups. Glassheart concludes the trilogy which began with Thirteens (2020) and continued with Brackenbeast (2021) and I would recommend reading them in order as these feature the same characters, town and bad guys. Book one opened with Eleanor moving to the weird town of Eden Eld where every few years thirteen-year-old kids disappear, after making friends with Pip and Otto, the trio go up against the supernatural being Mr January. Brackenbeast has the three children challenging Mr January’s sister Mrs Prosper and in this final part of the series must fight for survival to escape the People Who Look Away. Glassheart is a very cool conclusion to a perfectly pitched

Middle Grade series for kids who like their books scary, but not too scary.
For kids who like paranormal plots mixed with mystery then this trilogy, which is packed with unexpected turns, is hard to match. Also, the character development over the three-book period was also nicely pitched as the trio are sucked into another world and must decide what they must sacrifice in order to survive. Throw in some dangerous curses, accidentally disrupting the flow of time and malicious fairy tales that take people over and erase their memories there is a lot going on. However, never for a moment did I think that Eleanor, Pip and Otto would not come good in the end and I would not have it any other way.

AGE RANGE 10-13

Manon Steffan Ros – The Blue Book of Nebo

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Firefly Press

The Blue Book of Nebo first appeared in Welsh back in 2019 and picked up both acclaim and a few prizes. The English translation followed in 2021 and when it featured on the Carnegie Medal Long List I decided to give it a go. The book is set in a rural part of the Welsh island Anglesey and is mainly set eight years after there was some kind of nuclear conflict, much of which goes unexplained. The story revolves around fourteen-year-old Dylan and his mother Rowenna jointly who narrate the book, partially via an empty journal, with flashbacks to the period before ‘the lights went out’ which is a recurring theme revisited in the story and Dylan’s fascination with what went before.

I found The Blue Book of Nebo to be a very gentle and moving book, which tackles very tough subjects with great sensitivity and honesty. Considering it is a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel (of sorts) it goes out of its way to avoid any stereotypes and noise associated with that type of story. There are very few characters, you could argue that not a lot happens, but on the other hand it was a poignant character study of a teenager and mother trying to live the best life they could. I loved that it ended with some hope and the fact that the aftereffects of the war remained in the middle distance. A thoughtful teenager, or younger, could find much to ponder in this deceptively simple but rather excellent book.

AGE RANGE 10-13

Jonathan Stroud - The Notorious Scarlett and Browne: being an account of the fearless outlaws and their infamous deeds

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Walker Books

I am a massive fan of Jonathan Stroud and a new book of his is always something to savour. If you have never come across him, I highly recommend both the Bartimaeus series (which begins with The Amulet of Samarkand) and Lockwood and Co (which opens with The Screaming Staircase) and has recently been a hit show on Netflix. The Notorious Scarlett and Browne continues the story which began in 2021 with The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne and from the ending a third instalment is assured. The setting is a post-apocalyptic south England which is part of the Seven Kingdoms, in which very little information is revealed on the cataclysmic event which led us to where the books are set. It’s a weird kind of dystopia which has cars and guns but has regressed in many other ways and there are cannibal monsters called ‘the Tainted’ roaming the forests and teenagers with untrained psychic powers, mixed into a lawless feuding landscape.

The two main outlaw characters return Scarlett McCain and Albert Browne who survives by robbing, thievery and traveling around the wasteland, with this second book building its plot around the character backstory absent from the first. Both books blend a Robin Hood with Wild West style vibe with the pair robbing the dodgy establishment church-based Faith Houses and in turn being hunted by the villains from the first book. In this sequel both Scarlett and Albert deal with the trauma from their past and even though it did feel slightly like a middle book it was a fun fantasy adventure novel loaded with heists, underground cities, double dealing, bandits, monsters and larger than life characters. I also enjoyed the manner in which Scarlett and Albert’s friendship does not go anything beyond that, even though there is obvious tension there. And watch out for those man size owls which roam the wastelands! I preferred this sequel to the original but would still recommend reading book one first.

AGE RANGE 11+

Angharad Walker – Once Upon a Fever

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House

I was a massive fan of Angharad Walker’s 2022 debut The Ash House, which also featured in our ‘Best of Middle Grade’ end of year Christmas list. Angharad returns with another very thoughtful winner, which blends dark fantasy, dystopia, and mystery and is aimed at Middle Grade and more accessible YA. Once Upon a Fever is set in an alternate version of London, perhaps reminiscent of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights where the world has fallen sick and emotions are blamed for these scary illnesses and have resulted in the two leading characters mother being in a coma. The elder of the sisters Payton wants to be a methic (a doctor) like her father, working on a cure for her mother’s sleeping fever. Ani, however younger and more headstrong, thinks the remedy for all illness might be found in the green wilderness or herbs beyond the hospital walls.

The sisters live with their methic father and have the run of the Hospital of King Jude’s whist he is obsessed with finding a cure. Early in the novel Ani stumbles upon an imprisoned boy whose arm has turned to gold and her world is soon turned upside-down when she realises he is a lab rat and begins to uncover deeper secrets about the illness threatening the land. I thought Once Upon A Fever had excellent world-building and in the final third the novel got exceptionally dark, much darker than I thought it would go as the girls investigated a possible cure. Adult readers of stuff like I Am Legend will realise where the cure lies, but not the consequences or the possible sacrifices. Like with The Ash House Walker does not particularly follow the blueprint of what you might find in a YA fantasy novel and does not rely upon loud action sequences or magical bangs, instead things are much more low-key, realistic and ultimately very intense.

AGE RANGE 10-14

Erica Waters – The Restless Dark

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperTeen

For a book published by big boy publisher Harper Teen I seriously struggled to locate a copy of Erica Water’s third novel The Restless Dark in the UK. I was a massive fan of her two earlier books Ghost Wood Song and The River Has Teeth, with the latter being a deserved winner of the HWA YA Bram Stoker Award. Although The Restless Dark was a solid read it failed to have the same impact as its two predecessors, mainly through a plot which even though it had potential never really left first gear. The story revolves around three girls involved in a challenge to find the body of a serial killer (the Cloudless Killer) who jumped into a waterfall, with his body never being discovered. The event is being sponsored by a popular true crime podcast (which is strangely absent through most of the story) and has attracted rime buffs and a wider collection of weirdos. I found this whole premise, and the way the story was framed to be slightly unbelievable, with a bunch of crime amateurs stumbling around a huge canyon looking for a body the police were unsuccessful in finding.

The cover of The Restless Dark has three female faces and the story has first person narratives of two of them: Lucy who was almost the Cloudkiss Killer’s final victim and is there under disguise and Carolina who fears her own rage and has a lot of religious baggage in her backstory. However, the fact that the plot did not include the third in the group Maggie in the narrative was an incredibly obvious red flag that there was something dodgy about her. Hopefully genuine teen readers will not find it as blatant as I did. Erica Waters always has great LGBTQIA+ representation in her novels, but on this occasion I did not feel the novel has the correct balance as the few male characters the plot did feature were portrayed as an obnoxious moron or was so far in the background they were anonymous. For the most part the dynamics of the novel follows the developing friendships/relationships of the young women and the fallout of another being seriously injured. Along the way the reader questions whether the Cloudkiss Killer is really dead or not, but in the end I was not too bothered either way. A decent read but falls short of the standard set by the author’s earlier work.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Tony Jones

THE HEART AND SOUL OF YA AND MG HORROR BOOKS

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YOUNG ADULT (YA) FEBRUARY 2023 HORROR ROUNDUP

5/3/2023

Young Adult (YA) February 2023 Horror Roundup

In our latest roundup we have seven YA novels (no Middle Grade this time I’m afraid). There is an exciting new generation of UK authors writing terrific dark YA fiction, with Naomi Gibson following the excellent Every Line of You (2021) with an intriguing second novel Game Over Girl, like its predecessor technology plays a big part in her latest. Cynthia Murphy also continues her impressive run with her third novel The Midnight Game and having reviewed Last One To Die (2021) and Win Lose Kill Die (2022) Cynthia is one of the queens of fast paced page-turning horror thrillers.

Back in 2018 we reviewed the amazing debut novel of Rebecca Schaeffer, Not Even Bones, which kicked off the Market of Monsters trilogy and if you have not read this I cannot recommend it highly enough. Rebecca is back with the first part of a new duology, City of Nightmares, which is just as quirky and original as her debut trilogy. In 2021 we featured the incredibly bleak debut of Sara Walters The Violent Season (which made our top ten of 2021) and Sara is back with another pitch-black teen drama, Missing Dead Girls. Back in 2020 we reviewed Little Creeping Things, the debut of Chelsea Ichaso and although I missed Chelsea’s second and third novels, she returns with another dark thriller They’re Watching You.

The final two books are by authors new to me, Tess James-Mackey’s Someone is Watching You (another British newbie and Vietnamese American writer Trang Thanh Tran’s She Is a Haunting, both of which were eye catching debuts.
The books are reviewed alphabetically and are all published in either January or February. Do get in touch if you think you have something we might like and I’ll try to get around to it.

Naomi Gibson - Game Over Girl

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House; 1st edition

Game Over Girl: A Good Girl's Guide to Murder meets virtual reality

I was a major fan of Naomi Gibson’s debut Every Line Of You and was a member of the librarian committee which nominated it for the YA section of the Trinity School Book Award. In that book an AI developed by a teenage girl with personal problems interacts with the girl in a manner which took the novel into the areas of science fiction. Game Over Girl also has a prominent technological theme but is much more of a dark drama than its thriller predecessor, although both novels are similar in that both narrators are both seriously troubled. In Game Over Girl Lola moves to a new school and is chosen to play a highly advanced virtual reality game called ‘Better Than Live’ (readers of my age will instantly recognise that there was a VRG of the exact same name in the cult nineties SF show Red Dwarf) where the graphics are so real it is like actually being there. It is also some kind of scientific or therapeutic experiment and the story follows Lola’s progress in the game and what happens when she breaks the rules of the game.

Although the story was rather slow moving, it never genuinely felt like a science fiction novel and the blurring of reality between the VRG and our world was nicely handled. Lola was a classic unreliable narrator and I realised very early on that you had to take everything she said with a pinch of salt, and then some. Nothing was what it seemed, but it cleverly fitted together in the end with a huge revelation. Other teens involved in the game were added into the story and older readers will find much to enjoy. The novel also has much to say about mental illness and also tackles tough subjects like abuse. Game Over Girl was definitely a change of pace from Every Line Or You and was a stylish and thoughtful read for mid-teens.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Chelsea Ichaso – They’re Watching You

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

We reviewed Chelsea Ichaso’s impressive YA dark thriller debut Little Creeping Things for Ginger Nuts of Horror back in 2020 which the author followed with two other titles in the same ballpark. Her fourth novel They’re Watching You does not stray too far from the same teen blueprint, except for this story being set in an exclusive American boarding school which has a powerful secret society pulling the strings in the background. Although They’re Watching You was an enjoyably fast paced thriller it was derivative of many other similar stories set in boarding schools. However, its content will undoubtedly be much fresher to genuine teen readers than it was to myself, as I’ve read many of such titles. The main character Maren does not come from the same rich background as many of her classmates at Torrey-Wells and her life takes a major jolt when her best friend and roommate Polly disappears. The police believe she has run away, but Maren had seen changes in her friend prior to the disappearance which she suspects is to do with a secret society. She often spoke of ‘chess’ which was perhaps code for something else.

Most of the novel revolves around Maren’s investigation into what happened to her friend and after she finds an old invitation to the Gamemaster’s Society she is off and running, with the conspiracy running deep. They’re Watching You does not do anything at all I did not expect it too and the games of dares, chance and having your wits about you were clever and took the normally quiet Maren out of her comfort zone. This novel could definitely have gone darker, but was still an enjoyable conspiracy thriller, with a love triangle thrown in, with a number of very unlikable privileged fraternity type rich kids to dislike. Some of the twists and riddles were fun, it was tricky to know who to trust and if you enjoy novels where institutionalised privilege is weaponised They’re Watching You will hit the spot. AGE RANGE 12/13+

Tess James-Mackey - Someone is Watching You

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder Children's Books

Tess James-Mackay’s debut Someone is Watching You blends toxic friendships, dumb teenage decisions and a dare which gets horribly out of control into an entertaining page-turner which blends thriller and horror. Even though the book is populated by unpleasant characters (the main teen Nia is equally hard to like) the reliance on social media to feel popular came across as very authentic and even though the story was far-fetched, it was not beyond the realms of possibility. Events kick off with an insecure Year 10 girl Nia desperate to win the approval of Scott, her popular boyfriend who is a year older. All of Scott’s friends are dismissive and deeply unpleasant to Nia, but as she has cut her ties with her other friends puts up with their veiled insults, bullying, and put-downs. Someone is Watching You is set over an intense few hours when Nia, her seven-year-old sister Kayla, and mum visit a soft-play centre which has opened in a recently closed prison. Being dared by her friends, in particular Olivia, Nia finds a way into the abandoned part of her prison, accompanied by her little sister, to take photographs of what lies in the shadows and closed rooms.

Facing dark tunnels, distant noises and creepy mementoes left behind by incarcerated criminals Nia continues to explore, whilst egged on her social media friends, meanwhile when distracted her little sister disappears and she finds herself trapped and isolated. What follows is an entertaining thriller, which has a few good twists and turns, particularly when Nia realises she is not alone. Although this was a compelling read it was hard to feel much sympathy for Nia, as she was so unpleasant to her little (half) sister, but it will certainly have genuine teen readers questioning who their friends are, especially in the online world. Even though the plot developments were slightly far-fetched it did result in an intense action sequence where Nia is taken miles out of her comfort zone into a fight for survival which went far beyond the realms of an Instagram post. It also vividly shows how nasty teenagers can be in the name of friendship and tackles other issues such as sexual coercion and teenage insecurities.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Cynthia Murphy – The Midnight Game

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic Fiction

Cynthia Murphy is one of the UK’s rising stars for dark fiction and horror, following Last One to Die (2021) and Win Lose Kill Die (2022) with a third very enjoyable thriller, The Midnight Game. Murphy specialises in delivering easy-to-read and engagingly fun page-turners with believable characters, sharp use of social media and a convincing blend of the supernatural and thriller. For the most part The Midnight Game keeps the reader nicely on the hook about whether there is anything supernatural afoot with a bunch of bored teenagers trying to amuse (or scare) themselves in a closed primary school. It must be said I did not find setting a horror novel in a primary school a very convincing location (but as Murphy worked as a teacher I will give her a pass!) and as a result it could have had a few more scares, and ‘The Midnight Man’ himself could have contributed more to the novel beyond the game. You will have to read it yourself to find out if he was genuinely real or not, and as I reader I was genuinely invested for the big reveal.

The Midnight Game is seen from multiple points of view: Ellie, Mei, Callum, Toni, Hugo and Reece who all meet up to follow a ritual to summon a demon known as The Nightmare Man. They are using fake names and have not previously met, except online where they set up the big meeting. There is an alternative narrative set online on ‘Detttit’ (instead of Reddit) where they plan the visit to the primary school, but on the forum they also use aliases and you will have fun trying to figure out who is who and match the different timelines. The novel does not come across at all as preachy, but obviously the dangers of meeting people who you only know online comes through loud and clear. There is also an earlier narrative which takes in another girl who may have played a similar game and of course if you don’t follow the rules bad things are going to happen. The Midnight Game is set over a single night and is very good fun, it is not especially deep, but the nice mix of characters with different strengths and vulnerabilities keep it jogging along nicely.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Rebecca Schaeffer – City of Nightmares

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton

I was a massive fan of Rebecca Schaeffer’s debut Not Even Bones and the sequels which concluded her awesome Market of Monsters trilogy, which cleverly blended horror and urban fantasy. City of Nightmares is the first part of a duology, with Cage of Dreams following later this year. I thought this was a great, very quirky and highly original read and am definitely sold on the prospect of the second book. Like, Not Even Bones, City of Nightmares has a great main hook which should be an easy sell to teenagers: for the last hundred years or so when somebody has a nightmare, there is a very good chance they will turn into whatever their nightmare is, which becomes real in our world. For example, early on in the story we find out that the main character Ness’s (short for Vanessa) little sister some years earlier turned into a giant spider monster which then ate their father and a couple of other people. The beast was eventually killed by an organisation, a bit like the police, that track, monitor, and kill nightmares. Once you get your head around how things work in the very weird town of Newham (where nightmare have been becoming real for a century) the book gets easier to follow, as there are clear rules which make survival possible.

The story is cleverly built around the fact that Ness is a coward, the long term and complex effects of losing her family, who is scared to get close to anybody in case they turn into a nightmare and murder her. However, in Newham everybody takes medication which suppress dreams, but once in a while somebody forgets and something nasty nightmare appears. Once turned into a nightmare this cannot be reversed or turned again into a further nightmare, so this might mean that if a nightmare is not dangerous a person might spend their entire life with gills or pincers for hands! (depending on what their dream/nightmare featured). The main thrust of the plot puts poor cowardly Ness into the spotlight after she is one of two survivors of a deliberate bomb blast on a boat, involving her in a conspiracy which takes her close to a friendly vampire and the original cause of the nightmares, which will obviously be explored in the second book. The world building in City of Nightmares was refreshing, original and bold, being so good it matched Frances Hardinge, and if you enjoyed her Unravelled you will love this. It was outstanding to have such an atypical heroine who had a captivating narrative with big personal revelations as the plot moved on. Very cool stuff.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Trang Thanh Tran - She Is a Haunting

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury YA

She Is a Haunting was a fascinating novel aimed at older teens which I enjoyed in patches but found frustrating in others. The narrator is seventeen-year-old Jade Nguyen who is American Vietnamese and a lot of the story deals with her internal conflict over how she sees herself. She does not speak fluent Vietnamese and when she visits the home of her family for the summer feels disconnected and less than. As the same time she has been hiding the fact that she is bisexual from her family and she is particularly concerned how her mother will react when she finds out. So even before we get to the supernatural element, the story has a major focus on Jade, who is also struggling with a messy relationship she left behind in America with another girl. Combine all these factors together and She Is a Haunting becomes a very angsty book, maybe too much so, which some readers might find a touch frustrating. However, the Queer representation is excellent and readers who have personal struggles in coming out will be sure to identify with Jade’s internal monologue.

Jade has a complex relationship with her family, she has been promised funding for college if she helps restore an old house in Vietnam her father has bought and is looking to open as a hotel. However, the house has a dark history and at times inserts itself in the narrative and the story also dips into the colonial aspects of the house and the local area. The supernatural story did not particularly grab me, with Jade suffering from sleep paralysis and sees ghosts from the house’s history. As nobody believes her, she attempts to fake hauntings and I found this part of the story slightly strange. Along the way a new romance develops, following the pattern you might expect in a coming-of-age novel. The haunting and the house had some good ideas with the use of insects and body parts, some of which was a bit gory. This was an ambitious and quite challenging novel which might make an impression on stronger readers looking for a thoughtful read, but it is definitely not for all tastes. AGE RANGE 14+

Sara Walters – Missing Dead Girls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

Ginger Nuts of Horror reviewed The Violent Season, the exceptionally bleak YA debut of Sara Walters back in 2021 and it also featured in our ‘best of 2021’ annual YA roundup. Walters returns with a dark friendship based high school drama and although Missing Dead Girls is not as grim as her debut it does not pull any punches and is clearly aimed at older teens. The novel has an outstanding opening and then backtracks into how the plot arrived at a digital photograph being sent to everybody in school of the dead body of Madison, with the tag claiming she was killed by Tillie. The accused, Tillie narrates the story and arrives at the quiet suburb of Willow Creek due to an unspecified incident at her previous school in Philadelphia. Missing Dead Girls explores some very dark areas and the narrator clearly has trauma in her past, which is slowly revealed via the current narrative.

Missing Dead Girls has a convincing LGBTQIA+ at the centre of its coming-of-age story which focusses on the developing friendship of new girl Tillie and the very popular Madison, after they meet at the swimming pool where Tillie works as a lifeguard. The developing relationship is intense, full of secrets and expands into a more complex web which involves broken promises, abuse and the code of silence which often protects popular high school pupils (even though this part of the story was pretty obvious). Overall Missing Dead Girls tackles very serious subjects via convincing blend of emotional drama, the dynamics of toxic relationships, and thriller where many of the characters are psychologically damaged. The story shows trauma is clearly very hard to leave behind and older teens will find this to be a tough but ultimately rewarding read. AGE RANGE 14+

Tony Jones

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THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR DISSECT THE NOVELS ON THE YA STOKER PRELIMINARY AND FINAL BALLOTS

2/3/2023

The Ginger Nuts of Horror Dissect the Novels
on the YA Stoker Preliminary and Final Ballots

Every year Young Blood, the YA section of Ginger Nuts of Horror, reviews all the books on the Preliminary Ballot for the YA Bram Stoker Award. By the time you read this article the HWA voting procedures will have whittled their list down to those on the Final Ballot. In previous years some weak books have won this award, but thankfully for 2022/3 the overall standard was very good.

Sadly, the list lacks any British or international involvement and there were virtually no books featuring male narratives, the lack of boy characters in YA dark fiction is a worrying trend which seems to be worsening. The lack of international author representation (horror does not begin and end in America) will be addressed in a future accompanying article where the Ginger Nuts of Horror counterbalance this all-American list with an all-British selection. This will be published much closer to the HWA awards ceremony.

I rated and ranked the books long before the Final Ballot was announced and I strongly recommend voting members check out Tiffany Jackson’s The Weight of Water as it was a genuinely outstanding YA horror novel which could also be enjoyed by adults (even more so if they have read Stephen King’s Carrie). However, the next three highest ranked on my list by Kate Alice Marshall, Vincent Tirado and Ann Fraistat were also impressive reads, Marshall has been on the Final Ballot previous for Rules for Vanishing and would be a very worthy winner.

Robert Ottone’s The Triangle was one of the weaker books on the Final Ballot and I presume this has been voted onto the ballot by the HWA members and because of that might be considered a favourite. I hope this book does not win though as it is just not strong enough to be a flagship novel in a major ‘international’ horror award. VE Schwab is clearly the biggest ‘name’ on the Final Ballot and most well-known out with the hardcore horror community, but Gallant does not rank alongside her best work, even if it has picked up a big mainstream audience.

Tiffany D Jackson – The Weight of Blood   9.5/10   (FINAL BALLOT)
Amy Christine Parker – Flight 171       8.5/10
Kate Alice Marshall – These Fleeting Shadows   8/10   (FINAL BALLOT)
Andrew Joseph White – Hell Followed with Us    7.5/10
Vincent Tirado – Burn Down, Rise Up       7/10   (FINAL BALLOT)
Ann Fraistat – What We Harvest       7/10   (FINAL BALLOT)
Nicole Lesperance – The Depths           7/10
V.E. Schwab – Gallant               6/10   (FINAL BALLOT)
Robert P Ottone – The Triangle           5.5/10   (FINAL BALLOT)
Lily Anderson – Scout’s Honor           5/10

The books are presented alphabetically by author.

Lily Anderson – Scout’s Honor (5/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St Martin's Press

Various blurbs compare Lily Anderson’s Scout’s Honor to Bully the Vampire Slayer and although I’m not sure how many teens of today know much about Buffy I found this comparison to be a little off the mark. This novel attempts to blend comedy, drama, science fiction and horror and probably tries to do too much as it was not particularly successful at any of them. The Buffy style character is sixteen-year-old Prudence Perry who is a Ladybird Scout (rather than a Vampire Slayer) is born into a family of hunters sworn to protect the human race from weird creatures called mulligrubs, which are interdimensional parasites who feast on human emotions like sadness and anger. I found these creatures to be totally underwhelming and for the most part extremely easy to despatch and not particularly threatening. In Buffy speak this ‘Big Bad’ was very dull and the story could have had significantly more bite if the enemy to the Ladybird Scout movement had sharper teeth.

Four hundred pages was way too long for a book that suffered from a serious sag in the middle and because of the light tone lacked convincing action sequences. Every chapter starts with a quote from the Ladybird Scout manual, which are not so different from what you might find in the official Scouting (minus the supernatural) manual. When the book opens Prudence is suffering from PTSD from an earlier encounter with the grubs (but does not show much evidence of it) and gets involved in training other Scouts where the story kicks off and she has to come to terms with her past and losses. I struggled with this book and if not reviewing it would have given up on it, however, young teens who like a blend of fantasy, girl power and a light read will surely enjoy it more than I did.

AGE RANGE 12+

Ann Fraistat – What We Harvest (7/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Delacorte Press

Ann Fraistat’s debut What We Harvest was an engaging blend of dark fantasy, horror and teen drama. The story is set in the small town of Hollow’s End which, historically, is known for its fabulous crops attributed to the high quality of soil. Tourists travel miles to marvel at its miracle crops, including the shimmering, iridescent wheat of main character Wren's family's farm. However, the drama starts five months after an unexplainable disease has started to kill the crops, but this was only the start and the Quicksilver blight which then moved onto the animals and eventually people. This was all very cleverly done, infected livestock and wild creatures staggered off into the woods by day, only to return at night, their eyes fogged white, leering from the trees. Effectively when people start disappearing (including Wren’s parents) she knows if they return they will definitely cause her harm and will no longer be human.

On one level the book is about Wren’s battle to save her farm (the wheat in particular), whilst trying to discover the cause for the Quicksilver blight. Along the way she turns to her ex-boyfriend Derek for help (who lives on a local farm) and together them team up whilst there is unresolved relationship tension in the air. Having thick silver sludge bleeding from the earth was vividly described and I had fun finding out where the blight came from and particularly how it affected people. An eye-catching debut.

AGE RANGE 13+

Tiffany D Jackson – The Weight of Blood (9.5/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Katherine Tegen Books

The Weight of Blood was the first time I had some across Tiffany Jackson and I was totally blown away by this intense riff on Stephen King’s Carrie, with an additional kick-ass racial social commentary. Interestingly, the readership of this superb read is probably thirteen to sixteen with the majority unlikely to pick up on the blow-by-blow similarities to the King masterpiece. In her afterward Jackson does say “Speaking of which…. To Mr King, you are one of my greatest inspirations”. And what Jackson does with the original is nothing short of inspirational, adding a whole new layer regarding the legacy of racism in a small Georgian town, beautifully blended into a story of an isolated and bullied teenage girl developing telekinetic powers. Think of what the old Howard Hawks film Rio Bravo with John Wayne and Dean Martin being circled by relentless bad guys and how this was effectively remade by John Carpenter in Assault on Precinct 13 as a way of comparison. The Weight of Blood does something similar, instead takes the bones of the King story and sets it in a high school where Black students are in the minority, where Black kids have separate proms and where blackfacing is still seen as funny and an acceptable form of fancy dress. Undercurrents of institutionalised racism throb throughout the book, but it is nicely balanced by an engaging teen storyline and a second podcast radio style story strand set ten years later, which cleverly mirror the style in King’s Carrie.

The main character is Maddy Washington, who has hidden the fact that she is biracial from her classmates, predominately because her fanatical father controls every aspect of her life. She has no friends and is relentlessly bullied and this is before the fact she is half-Black is revealed. After another student films classmates throwing stuff at her afro-style hair the film snippet ends up on the TV news and the fact that the town still has separate proms ends under the spotlight. Right from the start we know something very nasty is going to happen at the first integrated prom as the second narrative of the documentary “Maddy Did It” makes this abundantly clear, but the fun is in how events play out. For large chunks of the book The Weight of Blood reads like a teen drama, taking in other characters, including Black football star Kenny who effectively ignores the racism and almost pretends he is white. I do not know exactly when segregated proms ended, or whether they carried on in secret, but The Weight of Blood balanced the social commentary, with the teen drama and the horror exceptionally well, with the location of Springville being a ‘Sundown Town’ years earlier. Maddy was a pitiful character and I found myself feeling more for her than I did the original ‘Carrie’ and Tiffany Jackson should take that as a serious compliment. I totally loved this book and it fully deserves to win the YA Stoker and is a novel the HWA could shout about from the rooftops.

AGE RANGE 13+

Nicole Lesperance – The Depths (7/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Razorbill

Nicole Lesperance’s fascinating and atmospheric The Depths is undoubtedly aimed at strong confident YA readers as it is probably too slow moving for those readers looking for a thriller or easy scare. This literary gothic horror is targeting more thoughtful readers attracted to strong characterisation, beautiful but threatening landscapes and slow burning romance. One of the main strengths of the novel is its main character seventeen-year-old Addie, who narrates the action, until a serious accident she was one of the world’s best free-divers, being able to sink to the depth of a 19-story-building without an oxygen tank. When the novel opens Addie is still convalescing from the accident where she drowned and was clinically dead for eight and a half minutes. Her recovery is slow, and an important part of the novel as she has restricted mobility and coughs up blood and remains in touch with her two best friends who are also free divers.

The setting and location were also key to the success of the story. Addie arrives on the remote Eulalie Island with her mother and new husband preparing to play gooseberry and regain her strength. The island is almost presented as a character in itself and is vividly described from the trees to the winds, the sand and the shades of the water. Soon Addie meets Billy, the son of the island keepers, and slowly the supernatural element of the story is introduced with local legends and ghosts which live on the island, which have their own agenda for Addie. As the story moved on there were some great underwater scenes and Addie realises Eulalie Island might not want her to leave. It was relatively easy to see which direction The Depths was heading, but it was an engaging and thoughtful read for those who enjoy immersive fiction.

AGE RANGE 13+

Kate Alice Marshall – These Fleeting Shadows (8/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers

These Fleeting Shadows is another complex read from the outstanding Kate Alice Marshall which blends the supernatural, dark family drama, LGBTQIA+ love story and twister of a thriller. Helen Vaughan’s grandfather dies and she returns with her mother to the expansive ancestral home of Harrowstone Hall for the funeral where she discovers she is the major beneficiary in the will. However, to claim the fifty million inheritance and estate she must live in the house for a year, without leaving the grounds and function as ‘Mistress’ to the house. The novel is built around the fact that this is no normal house and the fact that a supernatural presence called ‘The Other’ lives in the house and that Helen also has visions connected to a troubled past childhood.

The story concerns Helen’s year in the house as she negotiates the family members, some of which want her to succeed and other see her fail. However, it is much more complex than that as the house is intrinsically a part of the family and soon Helen finds herself getting deeper into a supernatural family drama, not to mention the witch she befriends who lives on the grounds. Although the book might be too slow for some and does not rely on jump scares or violence more discerning and mature readers and guaranteed to be sucked into its intoxicating revelations and drama.

AGE RANGE 14+

Robert P Ottone – The Triangle (5.5/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Raven Tale

I really wanted to like Robert P Ottone’s The Triangle more than I actually did, as it blended many areas of action fiction I enjoy, dystopia, environmental disasters, a blast of science fiction and a throwback to the monsters of Lovecraft. Although it was a solid read, it lacked the spark required to turn a good storyline into a genuine page-turner. Set in a lawless future after the Polar icecaps have melted with rising water levels, many people turned into scavengers of old technology to buy, sell and barter in order to survive.

The story revolves around a father and daughter who scavenge in the Caribbean, living in a flotilla community called Coral Cove, which was a cool setting for a story. The main character’s father is sent looking for a missing scout party which has disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle area, unknown to him his daughter Azlynn (Azzy) and her friend have stowed away on board. Although nobody knows much about the original myth of the Triangle, everybody feels there is something unnatural about the area and the book is built around what nastiness lurks there and the power it wields. YA fiction is full of dystopian and environmentally themed fiction and this book fell short of the best of them and I found the action sequences slightly stilted and could have done with more bang. The Triangle is the first part of a trilogy (book two is already out) and there are plenty of unanswered questions and cliff-hangers left for future instalments.

AGE RANGE 12+

Amy Christine Parker – Flight 171 (8.5/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Underlined

In 2023 few genuine teen readers will know what Point Horror is or how popular this series was back in the late eighties until the mid-nineties, with nostalgia still being a big thing for adults of today who grew up reading this generation of gateway horror novels. Once in a while I read a new YA novel which pleasantly reminds me of Point Horror, in that it gives the same vibe, is fast paced and has an easy read page-turning style. Back in 1994, working in my first school library, we had to keep the Point Horror books in a special cupboard as they were always stolen! Amy Christine Parker’s Flight 171 is one of those kind of books, and I sped through this edge-of-the-seat horror thriller, which is almost entirely set on a four-hour flight, which quickly turns into a nightmare when a supernatural creature gives a group of high school students a sinister ultimatum. It is neither deep, complex or have any profound message, but it was superb escapism and tremendous fun. If you are looking to get a kid who has not been reading much back into books, this nasty little twister might be the ideal candidate.

When the plane takes off we realise everybody has secrets, which is one of the main themes of the book, and this haunts main character Devon Marsh, whose twin sister was killed in a hit and run accident the previous Halloween. Devon is wracked with guilt because she had an argument with Emily before her fateful car journey and has vowed to identify the killer and suspects one of her classmates. However, the way the secrets are uncovered was pretty wacky, an old woman has a spat with one of the flight attendants which results in her (not really an old woman) effectively cursing the teens: choose one among them to sacrifice before the end of the flight. Or the plane will crash. And then the clock begins to tick and the secrets begin to drop as everybody begins to try and save their own skins (some of which are pretty worthless). Flight 171 was built around a terrific story hook, which was in the same style as something you might have seen in an episode of The Twilight Zone decades ago. This was an addictive blend of horror, teen drama and thriller, with an evil entity which reminded me of the old woman in Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell. I have already bought a copy for my school library and I hope it does not get nicked like my old Point Horrors!

AGE RANGE 12+

V.E. Schwab – Gallant (6/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books

Victoria Schwab needs no introduction as a dark fantasy author who is equally skilled (and successful) writing for children, teens and adults. Her books often have supernatural and elements of horror which are nicely blended with urban fantasy aspects of dark fairy tales. Gallant comes across as more of the same and although the setting, main character and atmosphere was wonderful the plot was rather bland and I felt I had been here many times before. The story is initially set in a boarding school for girls (which was a great location) until it is revealed fourteen-year-old Olivia Prior has family who have been seeking her from her birth. Olivia is the classic outsider, who has no friends, sees ghosts, and longs for the family she never knew she had, until she is plucked from the Merilance School for Girls and taken to her new home, where the majority of the book is set. I had hoped we might return to the orphanage.

Although the estate of Gallant was a fascinating location not enough happened at the house to get the pulses racing. The very withdrawn Olivia finds herself in an unfriendly house where she is not wanted, which is top loaded with secrets regarding both her parents and her mysterious uncle. And from that moment on Olivia is on a journey of self-discovery into her family history, with a few ghosts along the way. Given a strange set of rules to follow, Olivia soon realises our world is not the only one. Gallant was a solid dark fantasy, but it lacked spark and did nothing to stand out from a crowded marketplace dominated by girls just like Olivia.

AGE RANGE 12+

Vincent Tirado - Burn Down, Rise Up (7/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

Burn Down, Rise Up is a fascinating debut from Vincent Tirado set in the Bronx area of New York which nicely puts Black and Latino characters front and centre. It also has a convincing LGBTQ+ vibe with a gay lead character who has a crush on one of her oldest friends. The problem is her best friend (Aaron) also has a thing for the same girl, Charlize. The first half of the novel sets the teen scene and in the second things go full-blown supernatural. When the novel kicks off there have been a spate of disappearances which have been connected to a mysterious urban legend, a challenge called the Echo Game which soon sucks sixteen-year-old Raquel, Aaron and Charlize into its orbit, connecting to an alternative version of the Bronx from the 1970s.

A cousin of Charlize was also rumoured to have been playing the Echo Game, which leads to a mysterious Illness which Raquel’s mother catches. Looking for a cure and answers they have to play the game themselves, taking them to a sinister world beneath the city connected to a dark chapter in New York’s past. Raquel was a great central character and teen readers will have fun following her on her dangerous adventures in taking on the Slumlord, a nasty character who lurks in the shadows of the book.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Andrew Joseph White - Hell Followed with Us (7.5/10)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Peachtree Publishers

Hell Followed With Us has to be one of the strangest YA fantasy horror novels I have read in ages and will probably make more sense to American audiences, due to its heavy use of religion, which might pass UK audiences by. It also has terrific LGBTQ+ representation, with most of the characters falling under that banner due to the complex nature of the story. The main character is a transgender boy called Benji who is on the run from a cult (a type of Evangelical Christians) who unleashed Armageddon through a virus which Benji is connected to, leading to very gruesome body horror as the infection can turn him into a dangerous bioweapon. Whilst looking for a place to hide Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the Acheson LGBTQ+ Centre, known as the ALC and the wide range of gender representations in the centre and the pronouns they use to identify themselves.

Teens who are interested in gender are sure to get a lot out of this book as it goes out of its way to be inclusive and builds a highly original, and wildly inventive story, around Armageddon. However, readers not so interested in these kind of gender scenarios might find it plays too big a part in the story. Benji’s sexuality was nicely explained, from his days in the church to how he likes to dress, going into detail about breast binders and menstruation etc. It was also heartening to have an autistic character Nick) lead the ALC, who realises the truth about Benji and his inner monster. This was a very gory book, which will have several triggers for readers who might have had similar problems as Benji and Hell Followed With Us is a rage filled blast at conformity, told from a unique perspective. At times it was not easy to follow but you will rarely see such a large and unapologetically queer collection of characters as in this wild end of the world romp.

AGE RANGE 14+

Tony Jones

check out Tamika Thompson's Excellent article on Cocaine Bear below

ON COCAINE BEAR AND OTHER HUMAN-CREATED MONSTERS BY TAMIKA THOMPSON

the heart and soul of ya and MG horror book reviews

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LGBTQ+ HISTORY MONTH: LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION IN YOUNG ADULT (YA) HORROR FICTION

12/2/2023

THE YOUNG BLOOOD LIBRARY THE YOUNG BLOOOD LIBRARY LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION IN YOUNG ADULT (YA) HORROR FICTION

In the UK February 2023 is LGBT+ History Month, an event founded in 2004 which aims at increasing awareness in schools. You can find out more about it here:
https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk

To coincide with this important series of events we have re-examined all our old YA reviews (and a few still not yet published) to highlight novels which have LGBTQ+ characters and themes. Schools OUT sets a different theme every year and whilst the 2023 is connected to cinema and film, we are concentrating on teen horror.

If you were to flip back a decade or longer LGBTQ+ representation in YA horror fiction was tiny and I would have struggled to make a list a fraction this size. Thankfully, times have changed and there is a steadily increasing array of LGBTQ+ characters, which are naturally written into plots with their sexuality either being a key part of the storyline or they are simply accepted for being gay within the context of the plot without much further comment. Both particular styles of LGBTQ+ representation are great and it is fantastic that the stereotypes associated with such characters which were common in earlier decades have been left in the past where they belong.

There are some amazing books listed below (alphabetically by author) and many top YA writers from the LGBTQ+ world are featured. They the novels are YA (rather than Middle Grade) and are aimed at teens of varying ages. Do get in touch about omissions which can be factored into future articles.

Alison Ames: To Break a Covenant

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Page Street Kids

I went into To Break a Covenant expecting yet another supernatural thriller about teenage witches. A trope which has been truly flogged to death over the years, but this absolute cracker of a debut totally broke that particular mould and was so much more, with the four teenage girls in this novel being bound to a covenant of friendship. The dynamics of the four, initially Clem (the narrator) and Nina, who later welcome Lisey into their group, before finally Piper whose arrival is the driving force behind this very clever, but beautifully restrained, supernatural thriller. Clem narrates the action as the girls approach the end of high school, she is gay, but her sexuality does not play a major part in the story as her friendship group expands from two to four. There was a certain innocence to the group and I found the friendship part of the story very convincing, with the supernatural angle about a haunted mine, which has made their town Moon Basin a tourist centre for ghost hunters a fascinating backdrop.

The main story kicks off when Piper arrives, her father is an engineer who is going to be working stabilising the mine, but after a while begins to act weird. The three other girls have seen this type of behaviour before and realise the inhabitants (who or whatever they are) of the mine have got their hands into him. This was a terrific blend of supernatural and convincing teen drama with strong friendships, which climaxes with a bleak, but superb and moving ending. This was a winner all the way.

AGE RANGE 12+

Rebecca Barrow – Bad Things Happen Here

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hot Key Books (28 Jun. 2022)

Rebecca Barrow’s dark thriller/drama Bad Things Happen Here, which is set on an island mainly populated by rich folks, is seen from the point of view of Luca Laine Thomas, who has struggled to get over the death of her best friend Polly Stern several years earlier. Luca believes there is a curse on the island and that there have been too many unsolved deaths of local teenagers.

Early in the novel Luca’s older sister Whitney dies and Luca begins her own investigation into whether this is connected to the earlier deaths. Meanwhile, Naomi moves into the house which was once owned by Polly’s family and the two girls become friends. Along the way there is a prominent LGBT+ storyline and the fact that Luca is mixed-race also has a part to play. Ultimately the story is about broken friendships, secrets, betrayals and half-truths which blend into a murder mystery, as the story hurtles towards the big reveal of who killed Whitney. I’m sure genuine teen readers will have a lot of fun with this book with the boozy parties and sexual tension which permeates the book. It was also nice to read a modern novel which did not have the characters having their noses in social media 24/7.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Emma Berquist Missing - Presumed Dead

Publisher ‏ : ‎ GreenWilBk (27 Jun. 2019)

With a brief touch, Lexi can sense how and when someone will die in Emma Berquist’s second novel Missing Presumed Dead. To Lexi this is most definitely a curse and because of it she struggles to make friends, isolates, and spends much of her time alone.

After Lexi foresees a brutal murder, but is unable to prevent it, the ghost of the dead girl repeatedly appears to Lexi and she feels she has more connections with the dead rather than those she lives with. The dead girl is also very beautiful and Lexi is more than happy to help the ghost solve her own murder as there is a strong attraction. It was a nicely paced supernatural murder mystery with a natural LGBT+ element to the story which develops as the plot moves on.

AGE RANGE 12/13+.

Tori Bovalino - Not Good for Maidens

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books; 1st edition (13 Sept. 2022)

Tori Bovalino follows her outstanding YA debut horror novel The Devil Makes Three with another deliciously captivating dark read. The story unfolds through two narratives told eighteen years apart, in the present-day Lou Wickett lives in Boston and is looking forward to the return of her aunt Neela, who is close to her in age and the pair are more like sisters. Lou lives with both her mother and her aunt, who have been keeping secrets from her regarding their joint history in York, where they come from a lengthy line of witches. The second narrative jumps back eighteen years to York where (aunt) May was the same age as Lou and was having a fun time in York, until she falls for another girl. The problem was the girl was not any old girl, she was a goblin and much of the novel concerns the weird relationship between humans and goblins in York.

I enjoyed both narratives, which both have great LGBT+ representation with Lou being asexual as well as her aunt being gay. Considering Lou has no idea she comes from a family of (former) witches she adapts very quickly when she realises to rescue her aunt she has to visit the Goblin Market herself. The story was a fine balance of clever characterisation and well-developed fantasy setting where to survive following the rules is vital and it was made even more believable that there is no indication that Lou will become a witch overnight. The romance in the historical setting had a Romeo and Juliet vibe and the idea that covens of witches might operate in plain sight was nicely portrayed.

AGE RANGE 13+

Theresa Braun - Fountain Dead

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Unnerving (15 Nov. 2018)

Mark and his family relocate due to work reasons and he finds himself friendless and lonely in a big old house which right from the start gives him the creeps and feelings of unease. Crucial to the story, he is also becoming aware that he is gay. The sexual awakening part of the story is managed very well and is convincingly woven into the supernatural plot which spirals back to the early inhabitants of the house in the 1860s. Mark also has a dominating mother, and a little sister, both of which play an important part of creating a convincing family dynamic.
Although Fountain Dead is not a long book, I hope teen readers find the 1860s storyline set in the Civil War period concerning American Indians as engaging as the present-day sequence which takes place in 1988. Often in haunted house novels it is the location which dominates proceedings, but on this occasion I thought the central character Mark was the real highlight of the story. This thoughtful and entertaining ghost story has much to catch the eye of teens you enjoy character driven supernatural thrillers.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Adam Cesare – Clown in a Cornfield

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperTeen; Reprint edition (20 Jan. 2022)

I do love a ‘Final Girl’ story and main character Quinn Maybrook ticks many of the boxes when Clown in a Cornfield goes through the gears. This is truly a book of two halves in which the first establishes the plot with the story exploding in the second stanza. Upon arrival in the sleepy and remote small town of Kettle Strings (Missouri) Quinn and her father Doctor Glen Maybrook are quickly sucked into a white-knuckle ride where the action takes place over a single night. The LGBT+ storyline concerns one of the support characters and happens quietly in the background, although it does continue in the sequel Frendo Lives where the two boys are still a couple.

The clown part of the story is inspired by ‘Frendo’, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat which has been connected to the town for decades. The clown action sequences were outstanding set pieces and are guaranteed to nail any teenage reader to the page as the body count spirals with the kids trapped and being hunted in the cornfields. This highly entertaining novel is loaded with old fashioned gore, unrelenting action and gleefully violent fun which is played out with a nice group of teenage characters.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Darren Charlton – Wranglestone

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stripes Publishing (6 Feb. 2020)

In Darren Charlton’s excellent zombie love story Wranglstone the creatures are referred to as the ‘Restless Dead’. It might be a post-apocalyptic tale, but at heart it is also a love story between two boys who find each other in a novel which has its own clever take on the zombie myth. The ‘Wranglestone’ of the title is an excellent location for what is effectively a survival story set a generation or so after a zombie holocaust. Most people are dead and the story focusses upon a group of survivors who live on an island and follow very strict rules to survive. Early in the story everybody is edgy as when winter arrives, the lake will freeze and that will bring the Restless Dead to their doorsteps.

You could argue that Wranglestone is not a horror novel, for long periods the zombies are in the background, with the focus more on Peter and Cooper and their place in the community. The boys are very different with Cooper more outgoing and has the role as hunter and defender, showing Peter the ropes in how they go about defending their home. I thought the story had excellent world-building, a credible backstory and was a unique take on the zombie yarn. It was also refreshing to read about a teenager who knew he was gay from the outset, there was no questioning or ambiguity, he had been attracted to Cooper since day one and that was that.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Darren Charlton – Timberdark (Wranglestone 2)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stripes Publishing (6 Feb. 2020)

Timberdark continues the love story of Peter and Cooper which began in Wranglestone, picking up the story shortly after the events of book one. It would have been easy to have produced an action-packed sequel, but once again the author holds back on this and concentrates on the developing relationships and what happens when they begin to venture beyond the familiar boundaries of the wilds of Wranglestone and get deeper into the quirks and intensities of first love.

Peter and Cooper head out looking for other survivors and end up staying in another community in which civilisation has begun to return. The novel concerns how Peter (gets a job in a cinema) and Cooper (labouring jobs) deal with this, making new friends and how this might fit into their developing relationship. The couple stuff dominated the book, probably too much so for some readers, and it took up significant chunk of the page-length. The other principal element concerned the mystery surrounding what Timberdark actually meant and what Cooper might know about this and whether there were secrets in their relationship. As an extension there was the fear of ‘returnees’ those who had been bitten, but were not zombies, in which there was a general distrust of. Charlton takes the book into ambitious directions and the result was an engaging take on the zombie story.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Kayla Cottingham - My Dearest Darkest

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire (16 Jun. 2022)

My Dearest Darkest is set in the prestigious arts school Ulalume Academy where strange things begin to happen. Events kick-off with Finch Chamberlin auditioning for a place in the school, on the way home there is a crash and both her parents drown after seeing a ghostly stag on the road. Finch survives, (or does she?) and when she later takes up her place at the school is very pale, has an irregular heartbeat, and has a weird supernatural connection to an entity which lurks in the caves under the buildings and seems to have the ability of granting wishes (but at what cost?)

The supernatural story is balanced with ‘mean girl’ style situations and the teen dynamics were a lot of fun. The second narrative takes in Selena St. Clair, who is one of the most popular and bitchy girls on campus, after a music project pairs them together the two slowly click and a romance develops. Considering the two girls were very different, you might be surprised that the bisexual Selena was attracted to the mousy and quiet Finch. There was a fair bit of sexual angst and tension thrown into the story, underage drinking, partying with the supernatural story bubbling in the background.

AGE RANGE 13+

Kayla Cottingham – This Delicious Death

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire (16 Jun. 2022)

Kayla Cottingham’s second novel concerns a tightknit group of older teenage girls who are in their final days of high school who head out on a road-trip to attend a desert music festival. The dynamics of this part of the novel played out as a blend of teen drama and comedy, with a major LGBT+ storyline and a snarky first-person narrative from one of the girls, Zoey. However, the second major plot was significantly more off-beat and moves from teen drama into bloody horror, but with a light breezy touch.

Partly told through convincing flashback, we find out that three years earlier the melting of the atmosphere, causing a small percentage of people to undergo a transformation that became known as the Hollowing. Those impacted slowly became intolerant to normal food and were only able to gain sustenance by consuming the flesh of humans. However, scientists were able to create a synthetic version of human meat that would satisfy the hunger of those impacted by the Hollowing. The main characters (Zoey, Celeste, Valeria and Jasmine) are Hollows and have accepted they have to eat SynFlesh to survive. This Delicious Death was an odd blend of comedy, teen drama, romance, and horror thriller which although the tone misfired was a quirky imaginative tale that had LGBT+ storylines flowing naturally with the cannibalism!

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Victoria Dalpe – Parasite Life

Publisher ‏ : ‎ ChiTeen (1 Feb. 2018)

The teen market is saturated with vampire novels, but Parasite Life sails miles above the pack, partly because the ‘teen-life’ sequences are so painfully believable, an isolated and lonely seventeen-year-old girl with no friends is horror enough. However, when the supernatural angle is filtered into the plot, it is done so cleverly and believably you are going to be sucked into a unique take on the vampire myth. Blend both story strands together, supernatural and teen angst, and you have an intoxicating and very feminine vampire tale. Jane is the novel’s powerful narrator and voice, who spends her time looking after her invalided mother who either cannot or refuses to talk to her and has an undiagnosed wasting illness. However, early in a novel outgoing and vivacious Sabrina arrives at her school and life takes an amazing and exciting upturn.

There is a budding sexual attraction between the two girls which awakens something hidden in Jane and it takes the girls into some dark places as the novel progresses. These relationship scenes are a combination of sexy, sensual, sleazy and terrifically edgy writing as Jane discovers her hidden talents. This is a very mature YA novel which was originally published in 2016 and is slated for a long overdue 2023 rerelease.

AGE RANGE 14+

Ryan Douglass – The Taking of Jake Livingstone

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Andersen Press (3 Mar. 2022)

The Taking of Jake Livingstone, the debut novel of Ryan Douglass, blends a supernatural story and thriller with a strong social thriller which focuses on the every-day trials of a gay Black sixteen-year-old boy. Jake sees dead people, being a medium who watches the dead play out their last moments over and over again, particularly if they were violent ends. On the back of this, the local community is beginning to recover from a mass shooting from another teenager whose ghost Jake begins to see. However, the ghost of the teen murderer Sawyer Doon does not behave like a normal ghost and begins to target Jake. But what does this particular ghost want? Jake has enough problems of his own and the last thing he needs is to be stalked by a restless spirit.

There was considerable depth to the non-supernatural part of the story, which touches on challenging subjects such as rape and institutional racism. Jake is one of the very few Black pupils to attend St. Clair Prep. and is self-conscious, feeling he always sticks out. Things look up when another Black boy joins the school and the pair hit it off. Before long we realise Jake is gay and this has caused problems within his family, also coming from a poor single parent family does not help his standing at school. Jake was a very engaging, well-drawn character, and the school scenes with Allister were very convincing, with the book working well as a high school teen drama. Jake is an unlikely hero, but he was extremely easy to like and teens should enjoy how his sexual identity is slowly revealed in the book and the moving way in which his brother reacts to it.

AGE RANGE 12+

Helene Dunbar – The Promise of Lost Things

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire (1 Oct. 2022)

After finishing The Promise of Lost Things, I realised it continued a story started in Prelude for Lost Souls (2020) but it still read fine as a standalone story. The setting was outstanding, a strange small town called St. Hilaire, where everybody living there are mediums and make their money contacting the dead for tourists in holiday season. However, the town has its own weird rules, rituals and lives in its own bubble and has an odd relationship with the outside world. In the background there is a powerful Guild which pulls the strings and early on we are introduced to the ‘Rules of Conduct for Mediums’ and quickly we realise ghosts are indeed real as the main character spends most of his time with one!

The Promise of Lost Things also has a convincing LGBT+ story which develops as things move on, but which never particularly dominates and was very naturally written into the story. The plot is told from three points of view, Russ, Asher and Willow. Russ is a medium of average power who sees the ghost of his dead boyfriend Ian (a powerful medium), Asher an outsider who is trying to understand the truth of the town and Willow a powerful medium who is a member of the Guild and has her own agenda. The novel twists around these various plotlines, with the friendship of Russ and Asher building and plotting nicely in the background.

AGE RANGE 13+

Sara Farizan – Dead Flip

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Algonquin Young Readers

Dead Flip was a quirky teen drama with a supernatural vibe which attempts to tap into the nostalgia of the eighties and nineties through its two storylines which are told around five years apart (1987 and 1992). I would not necessarily call it a straight horror novel as it leaned heavily of teen drama, friendships and had an LGBT+ storyline in the 1992 narrative. The plot jumps backwards and forwards a fair bit and shows how kids can grow apart from being best friends at twelve, to blanking the former best friend in the school corridor five years down the line.

In 1987 the three best friends do everything together, Cori, Maz and Sam, however, when they are twelve and out Halloween trick or treating Sam accuses Cori of spending time with ‘cooler’ kids and feels she is drifting away from the trio. After an argument Sam stomps off and disappears and although there are searches he is never seen again. In 1992 Cori and Maz are no longer friends, but Maz had never got over the loss of his friend until something truly out of this world happens, concerning the five years gone Sam. It is so bizarre Maz calls on his old friend Cori, who has her own problems having hidden her true gender identity. What follows is a blend of mystery, teen angst, friendship stuff, a taste of horror and a supernatural pinball machine!

AGE RANGE 12+

Courtney Gould - The Dead and the Dark

Publisher ‏ : ‎ FIBS

The Dead and the Dark was a quirky combination of horror, dark thriller with a twist of gay teen romance thrown into the mix. The action takes place in the small Oregon town of Snakebite, where several teenagers have disappeared. Now attracting media attention, a team of ghosthunters from a popular TV show hit the town looking for answers and a big story, much of the novel revolves around Logan, who is the daughter of the presenter of ParaSpectors and is used to being dragged from place to place and fake haunting to haunting. But this time it is different….

Quite early in the action we realise that this is one of those towns where weird things happen, the weather is unpredictable, ghosts are real and that the town in buried in a layer of secrets. Beyond the secrets, there is something in the darkness and the town is the target or perhaps part of the problem. Although the book had plenty of engaging characters and Logan was a fun narrator as she struggles with girlfriend, dad and supernatural problems.

AGE RANGE 13+

Mira Grant – Alien Echo

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Imprint

Alien Echo is aimed at the YA audience and is set in the Alien universe created by Ridley Scott and developed by James Cameron. For much of the novel (unless you’re aware of the connection) you could be forgiven for not even noticing this was an addition to an iconic franchise. At a certain point, the creatures are described as having a mouth (within a month) and then the acid for blood is a give-away (but maybe not to a genuine teen reader).

Alien Echo was an entertaining YA science fiction horror which was set on the planet of Zagreus. The novel is seen from the point of view of a gay teenager Olivia who is the daughter of two distinguished xenobiologists. She has a twin sister, Viola, who has a serious medical condition which means she cannot go outside. In the early stages of the novel Olivia hooks up with Kora and things are going great, however, after her parents go on a routine expedition they bring something nasty back to the planet. Along the way there are friendship conflicts, family revelations, lots of killing and a battle for survival. You may well enjoy this better if you know nothing of the famous films it is inspired by it is a decent mix of teen drama and frantic action.

AGE RANGE 12+

Andrea Hannah – Where Darkness Blooms

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wednesday Books

Andrea Hannah’s Where Darkness Blooms was a slow brooding atmospheric blend of supernatural thriller and intense family drama. The setting was outstanding, an isolated Kansas town eerie oozing with secrets (but no answers) where there are frequent weird goings on with very localised vicious storms and sunflowers which seem to be both alive and threatening. The supernatural element simmers in the background and it was interesting to see where it fitted into the main story of four teenage girls trying (and failing) to get over the disappearance of their three mothers (two of the girls are twins) two years earlier.

Where Darkness Blooms focusses on the wreckage of how the teens deal with their loss and never give up their painful search. We have Delilah, who is dating Bennett, but there are intimacy issues, and the fact that one of the other girls, Jude, had an earlier summer fling with Bennett to complicate things. There is a very good LGBT+ storyline with Whitney both trying to recover from the death of her girlfriend six months earlier, whilst also attempting to move forward with somebody new. Finally, there is Bo who is desperate for answers and is sure the town locals are hiding something. Even though this was a thoughtful book, all the men and boys in it were painted too negatively, making it easy to see where it was heading (just blame the guys).

AGE RANGE 13+

Christine Lynn Herman - The Drowning Summer

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books

Set on the small seaside town of Sand Dollar Cove, Long Island, The Drowning Summer revolves around two seventeen-year-old mediums Mina Zanetti and Evelyn Mackenzie who get wrapped up in a ritualistic three-year-old triple murder of three teenagers. The dark shroud of the unsolved killings still hangs over the town, with Evelyn’s father being one of the original prime suspects, but things quickly become much more complicated as the supernatural aspect of the plot thickens.

A key part of the plot concerns the fact that the two girls are no longer friends, with the reason for their bust-up pivotal to the action. Mina’s mother is a skilled medium and does her best to put her daughter off further experimentation without supervision, but once she realises her former best friend (and very inexperienced medium) is once again messing around with the powers things really kick off with the prospect of a demon being set loose. This was a character driven and slightly angsty novel aimed at slightly older teens which never really throws the kitchen sink at the horror, showing restraint and a slow to develop supernatural feelings. There was also a prominent LGBT+ storyline as their on/off friendship moving into fresh territory.

AGE RANGE 14+

William Hussey – The Outrage

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Usborne Publishing Ltd

The Outrage explores a single-sex relationship in a sinister and scarily dystopian environment. The action is set in a near future version of Britain where gay relationships are banned and the government, the Protectorate, once seen as a loony fringe party enforce the ‘Public Good.’ This means that women must keep their hair from being too short, films which show positive gay relationships are banned and those who are gay have to keep it hidden, otherwise they will end up in a prison camp for reconditioning.

To any teen reading this who has grown up in an era where homosexual people can marry and Pride is routinely celebrated, both the foreword by Jay Hulme and the afterword by Bill Hussey are essential reading. They put it into context and make it clear that the equality LGBT+ currently have in the UK has not always been that way and is hard earned, with Hussey recalling ‘Section 28’ which made the promotion of homosexual activities illegal when he was growing up. The story focusses on two gay teenagers Gabriel and Eric and tells their story in tandem, ‘before’ and ‘after’ whilst they try to live in a society where being homosexual is a crime. The scariest thing about the book was how real if felt, with some sections feeling eerily familiar, or still practiced in many countries. AGE RANGE 13+

Justine Ireland – Dread Nation

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books

During the American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, the dead begin to walk and suddenly both sides of the bloody conflict realise there is a new enemy to fight. This stunning novel picks up the story fifteen years later, with the Civil War effectively abandoned. When Dread Nation opens many cities in the east of the country of already been lost to the plague and there is now a Thirteenth Amendment that ensures there is still no equality between white and black people who are still severely downtrodden, a key recurring theme throughout the story. Slavery still exists and the world-building around this is incredibly well thought out.

On one level Dread Nation is a convincing alternative history zombie horror novel, but it is much more than that, having much to say about race, equality and gender. It also has both a beautiful and memorable voice, being narrated in the first person by fifteen-year-old Jane McKeene who is Black and is used as a virtual slave as a type of bodyguard (called Attendants) to a white woman. Jane is a funny, sassy, proud and terrific LGBT+ character whom you will be rooting for all the way. The sequel Deathless Divide continues the story.

AGE RANGE 13+

E. Latimer – Witches of Ash and Ruin

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Books

E. Latimer’s Witches of Ash and Ruin is set in rural Ireland and central character seventeen-year-old Dayna is training to be a witch. She is part of a local witch’s coven, who effectively hide in plain sight, and her religiously strict father has no idea of her hidden life. The story is told in five different voices, the others being her ex-boyfriend Samuel and two other young trainee witches from another coven, Meiner and Cora. The two covens band together, with a lot of distrust and friction, whilst attempting to solve the murder of another local witch, with the killer being the fifth narrative. Dayna is also coming to terms with the fact she is bisexual, and sparks fly when there is obvious attraction between her and Meiner.

Everything moved along at a decent pace and is connected to a serial killer who may have murdered many times in the past. Witches of Ash and Ruin was a light and breezy mythological fantasy novel with an authentic taste of rural Ireland.

AGE RANGE 13+

Claire Legrand – Sawkill Girls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ KTegenBks

Sawkill Girls was hyped as a feminist horror novel and although it was very slow-moving strong readers might will surely engage with the three leading teenage teenagers. Set on an American island, Sawkill Rock, where girls routinely disappear, killed by an ancient creature which gets stronger as the novel progresses and after each meal. The story revolves around three girls, who are not exactly friends, but have to fight to survive and along the way develop strange powers which they can use against the monster.

The teen issues part of the novel worked very well, tackling issues such as friendship, self-harming and sexuality, however, the creature itself did not quite have the same impact. This was an atmospheric, challenging, and eerie assertion of female strength against the odds and an ancient powerful evil. In the end Sawkill Girls was a clever balance of thoughtful spine-chilling horror story and part coming-of-age lesbian romance.

AGE RANGE 14+

Sarah Glenn Marsh – The Girls Are Never Gone

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Razorbill

Dare Chase is the seventeen-year-old host of a brand-new paranormal investigation podcast and is pinning her aspirations on the fact that she is just about to intern at Arrington Estate which is supposed to be haunted by a drowned teen. Dare was a very engaging lead character, speaking in the first person, making it clear from the outset that she does not believe in ghosts. However, not long after arriving at the house strange things begin to happen as the teen digs into the history of the house and the podcast begins to pick up interest. Much of the focus of the supernatural element of the story surrounds the late, the previous drowning, and the uncovering of other skeletons in the closet.

Dare Chase was a great lead character, suffering from Type 1 Diabetes she has to monitor her health constantly and early in the novel connects with another intern, Quinn. The developing relationship of the two girls was very nicely judged, with Dare accepting that she was bisexual. The book was populated entirely with female characters and the development of the podcast was another interesting facet of the book. The supernatural story advances as the novel progresses and is much more convoluted that you might think from the start.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Kate Alice Marshall – These Fleeting Shadows

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers

These Fleeting Shadows is another complex read from the outstanding Kate Alice Marshall which blends the supernatural, dark family drama, LGBT+ love story and twister of a thriller. Helen Vaughan’s grandfather dies and she returns with her mother to the expansive ancestral home of Harrowstone Hall for the funeral where she discovers she is the major beneficiary in the will. However, to claim the fifty million inheritance and estate she must live in the house for a year, without leaving the grounds and function as ‘Mistress’ to the house.

The novel is built around the fact that this is no normal house and the supernatural ‘The Other’ which resides inside. Helen also has visions connected to a troubled childhood which is connected to her complex family history. The story concerns Helen’s year in the house as she negotiates the family members, some of which want her to succeed and other see her fail. However, it is much more convoluted than that as the house is intrinsically a part of the family and soon Helen finds herself getting deeper into a supernatural family drama, not to mention the witch she befriends who lives on the grounds. Although the book might be too slow for some and does not rely on jump scares or violence more discerning and mature readers and guaranteed to be sucked into its intoxicating revelations, intense relationships and drama.

AGE RANGE 14+

Caroline O’Donoghue – All Our Hidden Gifts

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Walker Books

Caroline O’Donoghue’s impressive debut All Our Hidden Gifts is an enticing blend of teen and supernatural drama set around an Irish private school. The main strength of this novel was the convincing teen voice of Maeve Chambers who finds herself in the shadows of her elder and more talented siblings and also very lonely due to a terrible argument with her former best friend Lily the previous year. Maeve’s psychological state is crucial to the success of the story and she finds herself drifting along aimlessly until she finds a deck of tarot cards in the basement of the school. Not knowing anything about them, she starts fooling around with the pack and soon begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class.

However, after discovering another new card in the deck that definitely shouldn’t be there, her ex-best friend disappears after a reading develops into an argument. She realises her ability might have had something to do with the disappearance and begins to investigate. For the most part All Our Hidden Gifts keeps the supernatural element of the story on the backburner and this story could easily be enjoyed by teens who never read that sort of thing. Along the way there is also a very convincing and thoughtful LGBT+ secondary storyline connected to Lily’s brother Roe which many readers will also connect with regarding coming out.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Aden Polydoros: The City Beautiful

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Inkyard Press

The City Beautiful was a fascinating read and a supreme blend of historical and horror fiction, with a vividly drawn and immersive setting. Alter Rosen is a Romanian Jewish immigrant living in Chicago, 1893 whilst his mother and sisters are still in his homeland. His English language skills are limited, works as a runner for a newspaper, and sticks predominately to the familiar large Jewish community. This was a very mature YA novel and younger readers may struggle with the level of detail, but for those looking for a challenge there was much to admire in an incredibly assured debut novel. The Beautiful City even has a glossary as many Jewish words are used and I found myself enjoying the immersion of cultural facts dropped by the author which added another very convincing level to the story.

The horror element of the story also has a strong connection in Jewish culture or folklore. After the murder of Alter’s friend Yakov, he agrees to watch the body, as their faith dictates, but believing he saw it move touches the corpse. This breaks a burial custom which leads him to believe he is possessed by a spirit called a ‘dybbuk’ which is connected to the dead man. The story also takes in sexuality, as Alter is gay, which he is obviously kept quiet and when an old friend reappears proceedings get even more complex. The Beautiful City was a multi-faceted and very clever tale which adults could read without genuinely realising was aimed at teens. The blend of the Jewish story, the supernatural and sexuality were perfectly pitched and dropped into a superb 19th century setting which shimmered with realism and vibrancy.

AGE RANGE 14+

Rory Power - Wilder Girls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Macmillan Children's Books

Wilder Girls begins eighteen months into a quarantine in which the Raxter School for Girls has been cut off from the rest of the world. Because it’s set on an island, once a weird illness called the ‘Tox’ begins to manifest, keeping the girls isolated on a corner of the island is not too difficult. However, the government airdrop in minimal food and switch off the telephones and internet and the reader soon realise something truly fishy, or some kind of conspiracy, is going on. Because the school only has girls there are several intense differing LGBT+ relationships, a couple of which are very intense, especially against the bigger picture of the Tox.

The ‘Tox’ can lead to strange body altering manifestations such as developing a second spine, or an eye closing over, bits of anatomy fall off or grow in weird ways….. Over the eighteen months many girls have died and as the promised cure has failed to materialise the ‘Tox’ forces the girls to go to extremes to survive. The story is seen from three rotating perspectives Hetty, Reese and Byatt who have complex relationships and friendships with each other. Wilder Girls was a highly creative read which I’m sure teenagers will get sucked right into the successful blend the troubled teenage psych and extreme situations.

AGE RANGE 13+

Julia Lynn Rubin - Primal Animals

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St Martin's Press

When Primal Animals kicks off sixteen-year-old Arlee Gold is arriving at Camp Rockaway, an elite summer program in a remote part of the North Carolinian wilderness which combines academic catch-up with outdoor pursuits, bonding and college networking. Outsider Arlee is quickly sucked into a secret society with terrifying and deadly consequences. The novel is told via Arlee’s first-person narrative and we quickly realise she has a lot of quirks and issues. Struggling at school, her successful mum and alumni of Camp Rockaway, hopes the summer will help Arlee shake off her phobia of insects, meet new friends and act as inspiration for college applications.

Arlee’s integration into the camp is nicely managed, the early stages concentrate on her personal insecurities, panic attacks, suspicions and sexuality, when she finds herself attracted to one of her cabinmates. There were some nice suspenseful moments along the way, such as why was Arlee’s mum spoken about in such hushed tones? All of which added to the rising paranoia regarding what was going on in the background. Ultimately Primal Animal was all about a teenage girl finding her voice with a natural LGBT+ story written into the plot.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Ryan La Sala – The Honeys

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic

Ryan La Sala’s The Honeys has a terrific opening twenty pages which the plot eventually circles back to. Marshall “Mars” Matthias is at home getting ready for bed, when his twin sister appears unexpectedly and attacks him, there is a struggle and she is killed when she falls backwards. As the family is both rich and influential the exact circumstances of Caroline’s death are hushed up and of course Mars is wracked with guilt for the accidental part he played in her death. As it is narrated in the first person we get a good sense of who seventeen-year-old Mars, a gender-fluid gay boy who is beginning to get comfortable with his own identity. Mars generally uses the ‘he’ pronoun but is also happy with ‘she’ or ‘they’ and his sexuality plays a significant part in the story and along the way makes very natural observations about makeup and the issues he has faced since becoming gender fluid.

The story revolves around Mars trying to find out what led to his sister to fall apart in his bedroom. This takes him to the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy where she was staying, a camp he had previously stayed in when he was younger but was excluded because of his sexuality. Mars takes up Caroline’s place at the camp and gets to know her clique of best friends known as ‘The Honeys’ as their cabin is close to the beehives. Because of his sexuality, and the fact that he is the twin of their former friend, he is soon accepted into the group. Proceedings then blend into a complex teen drama, coupled with Mars having both visions and flashbacks which might shed light upon what happened to his sister.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Laura Stevens – The Society for Soulless Girls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Electric Monkey

The split first-person narrative of ‘Lottie’ and ‘Alice’ was one of my favourite features of The Society Soulless Girls which is set in the elite Carvell College of the arts, with the supernatural aspect kept simmering nicely on the backburner for the first half of the book. As both girls were eighteen or nineteen and old enough to drink, it was nice to read a story with a slightly older college setting instead of the much more common boarding school.

The story starts not long after the college has reopened after a ten-year closure due to a series of murders for which nobody was ever caught. Sporty Lottie will be studying English and also hopes to investigate the decade old murders due to an old family connection. She is roommates with Alice who is studying Philosophy and although Lottie tries to be friends Alice rebuffs her, seeing her as a sporty airhead. The split narrative highlights how different the two girls are and the dynamics between the pair is the highlight of the novel. Alice dabbles in something dodgy which eventually leads to ‘The Society for Soulless Girls’ and things spike when there is a fresh murder. Along the way there is a major LGBT+ story fitted naturally into the story which is hinted at early on and becomes more prominent as the story moves on. AGE RANGE 13/14+

Deirdrie Sullivan – Perfectly Preventable Deaths

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hot Key Books

Perfectly Preventable Deaths was a quirky read which has much to offer older teenagers taking in first love, Irish folklore, superstition, and dark magic. Sixteen-year-old twins Madeline and Catlin move from Cork City to the mountainous and very rural village of Ballyfrann, in the Galway area of Ireland. Their mother has remarried after the death of their father and their new home is a ram shackled castle. Never far away, perhaps too close for comfort, is a distant cousin of their stepfather who is apparently a witch. Nobody really talks about what she is capable of doing, but in the background lurks a sinister story of the disappearance and murder of many teenage girls from the local area. This bothers Maddie much more than her more outgoing sister Catlin.

On one level Perfectly Preventable Deaths is a story of two very different teenage girls whom for the most part support each other. Narrated by the reserved Maddie, who makes friends with a local girl who is believed to be gay, with her sister setting her sights on one of the local boys whom Maddie does not particular trust. Teenagers reading this will need to be patient, it takes its time introducing elements of witchcraft, earthy magic and folk horror, none of which particularly dominates the story, but this rather odd book is well worth staying the course for. Recommended for teenagers who enjoy a thoughtful read of dark magic and teen life.

AGE RANGE 14+

Krystal Sutherland: House of Hollow

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hot Key Books

One of the great strengths of House of Hollow was the fact that the reader was, for most of the time, unsure whether there was something otherworldly going on or not. It was obvious from the outset that the family the story revolved around was peculiar, but the contemporary private school setting in Hampstead north London, grounded the action in the world of today. The novel is narrated by the youngest of three sisters Iris (the others being Vivi and Grey) and even she admits that odd things can happen around them, but kind of shrugs it off as the biproduct of being a ‘Hollow Sister’. Although the primary focus of the story is Iris, Vivi provides great LGBT+ representation, is bisexual and prides herself in picking up woman with ease and plays guitar in a band.

Whether Iris Hollow has special powers or is just plain weird is for the reader to find out, however, as a narrator she seriously crackles and gives House of Hollow a very authentic teenage voice. The reason the sisters are ‘special’ is because ten years earlier the three vanished into thin air, only to reappear a month later, with no memory of where they had been. Early in the novel the story takes a fascinating direction when, once again, Grey disappears, but leaves clues to where she might be only her sisters can decipher. The story then moves into the realms of dark fairy tales and folklore, without ever playing to the stereotypes you often get in this brand of YA novel. Make sure you hang in there for a terrific ending.

AGE RANGE 13+

Rosie Talbot – Sixteen Souls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic

Sixteen Souls is the engaging debut of Rosie Talbot and although there is nothing particularly new about the plot (a teenager sees ghosts) it has considerable heart and a central character who had major problems, including a serious disability. Sixteen Souls also features a teenager who has not yet come out as gay to his family. Although his sexuality is a key part of the story it does not dominate it, because sixteen-year-old Charlie Firth lives in York, which is known to be the most haunted city in the world. This is made worse by the fact that Charlie is a ‘Seer’ meaning he can see dead people and they can see him, they can also hurt him. The way the supernatural story was a nice blend of horror and urban fantasy with Charlie trying to live his life as normally as possible, seeing his gift as more of a curse.

The story is built around the fact that Charlie realises ghosts are vanishing from the places he usually sees them. Soon Charlie meets Sam Harrow, who is new to the area and also both a Seer and gay. What follows is a gentle, cute, romantic story which is nicely blended with the supernatural search for the missing ghosts and the dark purpose behind these disappearances. Lurking in the background is vivid worldbuilding and the spooky version of York created by the author is top notch and helps develop the mystery element of the story. Sixteen Souls was a highly entertaining queer take on the story of a sensitive young man, who is pushed far out of his comfort zone, who also happens to see dead people and the bizarre challenges that brings.

AGE RANGE 13+

J.A. St. Thomas - Brain Damage

Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Brain Damage features a troubled teen is struggling to get over the death of his elder brother three years earlier and there is a certain amount of survivor’s guilt as Desmond was in the car with his brother when he lost his life. He almost died himself and is still receiving long-term treatment for a serious brain injury which has had serious psychological side-effects. Desmond is also gay, and the issue of sexuality is cleverly and realistically threaded through the novel.

After a drunken party Desmond believes he sees the ghost of a teenage girl, which is impossible because he saw the same girl at the party. From that moment on we have a clever and very well written horror/thriller story, as we're never quite sure how damaged Desmond is. The story flips back to when his brother was still alive and other friends are thrown into the mix in what was ultimately a very satisfying teen horror novel.

AGE RANGE 13+

Aiden Thomas – Cemetery Boys

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Macmillan

Yadriel, a trans teenager, is the main character of Cemetery Boys, who comes from a lengthy line of ‘brujos’ which is the Latin American term for ‘witch’. Due to Yadriel’s sexuality he has clashes with his family and issues of acceptance with other members of the Latin East Los Angeles community. His best friend is his cousin Maritza who is supportive of his situation and helps him in his quest to become a recognised brujo. To do so the pair perform a ritual to find the ghost of his murdered cousin, Miguel, however, something goes from and instead they raise the ghost of another recently murdered teenage boy. Following the surprise appearance of the ghost the plot takes in a few murders, family drama, sexuality, and romance, all of which is handled with a relatively light touch.

It was nice to see a trans character take the lead role, even if the horror was very minimal, with the plot predominately dancing around the Latin supernatural angle and the personal situation of Yadriel. Ultimately, Cemetery Boys has a very positive message about diversity and accepting people for being themselves, also giving the readers an insightful look into the Latin American community and some of the issues trans teens might face.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Vincent Tirado - Burn Down, Rise Up

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

Burn Down, Rise Up is a fascinating debut from Vincent Tirado set in the Bronx area of New York which nicely puts Black and Latino characters front and centre. It also has a convincing LGBT+ vibe with a gay lead character who has a crush on one of her oldest friends. The problem is her best friend (Aaron) also has a thing for the same girl, Charlize. The first half of the novel sets the teen scene and in the second things go full-blown supernatural. When the novel kicks off there have been a spate of disappearances which have been connected to a mysterious urban legend, a challenge called the Echo Game which soon sucks sixteen-year-old Raquel, Aaron and Charlize into its orbit, connecting to an alternative version of the Bronx from the 1970s.

A cousin of Charlize was also rumoured to have been playing the Echo Game, which leads to a mysterious Illness which Raquel’s mother catches. Looking for a cure and answers they have to play the game themselves, taking them to a sinister world beneath the city connected to a dark chapter in New York’s past. Raquel was a great central character and teen readers will have fun following her on her dangerous adventures in taking on the Slumlord, a nasty character who lurks in the shadows of the book. AGE RANGE 13/14+

Vincent Tirado – We Don’t Swim Here

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

Vincent Tirado follows their impressive debut Burn Down Rise Up with We Don’t Swim Here another entertaining supernatural thriller. Like with their debut, although predominately a teen high school chiller does contain elements of racial social commentary and strong LGBT+ representation. The story opens with Bronwyn being uprooted and moving from Illinois to a small town in Arkansas, where his grandmother is dying. The family intend to remain there for a year, with Bronwyn who is a gifted swimmer. We quickly realise this small town is pretty weird and has its own rituals and customs, which play a major part in the dynamics of the plot.

The story is presented as a split first-person narrative between Bronwyn and her cousin Anais, the girls were close when they were younger but have seen little of each other in recent years. Anais, of course, is aware of the local customs and rituals and does her best to watch out for her cousin, who as an outsider is a target. As both girls are Black the story also has a racial element, as the school and wider community is predominately white. Even though there were other unanswered questions We Don’t Swim Here was a catchy supernatural thriller with an unsettling small-town vibe.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Trang Thanh Tran - She Is a Haunting

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury YA

She Is a Haunting was a fascinating novel aimed at older teens set in modern-day Vietnam. The narrator is seventeen-year-old Jade Nguyen who is American Vietnamese and a lot of the story deals with her internal conflict over how she sees herself. She does not speak fluent Vietnamese and when she visits the home of her family for the summer feels disconnected and less than. As the same time she has been hiding the fact that she is bisexual from her family and she is particularly concerned how her mother will react when she finds out. So even before we get to the supernatural element, the story has a major focus on Jade, who is also struggling with a messy relationship she left behind in America with another girl. Queer representation is excellent and readers who have personal struggles in coming out will be sure to identify with Jade’s internal monologue.

Jade has a complex relationship with her family, she has been promised funding for college if she helps restore an old house in Vietnam her father has bought. However, the house has a dark history and at times inserts itself in the narrative and the story also dips into the colonial aspects of the house. Along the way a new romance develops, following the pattern you might expect in a coming-of-age novel. The haunting and the house had some good ideas with the use of insects and body parts, some of which was a bit gory. This was an ambitious and quite challenging novel which might make an impression on stronger readers looking for a thoughtful read, but it is definitely not for all tastes.

AGE RANGE 14+

Kaitlin Ward – Bleeding Earth

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Adaptive Books

Bleeding Earth was a unique read which was a clever mix of apocalyptic, dystopia and an end of the world scenario cleverly played out through the eyes of a very spunky and likable teenage girl, Lea. Near the opening of the novel blood begins to seep from the earth, initially it is thought to be an isolated incident, but it quickly worsens and soon nobody can go outside without welly-boots on. Before long, the water supply is contaminated and the shops are empty of food, this is all very convincingly described, and kept deliberately low key as things go from bad to worse.

There are some particularly yucky scenes and soon hair and bones start growing out of the earth and the hair really does have a life of its own and can trap those dumb enough to venture far from home in the rivers of blood. Lea is a great lead character who is gay and is just embarking upon her first meaningful relationship when things all kick off and you’ll root for her all the way as she struggles to survive and hold onto her sanity and those close to her.

AGE RANGE 13+

Erica Waters – Ghost Wood Song

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperTeen

The debut novel from Erica Waters, Ghost Wood Song stars Shady Grove, who is named after a famous bluegrass tune and longs to follow in her late father’s footsteps by playing old school bluegrass music. Part of the conflict comes from the fact that the other members of her band, including Sarah (who Shady has a thing for), want to play more modern or mainstream tunes. Older teens looking for a slow-burning drama with a strong musical theme and supernatural overtones will find much escapism in these pages.

Family dynamics play a key part of story after a death in the family, whilst Shady struggles to get over the death of her father, continually returning to one of his favourite songs. She believes that her father’s fiddle had the power to conjure up the dead and is set on finding it and although the supernatural story was interesting, I was more drawn to Shady’s relationships with Sarah and others. The music scenes genuinely sparkled, as they should in novels with this kind of vibe, and I thought Shady was very cool in sticking to her guns and not selling out. Ghost Wood Song also had an outstanding ending and although it might be too slow for some teens, those who enjoy a thoughtful read, with well-drawn characters are in for a treat.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Erica Waters – The River Has Teeth

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperTeen

All of Erica’s novels feature LGBT+ female teenage characters who financially struggle and might be described as coming from the wrong side of the tracks and she convincingly gives these marginalised teens a voice. The action takes place in a small town in Tennessee where young girls have been disappearing and seventeen-year-old Della believes her mother to be the culprit. Della is the youngest of a long family line of witches whose magic is connected to the area of land where they live and cultivate for the potions they create and make a living from. However, Della believes the magic has gone bad which turns her mother into a creature when darkness comes. Things get complicated when the police and others come snooping what can the teenager do to protect her dangerous mother?

The story is told via a split first-person narrative, between Della and Natasha, whose sister is one of the disappeared girls. Natasha comes from a rich family but has her own problems from being adopted and accepting she is bisexual. After the police draw a blank Natasha comes to Della for help and after an initial personality clash the novel documents their developing friendship, secrets, and more. The River has Teeth was convincing on several levels and although magic never dominated the novel, it had an earthy type of feel to it and within the constraints of the book and the way the family operated was excellent. The conflict between the two teenagers, and developing friendship, was also a pleasure to read, both having their own problems, issues and clashes. AGE RANGE 13+

Erica Waters – The Restless Dark

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperTeen

The Restless Dark was a solid read but failed to hit the impressive heights of the author’s two previous novels. The story revolves around three girls participating in a challenge to find the body of a serial killer (the Cloudless Killer) who jumped into a waterfall, with his body never being discovered. The event is being sponsored by a popular true crime podcast and has attracted true crime buffs and a wider collection of weirdos.

The cover of The Restless Dark has three female faces and the story features first person narratives of two of them: Lucy who was almost the Cloudkiss Killer’s final victim and is there under disguise and Carolina who fears her own rage and has serious religious backage. Erica Waters always has exceptional LGBT+ representation in her novels, but on this occasion it was a shame to see all the male characters either portrayed as obnoxious morons or so far in the background they were completely anonymous. For the most part the dynamics of the novel follows the developing relationships of the young women, the fallout after another character being seriously injured and the possibility that the serial killer lurking in the shadows. AGE RANGE 13/14+

Andrew Joseph White - Hell Followed with Us

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Peachtree Teen

Hell Followed With Us has to be one of the strangest YA fantasy horror novels I have read in ages and will probably make more sense to American audiences, due to its heavy use of religion. It also has terrific LGBT+ representation, with most of the characters falling under different parts of that banner due to the complex nature of the story. The main character is a transgender boy called Benji who is on the run from a cult (a type of Evangelical Christians) who unleashed Armageddon through a virus which Benji is connected to, leading to very gruesome body horror as the infection can turn him into a dangerous bioweapon. Whilst looking for a place to hide Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the Acheson LGBT+ Centre, known as the ALC and the wide range of gender representations in the centre and the pronouns they use to identify themselves.

Teens who are interested in gender are sure to get a lot out of this book as it goes out of its way to be inclusive and builds a highly original, and wildly inventive story, around Armageddon. Benji’s sexuality was nicely explained, from his days in the church to how he likes to dress, going into detail about breast binders and menstruation etc. It was heartening to have an autistic character (Nick) lead the ALC, who realises the truth about Benji and his inner monster. This was a very gory book, which will have several triggers for readers who might have had similar problems as Benji and Hell Followed With Us is a rage filled blast at conformity, told via a unique story. At times it was not easy to follow but you will rarely see such a large and unapologetically queer collection of characters as in this wild end of the world romp.

AGE RANGE 14+
Tony Jones

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JANUARY 2023 YOUNG ADULT AND MIDDLE GRADE HORROR ROUNDUP

18/1/2023

January is traditionally the month for mopping up books from the previous year I read either late or did not have the chance to write-up, with a few new releases added into the mix. I have already read a number of January 2023 releases but will feature them in the next February roundup.

I usually complain about the never-ending number of sequels in children’s fiction, but for Phil Hickes The Vanishing of Aveline Jones (Aveline Jones book 3) and Lorien Lawrence’s Fright Watch book 3: Unmasked I make an exception, as both are very good third books in impressive Middle Grade supernatural series. If you do not know these books, they are definitely worth further investigation.

The other six books included are all Young Adult titles, both Holly Jackson’s Five Survive and Ravena Guron’s This Book Kills are dark thriller and are solid page-turners which will be popular with teens. Gregory Scott Katsoulis’s All Rights Reserved (Word$ book 1) was published back in 2018 but I only read it recently after a librarian colleague recommended it. It was outstanding and a great example of YA dystopian fiction, which I am surprised is not better known. Christopher Pike’s The Midnight Club was first published in the nineties and has recently been turned into a Netflix mini-series but I did not feel it had aged particularly well and this dour read was not something I would recommend.

Mary Watson follows the excellent Wren Hunt (2018) and The Wickerlight (2019) with the very clever Blood to Poison, an urban fantasy which involves complex themes connected to revenge, racial tension and family curses. Finally, Camp Kinross is the debut of Holly Louise Perry which although I struggled with in parts is still worth a look should you want to visit an American summer camp with a cool nineties vibe.

Do get in touch if there is anything you would like us to review. The books are presented alphabetically be author.

Ravena Guron - This Book Kills

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Usborne Publishing Ltd (5 Jan. 2023)

This Book Kills is the entertaining debut from lawyer, with a degree in biochemistry turned novelist, Ravena Guron. This thriller is more mystery ‘who dunnit’ than horror but has enough strings to its bow to keep you guessing right to the end (okay, I got the murderer wrong). Initially my heart sank when I realised I was about to tackle yet another novel set in a posh/exclusive boarding school, this trope (privileged summer camps are just as bad) is incredibly well trodden and it is very difficult to come up with anything new. For a change, This Book Kills is set in the UK rather than the USA which is a major plus point. Advance hype has namechecked the huge selling Holly Jackson and Karen McManus and such comparisons are not unfair and I will be interested to see if this novel attracts a fraction of their success. As well as being an entertaining murder mystery, the story also has an interesting social commentary angle as the main character is second generation Indian in a predominately white school and is on a scholarship which she is in constant fear of losing, which is nicely integrated into the plot.

The first-person narrator is quiet and studious sixth former Jess Choudhary who makes herself as anonymous as possible until classmate Hugh Henry Van Boden is murdered. Jess is the roommate of the popular Clem who has been seeing Henry on the sly. After his death Millie (his girlfriend in public) becomes the prime suspect and Jess is slowly sucked into the drama when she realises that the circumstance behind the murder is eerily reminiscent of a short story she recently wrote. What follows is a twister in which Jess comes out of her shell (too quickly to be truly believable) and goes from mousy class shadow to sleuth, whilst the threat of losing her scholarship hangs over her head and a scary secret society pulls strings from the side-lines. This Book Kills was a fun, not too deep, page-turner which should easily pull bored teens away from their phone screens.

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Phil Hickes – The Vanishing of Aveline Jones (Aveline Jones book 3)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Usborne Publishing Ltd (27 Oct. 2022)

I was a massive fan of both The Haunting of Aveline Jones (2020) and The Bewitching of Aveline Jones (2021) and although the third outing adds nothing new to the series it was still a great read and a terrific Middle Grade entry point to horror for kids at the top end of primary school. As with its two predecessors the action takes place in the school holidays with Aveline and her mum away from home, this time visiting the house of her uncle, who mysteriously vanished some years earlier. Whilst snooping in her uncle’s study (who was an archaeologist) Aveline discovers possible supernatural activity around an ancient burial mound - and linked this with the unexplained disappearances of other local villagers. Believing her uncle is alive somewhere, perhaps trapped in another dimension, Aveline embarks upon an adventure which is her most dangerous yet.

Once again Aveline is joined by Harold, a boy she met in the first book, and combined the pair make a fine duo of brave, but innocent supernatural sleuths. All three books in the series complement each other beautifully and are wonderful escapism for younger children who love the thrill of mysteries, ghosts, solving puzzles, the excitement of strong friendships, but still give off the vibe that everything will turn out fine in the end. Young readers will undoubtedly imagine a tad of themselves in either Aveline or Harold who show a lot of backbone, common sense and bravery in their increasingly outlandish adventures.

AGE RANGE 9-12

Holly Jackson – Five Survive

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Electric Monkey (8 Dec. 2022)

I love it when deserved success comes to those I tipped years earlier! When Holly Jackson’s superb debut A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (2019) was still finding its audience a book committee of school librarians I was a member of shortlisted it for the senior section of the Trinity School Book Award and the full trilogy has since become a monster success. Holly should be applauded for having the guts to write a brand-new thriller Five Survive which has nothing to do with her signature series and is another terrific page-turner. This latest novel is set on an American Spring Break road trip from Philadelphia to the Alabama coast, with Jackson surely having one eye of Karen McManus’s huge teen audience as this book shakes off the ‘small town mystery’ style which made Good Girl’s Guide so appealing. Amazingly, this near 400-page story is set over a brief eight hours, with events kicking off at 10pm with six friends (all aged 17+) heading south for some fun. Whilst on a remote stretch of the road their RV breaks down and they soon suspect somebody has shot out one of the tires. It seems premeditated as it also occurs in an area where the mobile phone service is severely lacking.

The novel is told in the third person, with Red Kenny (a girl) being the main character the story is built around. The dynamics and the interactions of the characters are absolutely crucial to the success of Five Survive, they all know each other in varying degrees and more importantly, they all have secrets. The level of tension, panic and claustrophobia was outstanding as the friends begin to bicker and realise they cannot leave the van and are trapped. But when the sniper provides them with a two-way radio, that is when the fun really begins as he teases secrets out of them, turns them against each other, as his own agenda is slowly revealed. Lots of red herrings were thrown into the mix and Five Survive keeps the reader nicely on the hook throughout the twisty second half and dramatic finish. Holly Jackson shows that she has plenty of new tricks up her sleeve and does not need to write book four in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder anytime soon.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Gregory Scott Katsoulis – All Rights Reserved (Word$ book 1)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HQ Young Adult (12 July 2018)

All Rights Reserved was published back in 2018, but it never crossed my path until a librarian colleague recently namechecked it. Katsoulis followed this with the sequel Access Restricted, which is now high up on my TBR list. It is slightly reminiscent of Christina Dalcher’s smash adult hit Vox but note that Vox was published a year after All Rights Reserved and attracted worldwide attention. The concept behind the Word$ duology is terrific and undoubtedly the strongest feature of the story and is set in a world where when kids turn fifteen they then have to pay for every word they speak. Everybody has a device implanted into them which records their words (in Vox a device counts how many words women speak per day) and different words have different prices regarding their complexity. Effectively companies have copyrighted words and most people are in a huge amount of debt and rarely say anything in a grim world where everything has a monetary value. The device also records motions such as shakes of the head and shrugs, so there is no escaping the system (or the cost).

The story revolves around Speth on the day she turns fifteen and can no longer talk for free. On the same day a slightly older friend commits suicide leading to Speth taking a vow of silence which kick starts a movement in the society where she lives. We find out there are others (‘Silencers’) who do not talk and this quiet act of rebellion begins to have a more profound ripple effect. There are a couple of odd side stories, including her sister being sued for breach of copyright for looking like a film actress! I wouldn’t call All Rights Reserved an action novel, but alternatively it is a very effective bleak dystopian drama where talk really is not cheap! As Speth internally narrates the story she is great company and you will feel for her when you realise she was only called ‘Speth’ as the name was copyright free and one of the few her parents could afford.

AGE RANGE 13+

Lorien Lawrence – Fright Watch book 3: Unmasked

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amulet Books (29 Sept. 2022)

There are far too many sequels in children’s fiction but for Lorien Lawrence’s Fright Watch sequence I am happy to make an exception to this grumble. I previously reviewed and enjoyed both The Stitchers and The Collectors, with this latest entry being perhaps my favourite of the trilogy. And from the manner in which Unmasked concludes, there should hopefully be a fourth and I say, bring it on! Part of the success of book three is the fact that Lorien Lawrence very cleverly keeps the series fresh by changing its dynamics by having the story told by a completely new character, with the two main teens from the earlier novels (Mike and Quinn) appearing in the second half. This was very cleverly handled, with other returning kids such as Lex, also appearing in support roles. However, the star of the show was undoubtedly the new main character, Marion Jones, who I am absolutely sure many shy, anxious or quiet young teens will see a reflection of themselves in.

Marion is a very gifted fourteen-year-old makeup artist, who is incredibly anxious and struggles to make friends, but is always in high demand because of her artistic skills. An approaching Halloween dance means Marion is busy making masks and helping with makeup and costumes and creates a sea-monster head (whom she calls Winston) which comes to life when the boy she has a crush on tries it on. The horror in this book was handled with a very light touch and had comedy sprinkled into the action. However, its strength was not the horror, but the fact that it was just so darn cute! The interactions between Marion (who has never been to a dance) and Tyler were wonderful, awkward and quite touching as the very introverted girl came slowly out of her shell. And existing fans of the series will surely cheer when Mike and Quinn make their first appearance and coolly help fight the effects of the supernatural Blood Moon. Absolutely wonderful in every way imaginable.

AGE RANGE 10-13.

Holly Louise Perry – Camp Kinross

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Perry Lane Press (13 July 2022)

To an adult reader of YA horror fiction Camp Kinross comes across as familiar and covers similar territory to countless other teen novels. Genuine YA readers must be beginning to wonder what the big deal of the nineties was, as so many novels are now routinely set in that period. Summer camps were also a very big deal in that era and Holly Louise Perry nicely taps into that source of nostalgia by setting her novel in a location which would be a perfect fit for a Point Horror novel if it shaved off a hundred pages. Coming in at well over 400+ pages Camp Kinross was much too long for this type of story developed around normal teen high jinks including competitive social circles, weird traditions, and classic camp activities. Because there are just so many novels with similar settings I struggled to find anything which differentiated Camp Kinross from its many competitors, even though it has a vividly described location whose murky past is slowly revealed.

The story is seen from the point of view of Maggie and Tom who have been sent to summer camp for the first time, despite believing they are too old for it. Soon they are at loggerheads with ‘The Lifers,’ a cliquey group of teens who have been chosen to stay at the camp for the entire summer. The story revolves around kids being sent home for breaking the rules, whilst Maggie and Tom suspect something more sinister might have happened to the teens. The camp dynamics was nicely portrayed, the characters believable and references to the nineties were spot on, but I found the ending to be slightly underwhelming, treading a path which was familiar and not particularly original (at least to an adult reader). However, overall Camp Kinross was a solid debut blending horror, teen angst, friendships, and dark secrets with an engaging nineties vibe.

AGE RANGE 13+

Christopher Pike – The Midnight Club

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder Children's Books; 1st edition (7 July 2022)

Christopher Pike may well have an exalted reputation amongst adult fans seeking nostalgia for the teen horror boom of the early nineties, but how many genuine teen readers of 2022/3 have heard of him? Very few I would wager. Originally published in 1994, a period where Pike was at his most prolific, this rerelease comes on the back of the recent Netflix adaptation of The Midnight Club, I haven’t watched it, but was amazed that they were able to expand such a teen novel expanded into a meaty ten-episode series. No offense to Pike, as he has earned his place at the top table in any serious discussions on YA horror, but the genre has moved on significantly from the storylines routinely pedalled in the nineties. Adult readers might enjoy the nostalgia of this dark drama, but in the decades since Pike was in his pomp storylines have become more complex, mature, challenging and layered than this rather dour offering of terminally ill teens which has not aged particularly well, particularly in the way HIV+ teens are portrayed.

The opening premise had a lot of promise, set in Rotterdam House, a hospice where teenagers with terminal illnesses are sent when they are close to the end of the line. The teens who live there form the Midnight Club, where they tell each other ghost stories and make a pact that the first of them to die would make every effort to contact the others, from beyond the grave. There really was not much horror (or supernatural) in this novel and the stories the teens tell each other were not remotely scary and the story of the gay teen dying came across as incredibly dated. The Midnight Club was more dark drama than horror and offers little in the way of hope and teens might find it to be a rather downbeat read and the cover/synopsis misleading.

AGE RANGE 13+

Laura Stevens – The Society for Soulless Girls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Electric Monkey; 1st edition (7 July 2022)

My ears always prick up when a mainstream YA author takes a detour into the horror or supernatural genres and Laura Stevens makes a fine job of it. Having written three YA drama/comedies The Exact Opposite of Okay (2018), A Girl Called Shameless (2019) and The Love Hypothesis (2020) she drops two very similar teenage girls to those you might find in these three novels into a south of England countryside university. The split first-person narrative of ‘Lottie’ and ‘Alice’ is the great strength of The Society Soulless Girls, with the supernatural aspect kept simmering nicely on the backburner for the first half of the book before becoming more prominent as events spiral. As both girls were eighteen or nineteen and old enough to drink, it was also nice to read a story which was not set in a boarding school but had some similarities. Sevenoaks was mentioned several times and it was hard not to compare the elite Carvell College of the Arts to that famous boarding school.

The story starts not long after Carvell College has reopened after a ten-year closure due to a series of murders for which nobody was ever caught. Sporty Lottie will be studying English and also hopes to investigate the decade old murders due to an old family connection. She is roommates with Alice who is studying Philosophy and although Lottie tries to be friends Alice rebuffs her, seeing her as a sporty airhead. The split narrative highlights how different the two girls are and the dynamics between the pair is the highlight of the novel. Alice dabbles in something dodgy which eventually leads to ‘The Society for Soulless Girls’ and things spike when there is a fresh murder. Along the way there is a LGBTQIA+ story fitted naturally into the story.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Mary Watson – Blood to Poison

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury YA; 1st edition (14 April 2022)

I am a huge fan of Mary Watson’s, challenging, intelligent, and immersive blend of fantasy and dark fiction and have reviewed both her previous YA novels The Wren Hunt and The Wickerlight. Both these novels are set in Ireland, where the author now lives, but her latest novel Blood to Poison takes the reader to the land of her birth, South Africa. As a Black South African Watson is old enough to have experienced apartheid and although it is not specifically discussed in the novel (nor is colour), the fascinating ‘Author’s Note’ makes it clear this is a theme and the repeated references to the ‘enslaved’ are veiled references to apartheid and slavery before that. This is one of those books which is aimed at strong teen readers and to get the most out of it I would suggest reading it very carefully, because if you fail to understand how the magical system works you will not get very far as it becomes rather dense. This is a terrific blend of urban fantasy which embraces African mythology and culture, with a strong feminist viewpoint. I would not call it an easy read, but to certain readers it will be very rewarding and popular with those who enjoyed the bestsellers Children of Blood and Bone and The Gilded Ones, which also focus on African mythology and magic.

Blood to Poison is narrated in the first person by seventeen-year-old Savannah who is told by the other women in her family that she is cursed. One woman in every generation dies young because of a generational curse which is passed down from their ancestor Hella, the enslaved woman with whom it all began. Hella's girls are always angry, especially in the months before they die. And Savannah is one angry teenager and so she fits the bill perfectly. The novel concerns the teen trying to break the curse, investigating the magical systems (extraordinarily complex), trying not to lose her cool as every fit of rage takes her closer to the edge. There is a huge amount to digest in this novel, the magic system is terrific, the love interest believable and the main character totally captivating in her battle to escape a destiny and the shadow of her family’s shared past.

AGE RANGE 14+
Tony Jones

the heart and soul of ya and MG horror review websites

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Best of 2022: Middle Grade Horror and Dark Fiction

11/12/2022

Best of 2022: Middle Grade Horror and Dark Fiction

2022 was a terrific year for Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade fiction (MG), so much so that this year we have two distinct ‘best of’ lists which separate out these two important areas of teen and children’s fiction. YA is traditionally aimed at ages 13+, whilst MG covers ages 9-12. However, this is variable depending on the strength of each individual reader, so make sure you also have a look at the companion YA list which Ginger Nuts recently published.

The books are listed A-Z by author and were all published in 2022. Do contact us if you have something we might like to feature on the site in 2023.

Nate Cernosek – The Hiddenseek

Publisher ‏ : ‎ G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

The Hiddenseek was an entertaining debut pitched as the Goosebumps age group of around eight to ten. It was a quick, relatively short speedy read which should keep kids in mid to top of primary schools busy. It was slightly too young for secondary schools but could still be useful as an easy read or for children who struggle with long books. The scares were relatively mild, so it is a very safe book to put in the hands of kids who like spooky stories and ghosts. Behind the supernatural goings on is a nice story about the importance of family, friendship, sibling rivalry and memory. The action opens with Holly and Hector Thorn playing a game of hide and seek, Holly is delighted as she does not have many friends, but she does not realise she is being tricked. Her scheming brother has set her up; as whilst she hides, nobody is looking for her and are having a good laugh at her behind her back. However, this innocent game of hide and seek triggers a supernatural event where they are transported to the land of Hiddenseek, where the game really is a matter of life and death.

Hiddenseek was a great creation, with neither of the siblings initially knowing they are both there in separate locations. They quickly find out there is a never-ending game of hide and seek going on in which if they are caught a shape-shifting witch will turn them into stone. Along the way they meet other children (who might be ghosts) and have a weird connection to their own world, in which they do not exist. There were a lot of clever ideas thrown into the plot as the siblings realise they have to team up if they want to get home and solve the mystery in how to do so. In the end they cracked it pretty easily, but it was a nice blend of fantasy, thriller and spooky goings on.

AGE RANGE 8-11

Lindsay Currie - The Girl in White

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Young Readers

Lindsay Currie has the ability to produce pitch-perfect Middle Grade chillers aimed at kids from ten to thirteen. They have thrills, wonderfully believable characters, clever plots and superb pacing which quickly turn her tales into great page-turners. In The Girl in White twelve-year-old Mallory has not quite adapted to life in the small coastal town of Eastport (Massachusetts) which has turned an old ghost story (more of a local legend) into a cottage industry as tourists flock to the town to find out more about ‘Sweet Molly.’ Like all of Currie’s novels friendships play a key role, with Bri, Emmie and eventually Joshua being pulled into a mystery which has Mallory on edge of which she is certain is connected to the Sweet Molly legend.

I loved the fact that Mallory found the commercial element of the Molly myth annoying, which was worsened by the fact that her parents owned a restaurant which really went over the top about the legend. I also thought her parents were great, not all kids have to come from a broken home to create a convincing Middle Grade story. Early in the tale Mallory wakes up with sand on her feet and realises she has been sleepwalking, coupled with weird visions and her seeing a strange old woman she is on edge. And the fact that it is almost Halloween every day in Eastport does not make things easy, however, she soon realises that her neighbour Joshua has been having a similar unsettling experience. What have they got in common? Neither kids are natives of Eastport. What follows is an entertaining supernatural thriller which plays around with the idea of myths, their commercialisation and reconnecting with the past. This was another winner from Lindsay Currie who is fast becoming one of my favourite Middle Grade authors. Now, which other books have I not read from her back catalogue?

AGE RANGE 10-13

Polly Ho-Yen – How I Saved the World in a Week

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Children's UK

Polly Ho-Yen has fast become one of those authors I always make a point of reading when she brings out a new book and I was surprised when I saw some websites listing this novel as ‘age 8+’ but at 380-pages, very small writing, and complex story I doubt very few eight-year-olds would manage How I Saved the World in a Week and I would raise the reading age to 10/11+. There is also a lack of action to grab younger readers, in actual fact it takes over 200-pages for the novel to move into its second stage, where the infection takes off, which is much too long for younger age groups.

Billy narrates the fascinating story and we quickly realise that his mum is not like any others and he frequently changes schools and accepts her erratic behaviour as normal. Instead of watching television his mum teaches him survival skills such as tying knots and how to use the stars for direction, a theme which is revisited throughout the book. From our interpretation of Billy’s mum, we quickly assume that the former scientist (crucial to the plot) has mental health problems which he does not understand. The mother’s gradual decline dominates a fair bit of the first 200-pages with Billy going to live with his dad whilst she is in hospital, but at the same time a mysterious virus breaks out which turns people grey and causes chaos in the cities and him escaping from the city to the countryside. This was a great book, which took in family, friendship and resilience issues, before edging into horror with the grey zombie like transformation of those with the illness.

AGE RANGE 10/11+

Jennifer Killick – Dread Wood

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Farshore

Jennifer Killick is fast becoming the queen of UK Middle Grade horror with her third terrific read on the bounce. Like in Killick’s previous novel Crater Lake a group of kids aged around 11-12 find themselves isolated and being hunted after picking up a Saturday detention. The setting is their secondary school, which backs into a large forest, the Dread Wood of the title, and after their teacher Mr Canton disappears they realise something dodgy is going on. The only other adults in the local vicinity is the caretaker Mr Latchitt and his wife who repeatedly hum the old nursery rhythm ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ which gives you a good idea of what is in store for the four kids.

Whilst out and about the four kids spy on Mrs Latchitt throwing a live chicken down a well and become suspicious for what has become of the poor bird. The four kids Angelo, Hattie, Gustav were all very believable characters who are all in detention for different reasons, secrets which are revealed over the course of the story. Although this was a horror novel, it also realistically touched upon real issues such as child food poverty and disabilities. The school setting was terrific, with the plot cleverly reversing what should have been a place of safety to one of great danger, shadows and chills. Dread Wood was a terrific fast paced read and would be perfect for both reluctant readers and as a gateway novel to more mature horror fiction.

AGE RANGE 9-12

Lorien Lawrence – Fright Watch 2 – The Collectors

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amulet Books

Ginger Nuts of Horror previously reviewed The Stitchers (2020) which was the debut novel of Lorien Lawrence and the first book in the excellent Fright Watch series which is perfect for Middle Grade readers. I was delighted to hear that after defeating the ‘Oldies’ in their previous supernatural mystery Quinn and Mike were back up to their old snooping tricks in a brand-new spooky mystery.

When I reviewed the first entry I noted: “The Stitchers main strength are the two main characters and their interactions with each other (and growing attraction) as the plot develops” and the same could be said of this sequel, with the strong central characters and friendship dynamics nicely balanced against a mystery story which slowly edges into the realms of the supernatural when new neighbours move into Goodie Lane. The arrivals own an interior design firm and although they charm some of the kids, Quinn and Mike wonder why Abigail, Eleanor, Jade, Brea, and Cami seem to always be together, dressed completely white. As in its predecessor the duo begins to investigate and get involved in a fun and spooky mystery which had a few chills but was not scary enough to trouble older kids. Parents or teachers could give this book to younger kids and feel reassured that it’s a great story but not have to worry about the appropriateness of the content.

AGE RANGE 9/10-13

Kate Alice Marshall – Brackenbeast (Thirteens book 2)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers

Brackenbeast, subtitled The Secrets of Eden Eld is a direct sequel to Thirteens, published in 2020. We reviewed (and loved) Thirteens a couple of years and had this to say: “Thirteens is such an engaging gateway supernatural novel I would happily recommend it to strong readers from the age of ten and up. The story involves a sleepy town which has a dark secret, every thirteen years in Eden Eld three thirteen-year-olds disappear, which is part of an ancient pact going back to the 1850s. This is a eally peculiar place and the way in which the supernatural is integrated into the story is cleverly done, doubling up with a terrifically well-paced plot which is guaranteed to have young readers turning the pages at speed. This novel also has a great villain, kids are going to love the dastardly ‘Mr January’ and the powerful hold he has over the place they call home.”

Brackenbeast continues the fight against the nasty Mr January, with the three young teens this time coming up against the supernatural sister of the evil presence which has haunted their town for more than a century. After the disappearance of a few of the locals the three realise they have been kidnapped by mud drenched creatures who begin to stalk them, once again they have to use their book of magic fairy tales to lead them against the forces of darkness, uncovering wild family secrets and entering other worlds along the way. Brackenbeast was pitched just right for younger readers, with a lovely blend of fantasy, adventures, scares and strong friendship bonds. Terrific gateway horror for younger kids.

AGE RANGE 10-13

Will McIntosh – The Classmate

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Future House Publishing

The Classmate was a terrific little book and I am not ashamed to say I shed a few tears at the end! Thirteen-year-old Ben is selected to take part in a special school program for gifted children and is sent to a remote boarding school. He quickly realises that this is not a normal school as there is an angry spiky and dangerous looking creature in the class who the teachers also treat as a pupil. Bizarrely, all pupils are fed instructions through an earbud, much of which involve how to interact with the creature, who is called Evie. Will it be possible to become friends with Evie? Go to the cinema with her or do other normal stuff? Ben is an anxious boy and he finds himself becoming friends with her, without knowing the much bigger complex picture, which might just involve the end of the world.

This was a cool book about friendship, acceptance, overcoming fears and has some really great sequences along the way. It finishes on a cliff-hanger and I really hope everything goes well for Evie. I totally loved this easy read but wonderfully engaging book which is absolutely perfect for reluctant readers with its effortless blend of genres and the fantastic.

AGE RANGE 9-12.

JP Rose – The Haunting of Tyrese Walker

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Andersen Press

I was greatly impressed by JP Rose’s The Haunting of Tyrese Walker which uses grief, loss and mental health as a convincing basis to build an excellent horror story which could be read by both Middle Grade and YA audiences. It was a compelling read and I sped through it in a few sittings, I also adored the use of the Jamaican folklore, which had me reaching for Google to find out what the supernatural references of ‘Duppy’ and ‘Soucouyant’ meant. The story was also beautifully paced, had a clever way of eliminating adults from the adventure and had three terrific main characters. It was also refreshing to read a novel with a boy as the main character, as these types of books are virtually always dominated by female narratives. Equally so, I enjoyed the fact that the author did not feel the need to throw in a developing romance, as the story really did not need it and the importance was how Tyrese Walker overcame his own personal, painful and complex inner demons which were portrayed incredibly sensitively.

The story opens with Tyrese arriving in Jamaica with his mother to stay with his grandmother and cousin Marvin for the summer. The boy has struggled to recover from the death of his father some months earlier and is overcome with grief with his mother hoping the change of scenery will do some good. However, rom the first night, strange things start happening: impossible visions, blackouts, swarms of insects, and the discovery of a grave hidden deep in the forest… Tyrese can’t explain what’s going on and he’s scared that he’s losing his grip on reality. However, friendship develops with his cousin and a girl called Ellie who is visiting the island with her developer father. This leads to a mystery which takes in Jamaican folklore and the possibility that he is being hunted by a boogieman type character called the ‘Shadow Man’. The supernatural mystery element, which included some great possession scenes and freaky scenes of people with hooves were great, but the portrayal of Tyrese and how he deals with his grief stole the show. The book carefully shows the reader how grief can change you, but that the power of friendship can trump than. This was an outstanding read and is highly recommended.

AGE RANGE 11-14

Lora Senf - The Clackity

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Lora Senf’s entertaining debut The Clackity fits perfectly into the ten to thirteen age group and is a terrific gateway read for kids who do not want to be scared too much just yet. Getting the balance of chills and threat at the correct level in a Middle Grade novel is never easy and Lora Senf does an excellent job in delivering an eerie chiller which doubles up as a page-turner. Settings are also crucial to the success of Middle Grade novels and the location of Blight Harbor is a super cool place. We are repeatedly told that the town is “the seventh-most haunted town in America” and that living with ghosts is routine for most people who inhabit the town. The fact that the supernatural is normalised was presented exceptionally well, helping set the scene nicely for when the main character genuinely comes up against the nasty ghosts she already has experience of how to deal with them. The main character is twelve-year-old Evie Von Rathe who lives with her aunt Desdemona, who is a local paranormal expert and has a ‘help’ page in one of the local newspapers. Although Evie is very independent, her aunt keeps her close and does not want her messing around with the supernatural unsupervised.

Early in the novel Desdemona investigates a disturbance at the abandoned slaughterhouse at the edge of town and curiosity gets the better of Evie and she follows. After an exorcism style ritual goes wrong Desdemona disappears into the supernatural realms and Evie has to fight to get her back. In doing so she must enter a world of ghosts, witches, and monsters to play a game with deadly consequences and rescue her trapped aunt. The Clackity was an entertaining blend of Coraline crossed with Monster House with one of its major strengths being the fact that the location was a slightly ‘off’ version of our own. Evie was brave, a fighter and has a fantastic relationship with her aunt but was also incredibly relatable in the way that she fought against her own anxiety and continued to grieve for the loss of her parents and the uncertainty around their disappearance. Young children will enjoy the almost gothic fairy-tale vibe of The Clackity and the first-person narrative allows readers to empathise with Evie’s tough predicament. Could this be the start of a new series? Surely Blight Harbor is too good a setting not to return to.

AGE RANGE 10+

Angharad Walker – The Ash House

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House; 1st edition

Billing a debut novel as “Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children meets Lord of the Flies” is an ambitious move and although this quote was slightly misleading I found The Ash House to be an intriguing read. This rather beguiling tale has much to offer readers who show patience for what becomes a very thoughtful and odd piece of fiction. A new boy arrives at Ash House, which is a cross between an orphanage and a boarding school, there are no adults and the kids seem to self-police the premise. The child cannot remember his name, so is given the name Sol and soon finds himself joining the motley gang of children living in the shadows of the secretive and very secluded house. Inquisitive readers will have fun trying to figure out the location which seems to exist outside of time.

It takes a long time for all the pieces to fall into place and as you proceed lots of questions (where was the Headmaster for example?) will spring to mind in a story which has elements of magical realism and an isolated setting which was top heavy with brooding atmosphere. The plot had many memorable scenes, with the children waiting for the telephone to ring (maybe the Headmaster again?) or ‘school’ being pre-recorded lessons! This was a very ambitious and original dark fantasy debut aimed at stronger readers. AGE RANGE 11+

If you missed Tony's round-up of the best in YA Horror books click here to check it out

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BEST OF 2022: YOUNG ADULT HORROR AND DARK FICTION

6/12/2022

Best of 2022: Young Adult Horror and Dark Fiction

2022 was a terrific year for Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade fiction (MG), so much so that this year we have two distinct ‘best of’ lists which separate out these two important areas of teen and children’s fiction. YA is traditionally aimed at ages 13+, whilst MG covers ages 9-12. However, this is variable depending on the strength of each individual reader, so make sure you also have a look at the companion MG list which Ginger Nuts will publish shortly.

The books are listed A-Z by author and were all published in 2022. Do contact us if you have something we might like to feature on the site in 2023.

Alex Bell – The Lighthouse

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stripes Publishing (29 Sept. 2022)

If you do not read much kids horror and are unsure what to recommend then the Red Eye brand is the perfect place to start, of which Alex Bell has several books on the twelve-title range. I guarantee that the incredibly well plotted The Lighthouse will have most young teens on the hook (and some adults) and make sure you hang around for a simply brilliant closing two pages which will wrong foot even the most jaded of adult horror readers.

The Lighthouse opens with fifteen-year-old Jess and twelve-year-old Rosie being shipped off to Bird Rock, a tiny island in the Outer Hebrides where they will stay with their ornithologist father, their half-brother Charlie and their stepmother. Jess narrates the story and is shocked to be stuck in such a remote location during the summer holidays, on an island dominated by gannets who shriek, stink, and poo endlessly. The family stay in the ancient lighthouse and bird hunters on the island say the lighthouse is haunted and has a very dark history. The manner in which the supernatural story was developed was perfectly pitched, expertly paced as Jess begins to feel increasingly isolated and things go bump in the night and Charlie begins to act stranger and stranger. But then things really kick off when Rosie disappears and nobody seems to remember her except for Jess. Along the way a teenage boy, with a tragic connection to the lighthouse helps out, and it was nice to see a token romance NOT thrown into the mix! This was a very cool pacey supernatural thriller. I loved it and watch out for that ending! AGE RANGE 11/12+

Tori Bovalino - Not Good for Maidens

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Titan Books; 1st edition (13 Sept. 2022)

Tori Bovalino follows her outstanding YA debut horror novel The Devil Makes Three with another deliciously captivating dark read. Not Good for Maidens is inspired by the Christina Rosetti poem Goblin Market and has some plot similarities in which two sisters are tempted by goblins. The story unfolds through two narratives told eighteen years apart, in the present-day Lou Wickett lives in Boston and is looking forward to the return of her aunt Neela, who is close to her in age and the pair are more like sisters. However, early in the action Neela disappears and we realise this is connected to the family’s history in York. Lou lives with both her mother and her aunt, who have been keeping secrets from her regarding their joint history in York, where they come from a lengthy line of witches. The second narrative jumps back eighteen years to York where (aunt) May was the same age as Lou and was having a fun time in York, until she falls for another girl. The problem was the girl was not any old girl, she was a goblin and much of the novel concerns the weird relationship between humans and goblins in York, which coexist in the Goblin Market.

I enjoyed both narratives, which both have great LGBTQIA+ representation with Lou being asexual. Bearing in mind goblins eat humans, there was a fair bit of gore thrown into the mix, clearly showing what happens to those who are too dumb to survive in the Goblin Market. Considering Lou has no idea she comes from a family of (former) witches she adapts very quickly when she realises to rescue her aunt she has to visit the Goblin Market herself. The story was a fine balance of clever characterisation and well-developed fantasy setting where to survive following the rules is vital and it was made even more believable that there is no indication that Lou will become a witch overnight. The romance in the historical setting had a Romeo and Juliet vibe and the idea that covens of witches might operate in plain sight was nicely portrayed. There is even the hint of a sequel. Overall, this was great stuff. AGE RANGE 13+

Kelly Devos – Go Hunt Me

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Razorbill (14 Jun. 2022)

I was hugely impressed by Go Hunt Me which is the fifth YA novel from Kelly Devos. There are many self-referential horror novels (referencing films) on the market, but what I really liked about Go Hunt Me was the fact that it avoided many of the same old classic films which are trotted out, instead the main character was a massive fan of The Babadook and the book partially uses the ‘Go Fund Me’ model which Jennifer Kent used to fund her modern classic film. Having said that Go Hunt Me is definitely aimed at those types of teens and there is a huge amount to enjoy. And like many great horror films make sure you follow events closely and prepare yourself for a whacky twist ending.

Early in the film Alex Rush receives a rejection from the film school she has set her heart on attending, however her boyfriend Jax is accepted. Both are huge horror fans and submitted the same joint film, but Alex finds out later that Jax edited his in a slightly separate way but didn’t tell her. However, things begin to look up when a famous actor helps Alex set up a Go Fund Me page which if successful she hopes to shoot a new film to submit to the university. Soon the cash is flowing in and the actor invites them to shoot the new film in a remote Romanian castle which has connections to the myth behind the Dracula story. Alex narrates the story, but soon her boyfriend and five other friends are heading to Romania with the actor as the chaperone. However, once in Romania the actor dumps them and they are on their own at the isolated castle where things start to go horribly wrong. Go Hunt Me was a lot of fun with believably dumb teenage characters, sly film references, slick action sequences and a great balance between thriller and horror which does not stop. The build-up which lured the group to Romania and the infighting over the Go Fund Me disappearing cash was also very believable. A terrific book.
AGE RANGE 12/13+

Frances Hardinge – Unraveller

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Macmillan Children's Books (1 Sept. 2022)

Frances Hardinge is an absolute master in crafting highly original dark fantastic fiction and Unraveller is another outstanding example of fantasy blended with superb characterisation and unique worldbuilding skills. The ability to curse others lies at the heart of Unraveller and one of the main characters has the ability to ‘unravel’ curses which have been inflicted upon other people, a skill which is exceedingly rare. It is tricky to convey in words how this strange ability works so here is an example; siblings are cursed and are turned into two distinct types of birds, one bird without realising it kills and eats their human sibling without realising they were a much smaller bird. The surviving bird is later turned back into a person and then fully understands they have consumed their family member. How do they cope with the guilt? Tricky.

Early in the novel we realise that Kellen can ‘unravel’ curses, but he also has anger management issues and other problems. He travels with his best friend Nettle, who was previously cursed, turned into a bird and still communicates with her brother who has chosen to remain in bird form. Together they are recruited to investigate an organisation which is collecting life-destroying curses which takes them on a very odd journey across ‘The Wilds,’ the most dangerous and unmapped part of the country. The land of Raddith is a brilliantly described setting; beautiful, menacing, populated by strange creatures and full of inhabitants with real fear of the unknown and potential curses which could come unexpectedly and from anyone. It is so vividly described that children will truly be able to let their imaginations run wild in this fantastic land as they get wrapped up in the crazy exploits of Nettle and Kellen. This is fantasy fiction at its absolute best, which is loaded with beautifully crafted sentences, deep meaningful relationships and engaging mini mysteries as the story advances to a terrific ending. Highly recommended. AGE RANGE 11/12+

Lauren James – Green Rising

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Walker Books; 1st edition (2 Sept. 2021)

Lauren James has published some great books and Green Rising keeps her hot streak going with style. The novel opens at a climate change demonstration where something unique occurs when the activists bust into the building. Main character Gabrielle shoots to fame when she becomes the first teenager to display a bizarre unnatural ability; growing plants from her fingers and skin. She becomes an overnight sensation, and as other teens start to show the same strange ability, the climate change activist movement is reinvigorated with the call to help heal the planet, which the teens (called ‘Greenfingers’) can do by helping clean oil spills or healing holes in the ozone with their new-found abilities.

The story revolves around Gabrielle and two other characters, Hester who is the millionaire daughter of an oil tycoon and the face of the family business who are seen as the enemy to the activists and Theo, who comes from a long line of fishermen. Soon legions of other teenagers from around the world are developing variations of the same strange new ‘Greenfingers’ power and challenge the dangerous establishment of big business. This story was such a cool call to arms I hope it finds its way into the hands of countless teens and is the perfect blend of speculative, fantasy, and science fiction with a powerful message that you can make a difference. The use of social media exchanges and newspaper clippings were also seamlessly and convincingly integrated into the story. Highly recommended. AGE RANGE 12+

Kate Alice Marshall – These Fleeting Shadows

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Books for Young Readers (9 Aug. 2022)

These Fleeting Shadows is another complex read from the outstanding Kate Alice Marshall which blends the supernatural, dark family drama, LGBTQIA+ love story and twister of a thriller. As with all of Marshall’s YA fiction nothing is quite what is seems and you will have to read this one closely to enjoy the impressive revelations which are dropped in the final quarter of the book.

Helen Vaughan’s grandfather dies and she returns with her mother to the expansive ancestral home of Harrowstone Hall for the funeral where she discovers she is the major beneficiary in the will. However, to claim the fifty million inheritance and estate she must live in the house for a year, without leaving the grounds and function as ‘Mistress’ to the house. The novel is built around the fact that this is no normal house and the fact that a supernatural presence called ‘The Other’ lives in the house and that Helen also has visions connected to a troubled past childhood. The story concerns Helen’s year in the house as she negotiates the family members, some of which want her to succeed and other see her fail. However, it is much more complex than that as the house is intrinsically a part of the family and soon Helen finds herself getting deeper into a supernatural family drama, not to mention the witch she befriends who lives on the grounds. Although the book might be too slow for some and does not rely on jump scares or violence more discerning and mature readers and guaranteed to be sucked into its intoxicating revelations and drama. AGE RANGE 14+

Julia Rust & David Surface – Angel Falls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Haverhill House Publishing LLC (26 Sept. 2022)

I was a huge fan Angel Falls co-written by Julia Rust and David Surface which was one of those very reflective which deserves to find an audience and hopefully there are enough thoughtful teenagers out there willing to take a chance on this very subtle supernatural drama. Even though it was very slow moving and did not include any over-the-top big finish I found this powerful character study of two lonely teenagers, who connect, strangely moving. Rarely have I seen supernatural happenings kept so far on the backburner as in Angel Falls, but it did not spoil my enjoyment of the book as the two sixteen-year-old main characters were so well drawn, along with the family dramas they are involved in, I barely noticed.

Jessie Reed moves to the seaport village of Beauport for the summer (from New York) after her father inherits an old house. Separated from her friends, and with her parents having marriage problems, whilst out exploring Jessie meets Jared Younger. The pair initially fight after meeting in the remote area of Angel Falls, which Jared claims is dangerous, but after a false start they become friends. Jared has his own problems, his father a well-known local artist, suffers from crippling depression and they are struggling to make ends meet. Together they explore Angel Falls, which is beautifully and vividly described, they soon realise there might be some weird power in the local area and the power to grant wishes. However, things are significantly more complex than that and there are various flip backs in time, a side-story with Jared’s teacher and a missing teenage girl. Fans of thoughtful, character driven stories which balance the pain of early teen romances with very subtle supernatural stories are in for a real treat. AGE RANGE 13+

Danielle Valentine – How to Survive Your Murder

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Razorbill; 1st edition (30 Aug. 2022)

Danielle Valentine writes under several names and How to Survive Your Murder is undoubtedly the strongest of her novels and is a wacky blend of thriller, stalker/slasher horror with an oddball warped take on the classic James Stewart film It’s a Wonderful Life. Although it is aimed at older teens, adults readers could have fun with it as it top-loaded with horror film references, way more than any genuine teenager is likely to know. If you have no idea who the fictional horror film character Sidney Prescott is, then you might not get very far with this book as the main character Alice Lawrence is a horror film obsessive and much prefers them to real life, that is until her elder sister Claire is murdered in an early flashback whilst she waits in court to give evidence against the accused.

To call How to Survive Your Murder far-fetched would be an understatement, but do not let that put you off, that is part of the fun, with the eventual killer (like in a horror film) being the least (and I mean LEAST!) likely candidate. I am not going to go into details about how this happens, but Alice flips back in time to before her sister is murdered and is given the opportunity to ‘bring her back’ but only is she identifies the genuine murderer. What follows is an entertaining horror thriller, where Alice has to come out of her horror film shell, flirt with a gorgeous college boy, and do her best to keep her sister alive in this past-alternative reality. The book has a major Final Girl vibe as Alice uncovers secrets, some very close to home, whilst other characters come to a sticky end, whilst the clock ticks down to zero. Horror film fanatics in particular will love this book as will thriller readers who love a cool twist (and double twist even). All the characters are aged sixteen plus, so it’s aimed at older readers with numerous f-bombs and sporadic violence. Great gruesome fun. AGE RANGE 14+

Katherine Webber – The Revelry

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Walker Books (6 Jan. 2022)

Katherine Webber makes a fascinating change of direction with her fourth novel, The Revelry, her first foray into the supernatural after three YA dramas. Her trademark great characterisation and realistic teen situations remain, but this time there is a beautifully undiagnosed otherworldly feel to proceedings, with Ember Grove being a terrific setting where things are a little bit different. One of the great strengths of The Revelry is that it uses restraint and through its clever subtleties never overtly specifies why this town is unique. The novel is built around a weird event which nobody ever openly talks about called ‘The Revelry’ which is a once-a-year event all school leavers are secretly invited to. What goes on at The Revelry? Another great strength of the novel is the fact that Catherine Webber keeps the reader on the hook for most of the story, dropping the odd hint or flashback whilst sneakily dancing around the subject.

The Revelry is also a cool novel about friendship, with besties for a decade Bitsy Clark and Amy absolutely pitch perfect and beautifully captured sixteen-year-olds. Seen from the point of view of Bitsy, who is happy to be in the shadow of the more naturally outgoing Amy until things take a darker turn. The plot was exceptionally clever and was built around the pairs obsession with The Revelry and what happens after they sneak entry into one of the events two years before their allotted time. The novel concerns the fallout and the contrasting circumstances which follows the girls, including a string of bad luck for Bitsy, all of which puts an incredible strain on their friendship. The supernatural elements were beautifully balanced with the teen drama, friendship issues, blending together into an absolutely first-rate supernatural drama, which could be equally enjoyed by teens who don’t normally read otherworldly stuff. AGE RANGE 12/13+

By Tony Jones

Be sure to check back into The Young Blood Library next week when Tony brings his best Middle Grade Horror books of 2022

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Young Adult and Middle Grade Horror Roundup for October and November

8/11/2022

Young Adult and Middle Grade Horror Roundup for October and November

Our latest Young Adult and Middle Grade roundup provides you with nine books to check out, which includes some absolute belters. JP Rose’s debut The Haunting of Tyrese Walker impressed me greatly and bridges the gap between MG and YA beautifully, with this supernatural study of grief ranking amongst the best children’s books of 2022. Elsewhere we have Andrew J. Brandt’s Picture Unavailable which also nicely crosses MG with YA in an entertaining American small-town horror story which crosses the generations. Sana Rasoul also impresses with her debut The Twig Man and we also include one of the Middle Grade releases from adult horror legend Brian Keene, School’s Out.

The standard of the five YA novels featured is incredibly high and with Kate Dylan’s Mindwalker we take a slight detour from horror into the dark realms of science fiction and mind control. I have reviewed Rin Chupeco several times in the past and a couple of years ago we ranked their debut The Girl from the Wall number ten in our top hundred YA novels of the last decade. Since then they have mainly written fantasy, but The Sacrifice makes a welcome return to horror in a tale seeped in Philippine legends and folklore. Julia Rust and David Surface co-author the excellent Angel Falls, an atmospheric and strange tale of wishes, family problems and intense relationship, all with a bubbling supernatural undercurrent. This is certainly the month for terrific debuts and Rosie Talbot’s Sixteen Souls is an intriguing ghost story with a convincing LGBTQIA+ theme about a gay teenage boy with a challenging disability who sees ghosts. Last up is a beauty, Danielle Valentine’s How to Survive Your Murder, a gleefully far-fetched tale of a horror film loving teenage girl who finds a bizarre way of going back in time to find a way of bringing her murdered sister back to life. All these YA titles were highly recommended and are worth a closer look or worthy of a place in a school or public library. Or even for a gift for a young person in your life.

They are presented alphabetically by author and if you have something you would like to see featured on the page then do get in touch.

Andrew J. Brandt - Picture Unavailable

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Blue Handle Publishing (25 Oct. 2022)

Andrew J. Brandt’s Picture Unavailable was a fun, easy to read, Middle Grade horror mystery, I’ve seen it listed as YA, but as all the kids are in their final year of primary school I would pitch it age twelvish or slightly under, as it has little to scare older children. One quote noted “The best of R.L. Stine meets the first half of King's IT” and although that might be a little over the top, there is also some truth and the comparisons are easy to make. While looking through their sixth-grade yearbooks, Charlie Greene and his two best friends notice that the portrait of their missing classmate has been left blank except for two words: “Picture Unavailable.” After which they begin to investigate what happened to this kid and why most people seemingly forget him, with their search taking in old microfiche readers (who remembers these?) in the local library and interviewing the teacher in charge of the yearbook. In the background the boys are aware of a dark presence which seems to be stalking, or even targeting them.

The boys initially set out to uncover the mystery to jump-start their new podcast. Their first stop is the yearbook teacher, Mr Cotter, who knows much more than he claims. Interestingly, the book is also seen by a couple of adults points of view, including Cotter and Charlie’s mum. This was slightly odd and child readers might find it a tad strange. But the more they investigate, the more the boys learn that Johnny's disappearance is far from an isolated incident and like Stephen King’s IT the story flicks back to when Mr Cotter was a kid and a previous disappearance. Set in Tennessee, this was a nice little page-turner which develops a great small-town atmosphere, has some cute scenes with the local girls and ramps things up nicely for a great ending. Charlie was a terrific lead character, who was overcoming personal tragedy of his own which was sensitively managed. AGE RANGE 10+

Rin Chupeco – The Sacrifice

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire (27 Sept. 2022)

With The Sacrifice Rin Chupeco makes a welcome return to YA horror after several years writing dark fantasy. The Girl from the Well (2014) and sequel The Suffering (2015) were outstanding reads, with the former ranked ten in our top fifty YA horror novels of the last decade. Like those earlier works Chupeco makes full use of the folklore and mythology of the Philippines, setting the action entirely on a remote island which is both highly inaccessible and quite possibly cursed. The action opens with a group of loud and obnoxious American filmmakers arriving at the island of Kisapmata, after greasing the hands of the local government to visit a location which is normally out-of-bounds to tourists. The island has a history of disappearances, strange occurrences and the novel nicely delves deeply into local folklore, curses, demons, gods, sacrifices and builds an impressive body count (with several nasty kills along the way) as the mystery deepens and the film goes way off track. Of course, initially the loud Americans do not believe any of this and treat the local teen (Alon) who becomes their guide as a gullible mug. Big mistake.

Most of the Americans were deserving of their fate, but the novel revolves around the native Alon. This character was presented predominately as gender-neutral and it was hard to decide whether the teen was male or female, although some of the reasoning for this was revealed much later in the plot. Because of the nature of this character the first-person narrative was very vague (I found it slightly bland) and they are presented almost as an observer who warns the Americans of what lies ahead, but in actual fact does not do much to truly put them off. On the day of their arrival a huge sink hole appears in the camp, which uncovers ancient looking trees which look like wizened dried out old people and from there on the book begins to motor. This was a good fast read, even though the characters were relatively shallow the location was terrific and the use of the supernatural was very convincing. I saw the ending coming and will be interested to find out whether genuine teen readers do the same. It’s great to have Rin Chupeco writing horror again. AGE RANGE 13+

Kate Dylan – Mindwalker

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton (1 Sept. 2022)

Kate Dylan’s debut Mindwalker was a straight science fiction thriller aimed at older teens, in actual fact adults could read it and barely notice it was a YA novel as the main character had recently turned eighteen. There was no sex, violence was restrained and there was little swearing, so anybody who enjoys stories with advanced technology, cyberpunk overtones might find something to get their teeth into. Make sure you read the first fifty pages very closely so you get your head around how ‘Mindwalkers’ operate which is the core technology of the book in which Syntex employees commandeer or highjack/piggyback into the minds of secret operatives and help them out of sticky situations. The novel is seen from the point of view of Sil Sarrah, who has a 100% success rate in guiding spies (or whatever you want to call them) to safety. She was recruited when she was eight and ten years later has been rebuilt with all the latest technology, this is until an operation goes wrong and the all-powerful corporation Syntex turns against her. Is she a scapegoat or is there a deeper conspiracy going on?

Although the characters were sketchy and lacked emotional depth it did not hold the story back too much as from early in the tale we find out that Mindwalkers have an expiration date and few are still in operation beyond the age of nineteen and Sarrah’s technology is beginning to malfunction when the book opens. The idea of jumping into the minds of others is nothing new and had me thinking of another YA duology Lissa Price’s Starters where the rich could rent the use of other people’s bodies and run wild with the opportunity and even murder, which was not so different with what happens here. Once Sil goes on the run from Syntex we see the story from the other side, the Analog Army (the equivalent of the Anonymous hacker group) and she is caught in the middle, whilst both trying to clear her name and survive. There is a lot to enjoy here from vividly drawn and scary technology, espionage nice action sequences, funny banter and convincing worldbuilding which was a not-too distant dystopian version of where we are today. A terrific book to distract teens who are addicted to their devices! AGE RANGE 13/14 TO ADULT

Brian Keene – School’s Out

Publisher ‏ : ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (17 Oct. 2017)

School’s Out by horror legend Brian Keene, a sixty-nine-page novella, was first published back in 2017, but as it was recently part of his excellent 0.99$ weekly deals I thought I would investigate his kids’ stuff for the first time. Amazon lists the book at ages 9-18, which is too wide a range and not particularly helpful and I would peg it at the lower end of that age bracket. However, the major issue I had with School’s Out is that not enough happens to engage young readers, with a plot which contains very little action, character interaction or much else to hook young readers. This is a very reflective story and character study of a child which might be enjoyed more by adults.

Uncannily like a super vicious version of Covid-19, a virus spreads and Alan’s dad dies when the story opens. His mother is travelling, initially contacts him, then disappears, presumed dead. The rest of the novella then concerns how the boy survives on his own with a couple of gross bits along the way and a run-in with starving wild dogs. In the afterward Keene gives some ideas where the story came from and the relation to his own kids, ultimately I do not think youngish children want to read stories which are too realistic featuring characters like themselves stranded home alone, slowly starving and dreaming of happier times at school. Sure, it was realistic, but this age-group requires more escapism and plot in their fiction. It was also too short, but definitely had the potential to be turned into a longer work if the story was developed beyond the single character narrative. Sadly, however, there is zero interest in novellas in the children’s book market and I’m sure Keene saw School’s Out as an interesting literary diversion in between his adult projects. AGE RANGE 10-13

Sana Rasoul – The Twig Man

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hashtag Press (6 Oct. 2022)

The list of great Middle Grade horror fiction just got one book longer with Sana Rasoul’s highly entertaining debut The Twig Man, which is set in the creepy town of Hanging Hill and has a reputation for unexplained disappearances. Situated just off a motorway, with a big encroaching forest the author does an excellent job of creating a location where people disappear and the local legend ‘The Twig Man’ is quietly whispered about. Main character, twelve-year-old Ari, believes in The Twig Man and is certain the creature is responsible for kidnapped his sister Lana a year earlier. When the book opens the anniversary of her disappearance is approaching, with their parents believing that she ran away due to the fact that a plane ticket was found in her room. Lana was of Sixth Form age and although there was a big age gap the siblings were incredibly close and Ari refuses to give up hope of her safe return and begins to investigate The Twig Man legend. He misses her every day and his grief seeps through the pages of the novel.

Although The Twig Man had some creepy bits it is perfect for kids in Year Six and Seven, who do not want to read anything too scary. Ari is a very brave boy and will sacrifice everything to get his sister back, even if this means going against the wishes of his Kurdish parents who are wracked with a combination of grief and guilt. We find out Ari has no friends (but the story provides little detail why) but early in the novel he meets a home-schooled boy called Timmie who also believes in the monster and together they enter the haunted woods to look for Lana. Meanwhile, The Twig Man has his own eye on the two boys and a battle of cat and mouse begins as the monster also targets them. On one level The Twig Man was a great supernatural yarn about a boy who refused to give up, it was also a very gentle book about friendship, family, loneliness and standing up for yourself. AGE RANGE 9-12

JP Rose – The Haunting of Tyrese Walker

Andersen Press (6 Oct. 2022)

I was greatly impressed by JP Rose’s The Haunting of Tyrese Walker which uses grief, loss and mental health as a convincing basis to build an excellent horror story which could be read by both Middle Grade and YA age groups. It was creepy and unsettling rather than outright scary and because it was not particularly gory, violent or sweary it could pick up a wide audience. This was a compelling read which I sped through it in a few sittings, I also adored the use of the Jamaican folklore, which had me reaching for Google to find out what the supernatural references of ‘Duppy’ and ‘Soucouyant’ meant. The story was also beautifully paced, had a clever way of eliminating adults from the adventure and had three terrific main characters. It was also refreshing to read a novel with a boy as the main character, as these days most books of this type are dominated by female narratives. Equally so, I enjoyed the fact that the author did not feel the need to throw in a developing romance, as the story really did not require it and the importance was how Tyrese Walker overcame his own personal, painful and complex inner demons which were portrayed incredibly sensitively.

The story opens with Tyrese arriving in Jamaica with his mother to stay with his grandmother and cousin Marvin for the summer. The boy has struggled to recover from the death of his father some months earlier and is overcome with grief with his mother hoping the change of scenery will do some good. However, from the first night, strange things start happening: impossible visions, blackouts, swarms of insects, and the discovery of a grave hidden deep in the forest… Tyrese can’t explain what’s going on and he’s scared that he’s losing his grip on reality. However, friendship develops with his cousin and a girl called Ellie who is visiting the island with her developer father. This leads to a mystery which takes in Jamaican folklore and the possibility that a boogieman type character is hunting him called the ‘Shadow Man’ and together they uncover a rash of unexplained disappearances and uncover the Shadow Man’s sinister history. The supernatural mystery element, which included some great possession scenes and freaky scenes of people with hooves were great, but the portrayal of Tyrese and how he deals with his grief stole the show. The book carefully shows the reader how loss can change you, but that the power of friendship can trump than. This was a terrific read and is highly recommended. AGE RANGE 11-14

Julia Rust & David Surface – Angel Falls

Publisher ‏ : Haverhill House Publishing LLC (26 Sept. 2022)

I was a huge fan Angel Falls co-written by Julia Rust and David Surface which was one of those books which deserves to find an audience, but I am unsure whether it will. Hopefully, there are enough thoughtful teenagers hanging out there willing to take a chance on this very subtle supernatural drama. Even though it was slow moving and did not include any over-the-top big finish I found this powerful character study of two lonely teenagers, who connect, strangely moving. Rarely have I seen supernatural happenings kept so far on the backburner as in Angel Falls, but it did not spoil my enjoyment of the book as the two sixteen-year-old main characters were so well drawn, along with the family dramas they are involved in, I barely noticed. However, I am unsure whether genuine teen readers will share my patience!

Jessie Reed (a girl) moves to the seaport village of Beauport for the summer (from New York) after her father inherits an old house. Separated from her friends, and with her parents having marriage problems, whilst out exploring Jessie meets Jared Younger. The pair initially fight after meeting in the remote area of Angel Falls, which Jared claims is dangerous, but after a false start they become friends. Jared has his own problems, his father a well-known local artist, suffers from crippling depression and they are struggling to make ends meet. Together they explore Angel Falls, which is beautifully and vividly described, they soon realise there might be some weird power in the local area and the ability to grant wishes. However, the plot is significantly more complex and there are various flip backs in time, a side-story with Jared’s teacher and a missing teenage girl all connected to the complex ripple-effect of wish-making. Fans of thoughtful, character driven stories which balance the pain of early teen romances with very subtle supernatural stories are in for a real treat. AGE RANGE 13+

Rosie Talbot – Sixteen Souls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic; 1st edition (13 Oct. 2022)

Sixteen Souls is the engaging debut of Rosie Talbot and although there is nothing particularly fresh about the plot (a teenager sees ghosts) it has considerable heart and a central character who had a lot of problems, including a serious disability, but did not necessarily want our sympathy. Other reviewers have namechecked other books we have previously reviewed on Ginger Nuts including Cemetery Boys, The Taking of Jake Livingstone and The Lockwood and Co series, which are all good points of reference. The first two of these books also have convincing LGBTQIA+ storylines which continues with another gay teenage boy in Sixteen Souls, who has not yet come out to his family. Although his sexuality is a key part of the story it does not dominate it, because sixteen-year-old Charlie Firth lives in York, which is known to be the most haunted city in the world. This is made worse by the fact that Charlie is a ‘Seer’ meaning he can see dead people and they can see him, they can also hurt him. The way the supernatural story was a nice blend of horror and urban fantasy with Charlie trying to live his life as normally as possible, seeing his gift as more of a curse.

The story is built around the fact that Charlie realises ghosts are disappearing. In York he is used to seeing ghosts gravitating and wandering around the same places (like they are stuck in a loop repeating their last moments) who do not know they are dead. Soon Charlie meets Sam Harrow, who is new to the area and also both a Seer and gay. What follows is a gentle, cute, romantic story which is nicely blended with the supernatural search for the missing ghosts and the dark purpose behind these disappearances. Lurking in the background is vivid worldbuilding and the spooky version of York created by the author is top notch and helps develop the mystery element of the story. Sixteen Souls was a highly entertaining queer take on the story of a sensitive young man, who is pushed far out of his comfort zone, who also happens to see dead people and the bizarre challenges that brings. AGE RANGE 13+

Danielle Valentine – How to Survive Your Murder

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Razorbill (30 Aug. 2022)

Danielle Valentine is the pseudonym for Danielle Vega, who we have reviewed in the past, and is best known for the Merciless quartet and the Haunted duology. She also writes under the name Danielle Rollins and we have covered the terrific Burning duology, with the Dark Star trilogy also being published under this name. Whichever name she is writing under, How to Survive Your Murder is undoubtedly one of the strongest of her novels I have read and is a wacky blend of thriller, stalker/slasher horror with an oddball warped take on the classic James Stewart film It’s a Wonderful Life. Although it is aimed at older teens, adults readers could have fun with it as it top-loaded with horror film references, way more than any genuine teenager is likely to know. If you have no idea who the fictional horror film character Sidney Prescott is, then you might not get very far with this book as the main character Alice Lawrence is a horror film obsessive and much prefers them to real life, that is until her elder sister Claire is murdered in an early flashback whilst she waits in court to give evidence against the accused.

To call How to Survive Your Murder far-fetched would be an understatement, but do not let that put you off, that is part of the fun, with the eventual killer (like in a horror film) being the least (and I mean LEAST!) likely candidate. I am not going to go into details about how this happens, but Alice flips back in time to before her sister is murdered and is given the opportunity to ‘bring her back’ but only is she identifies the genuine murderer before midnight. What follows is an entertaining horror thriller, where Alice has to come out of her horror film shell, flirt with a gorgeous college boy, and do her best to keep her sister alive in this past-alternative reality (or whatever it is!) The book has a major Final Girl vibe as Alice uncovers secrets, some close to home, whilst other characters come to a sticky end, whilst the clock ticks down to zero. Horror film fanatics in particular will love this book as will thriller readers who love a cool twist (and double twist even). All the characters are aged sixteen plus, so it’s aimed at older readers with numerous f-bombs and sporadic violence. Great gruesome fun! AGE RANGE 14+

Tony Jones

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YOUNG ADULT AND MIDDLE GRADE HORROR ROUNDUP FOR SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

4/10/2022

This month we return with a massive eleven Young Adult (YA) or Middle Grade (MG) titles for you to investigate further. The absolute highlight was the return of the YA horror brand Red Eye with their twelfth book The Lighthouse, by Alex Bell, which is one of my favourite teen horrors of 2022. I am also a huge fan of Kate Alice Marshall, whom I have reviewed many times, with her returning with another delicious slow burner, These Fleeting Shadows. Tori Bovalino is clearly an author to watch, following her excellent debut The Devil Makes Three with another entertaining read, Not Good for Maidens. On the YA front we also feature the debut of Ryan La Sala, which has great LGBTQIA+ representation in The Honeys, Nicole Lesperance’s dreamy The Depths and Sara Farizan’s retro Dead Flip.

Did Adam Cesare’s hugely successful Clown in a Cornfield genuinely need a sequel? I’m not convinced and found Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives slightly underwhelming. Darren Charlton also gives us a sequel to Wranglestone, with Timberdark which continues the original zombie story. As usual almost all the novels feature female narratives and those which do have boys are all gay.

Three of the books featured are Middle Grade and The Girl in White is the third Lindsay Currie novel we have covered in as many months. I have quickly become a huge fan of Lindsay and her brand of Middle Grade horror is second to none. Britain’s answer to Lindsay is undoubtedly Jennifer Killick and although Fear Ground (Dread Wood book 2) was a solid read, it lacked the freshness of the original. Finally, we have another easy Middle Grade novel, RJ McDowell’s Agatha Anxious and the Deer Island Ghost (Dead Fellow Five Book 1) which was aimed at younger pupils.

The books are presented in alphabetical order and do get in touch if you have something we might want to review.

Alex Bell – The Lighthouse

Published by Stripes Publishing (29 Sept. 2022)

I’m delighted to announce that the queen of Red Eye YA horror, Alex Bell is back, and she is on tremendous form with her fourth title in the UK’s most popular horror brand. The Lighthouse is Red Eye’s twelfth book since Bell opened the series with Frozen Charlotte (2014) and later continued with The Haunting (2016) and Charlotte Says (2017) with this new offering being their strongest release since Savage Island (2018) and Whiteout (2018). School librarians up and down the country release a collective cheer whenever a new Red Eye novel appears as kids just cannot get enough of them and they beautifully bridge the gap between Middle Grade and older YA. If you do not read much kids horror and are unsure what to recommend then the Red Eye brand is the perfect place to start. I guarantee that the incredibly well plotted The Lighthouse will have most young teens on the hook (and most adults) and make sure you hang around for a simply brilliant closing two pages which will wrong foot even the most jaded of adult horror readers.

The Lighthouse opens with fifteen-year-old Jess and twelve-year-old Rosie being shipped off to Bird Rock, a tiny island in the Outer Hebrides where they will stay with their ornithologist father, their half-brother Charlie and their stepmother. Jess narrates the story and is shocked to be stuck in such a remote location during the summer holidays, on an island dominated by gannets who shriek, stink, and poo endlessly. The family stay in the ancient lighthouse and bird hunters on the island say the lighthouse is haunted and has a very dark history. The manner in which the supernatural story was developed was perfectly pitched, expertly paced as Jess begins to feel increasingly isolated and things go bump in the night and Charlie begins to act stranger and stranger. But then things really kick off when Rosie disappears and nobody seems to remember her except for Jess. Along the way a teenage boy, with a tragic connection to the lighthouse helps out, and it was nice to see a token romance NOT thrown into the mix! This was a very cool pacey supernatural thriller. I loved it. AGE RANGE 11/12+

Tori Bovalino - Not Good for Maidens

Published by Titan Books (13 Sept. 2022)

Tori Bovalino follows her outstanding YA debut horror novel The Devil Makes Three with another deliciously captivating dark read. Not Good for Maidens is inspired by the Christina Rosetti poem Goblin Market and has some plot similarities in which two sisters are tempted by goblins. This skeleton of an idea morphs beautifully into a YA novel which is sure to appeal to fans of Holly Black and others who write dark fantasy using fairy or folk tales as inspiration. The story unfolds through two narratives told eighteen years apart, in the present-day Lou Wickett lives in Boston and is looking forward to the return of her aunt Neela, who is close to her in age and the pair are more like sisters. However, early in the action Neela disappears and we realise this is connected to the family’s history in York. Lou lives with both her mother and her aunt, who have been keeping secrets from her regarding their joint history in York, where they come from a lengthy line of witches. The second narrative jumps back eighteen years to York where (aunt) May was the same age as Lou and was having a fun time in York, until she falls for another girl. The problem was the girl was not any old girl, she was a goblin and much of the novel concerns the weird relationship between humans and goblins in York, which coexist in the Goblin Market. This is a dangerous place for humans (goblins eat people) but at certain times and for short periods it is (relatively) safe for humans to visit the Market as long as no rules are broken.

I enjoyed both narratives, which both have great LGBTQIA+ representation with Lou being asexual, however, I would have liked to have seen this explored further in the Goblin Market story as seduction was a big part of how the market ticked and this plotline seemed to lead to a dead end, unless acceptance was enough. The goblins are portrayed as horned creatures, which can use glamours to appear human and I struggled to shake off the Tolkien version of goblins from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Bearing in mind goblins eat humans, there was a fair bit of gore thrown into the mix, clearly showing what happens to those who are too dumb to survive in the Goblin Market. Considering Lou has no idea she comes from a family of (former) witches she adapts very quickly when she realises to rescue her aunt she has to visit the Goblin Market herself. The story was a fine balance of clever characterisation and well-developed fantasy setting where to survive following the rules is vital and it was made even more believable that there is no indication that Lou will become a witch overnight. The romance in the historical setting had a Romeo and Juliet vibe and the idea that covens of witches might operate in plain sight was nicely portrayed. There is even the hint of a sequel. Overall, this was great stuff. AGE RANGE 13+

Adam Cesare – Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives

Published by HarperTeen (1 Sept. 2022)

Adam Cesare’s Clown in a Cornfield was one of the strongest YA horror novels of the last few years and deservedly won the Bram Stoker Award Winner for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel back in 2020. It was also widely enjoyed by an adult readership, some of which did not realise they were reading what was technically a teen novel. Even though the original did not end on a cliff-hanger or particularly need a sequel, success has perhaps demanded a book which was not necessary. Interestingly, even though this sequel is much less violent that the original in other ways it is more mature with the main characters now at college with a storyline which will attract older/adult readers more so than genuine teen readers. The concept behind the story, that legends morph and never die, was also quite mature which younger readers might struggle with. Also, I would not read Frendo Lives without having read the original as it is strongly connected to the original and will not make a lot of sense.

Without going into spoiler territory Frendo Lives picks up the story a year after the events in book one where a group of crazed clowns massacred a bunch of teenagers. The story is built around Final Girl survivor Quinn who is now at college, with the story also flipping back to Kettle Springs, where her father still lives, and was the location of the original massacre. College life has been difficult for Quinn as most people see her as “that girl” from the massacre and her life is far from normal as she becomes the focus of online conspiracies. This was a fascinating part of the story: the idea that many believed the massacre never truly happened. But when a clown attacks Quinn at a frat party and then clowns start popping up back in Kettle Springs things start to kick off again, with her heading back home with two of the other survivors (who have become great friends) and circumstances start to motor. There was limited character development from book one and I found the whole thing incredibly far-fetched but it was a solid if unspectacular read which was nowhere near good enough to merit a third outing.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Darren Charlton – Timberdark (Wranglestone 2)

Published by Stripes Publishing (1 Sept. 2022)

Ginger Nuts of Horror tipped zombie apocalypse horror Wranglestone for the top back in 2020 and it has since featured in several of our ‘best of’ lists, including our Top Ten YA Novels of 2020. It then went onto win the Waterstones Prize (for YA readers) and was nominated for the Children’s Costa Book Prize and other leading prizes. All these accolades were well deserved, as it was a unique take on the zombie apocalypse, with two gay teenage boys as the central characters, set in a North American island location where in the winter the lake froze over and the dead (the ‘zombie’ word was rarely used) were able to get across to the Wranglestone community. What followed was a love story drama between Peter and Cooper (who were two vastly different boys) and the enfolding crisis when the zombies approach and there are also threats and dangerous secrets from within their own community. Timberdark picks up the Peter and Cooper story shortly after the events of its predecessor, taking the story in unpredictable directions. It would have been easy to have produced an action-packed sequel, but once again the author holds back on this and concentrates on the developing relationships and what happens when they begin to venture beyond the familiar boundaries of the wilds of Wranglestone.

Peter and Cooper head out looking for other survivors and end up staying in another community in which civilisation has begun to return and there is talk of a returning government and new laws etc. The novel concerns how Peter (gets a job in a cinema) and Cooper (loading boxes) deal with this, making new friends and how this might fit into their developing relationship. The couple stuff dominated the book, probably too much so, and I found it rather repetitive, yes, we know the boys loved each other, but it went on and on. I am unsure how regular teen readers will react to this as it took up an unnecessarily large chunk of the book. The other principal element of the book was the mystery surrounding what Timberdark actually meant and what Cooper might know about this and whether there were secrets in their relationship. As an extension there was the fear of ‘returnees’ those who had been bitten, but were not zombies, in which there was a general distrust of. Charlton takes the book into ambitious directions, but I am not sure how convincing I found it, but it was certainly another fresh take on the zombie story.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Lindsay Currie - The Girl in White

Published by Sourcebooks Young Readers (6 Sept. 2022)

We are delighted to provide you with the third Lindsay Currie novel in successive Young Blood roundups with The Girl in White being her brand-new Middle Grade novel. As with Scritch Scratch (2020) and What Lives in the Woods (2021) Currie has the ability to produce pitch-perfect Middle Grade chillers aimed at kids from ten to thirteen. They have thrills, wonderfully believable characters, clever plots and superb pacing which quickly turn her tales into great page-turners. In The Girl in White twelve-year-old Mallory has not quite adapted to life in the small coastal town of Eastport (Massachusetts) which has turned an old ghost story (more of a local legend) into a cottage industry as tourists flock to the town to find out more about ‘Sweet Molly.’ Like all of Currie’s novels friendships play a key role, with Bri, Emmie and eventually Joshua being pulled into a mystery which has Mallory on edge of which she is certain is connected to the Sweet Molly legend.

I loved the fact that Mallory found the commercial element of the Molly myth annoying, which was worsened by the fact that her parents owned a restaurant which really went over the top about the legend. I also thought her parents were great, not all kids have to come from a broken home to create a convincing Middle Grade story. Early in the tale Mallory wakes up with sand on her feet and realises she has been sleepwalking, coupled with weird visions and her seeing a strange old woman she is on edge. And the fact that it is almost Halloween every day in Eastport does not make things easy, however, she soon realises that her neighbour Joshua has been having a similar unsettling experience. What have they got in common? Neither kids are natives of Eastport. What follows is an entertaining supernatural thriller which plays around with the idea of myths, their commercialisation and reconnecting with the past. This was another winner from Lindsay Currie who is fast becoming one of my favourite Middle Grade authors. Now, which other books have I not read from her back catalogue?

AGE RANGE 10+

Sara Farizan – Dead Flip

Published by ‎ Algonquin Young Readers (30 Aug. 2022)

Dead Flip was a quirky teen drama with a supernatural vibe which via Stranger Things tries to tap into the nostalgia of the eighties and nineties through its two storylines which are told around five years apart (1987 and 1992). I would not necessarily call it a straight horror novel as it leaned heavily of teen drama, friendships and had an LGBTQIA+ storyline in the 1992 narrative. The plot jumps backwards and forwards a fair bit and shows how kids can grow apart from being best friends at twelve, to blanking the former best friend in the school corridor five years down the line. The teen and friendship drama was nicely managed, whilst the supernatural angle was downplayed and at the end seemed undercooked, even if things did finish open ended.

In 1987 the three best friends do everything together, Cori, Maz and Sam, however, when they are twelve and out Halloween trick or treating Sam accuses Cori of spending time with ‘cooler’ kids and feels she is drifting away from the trio. After an argument Sam stomps off and disappears and although there are searches he is never seen again. In 1992 Cori and Maz are no longer friends, but Maz had never got over the loss of his buddy until something truly out of this world happens, concerning the five years gone Sam. It is so bizarre Maz calls on his old friend Cori, who has her own problems having hidden her true gender identity. What follows is a blend of mystery, teen angst, friendship stuff, a taste of horror and a supernatural pinball machine!

AGE RANGE 12+

Jennifer Killick – Fear Ground (Dread Wood book 2)

Published by Farshore (1 Sept. 2022)

I am a huge fan of Jennifer Killick, who is one of the best Middle Grade horror writers around and have previously reviewed Crater Lake (book one and two) and the original Dread Wood, all of which I highly recommend. Fear Ground features the same characters who met during Saturday detention in the original Dread Wood and picks up the same story some months later whilst the kids are still in Year Seven (first year of secondary school). Dread Wood is the forest which surrounds their remotely located school and in the first book the children are stalked by the nasty school caretakers who are up to no good. Although it is not apparent at the start, Fear Ground is more connected to Dread Wood than you might originally think and it might have worked better as a standalone mystery rather all the references to the previous book. If anything, it might have been a better read if the ‘baddie’ in this book had nothing to do with its predecessor, but that was not the case.

The initial idea of the book was great, there’s a new craze at Dead Wood High concerning a computer app called ‘Flinch.’ The game is connected to fear and making other kids also playing the game jump. At first it’s fun, but soon fun is replaced by something more sinister. Shortly after the main characters notice that everyone is behaving a little bit more strangely every day, almost as if something is possessing them. Adult readers might start thinking of The Demon Headmaster, but what happens is much nastier than hypnotism. Although the visiting fair features prominently on the cover and title, it does not actually play that big a part in the story which was slightly disappointing. Soon Flinch gets very real and excitement turns to scares. I liked the idea of Flinch but thought it might have worked better if disconnected from book one, but ultimately the strongest element of the book was the characters, their banter and the acceptance of Collette to the group. There is lots to enjoy here for young horror fans.

AGE RANGE 9/10+

Nicole Lesperance – The Depths

Published by Razorbill (13 Sept. 2022)

Nicole Lesperance’s fascinating and atmospheric The Depths is undoubtedly aimed at strong confident YA readers as it is probably too slow moving for those readers looking for a thriller or easy scare. This literary gothic horror is targeting more thoughtful readers attracted to strong characterisation, beautiful but threatening landscapes and slow burning romance. Although anybody could read The Depths, I would imagine teenage girls to be its main audience. One of the main strengths of the novel is its main character seventeen-year-old Addie, who narrates the action, until a serious accident she was one of the world’s best free-divers, being able to sink to the depth of a 19-story-building without an oxygen tank. When the novel opens Addie is still convalescing from the accident where she drowned and was clinically dead for eight and a half minutes. Her recovery is slow, and an important part of the novel as she has restricted mobility and coughs up blood and remains in touch with her two best friends who are also free divers.

The setting and location were also key to the success of the story. Addie arrives on the remote Eulalie Island with her mother and new husband preparing to play gooseberry and regain her strength. The island is almost presented as a character in itself and is vividly described from the trees to the winds, the sand and the shades of the water. Some readers might well lose patience with this dreamy style as the plot is rather slow moving with only a handful of characters in the book. Soon Addie meets Billy, the son of the island keepers, and slowly the supernatural element of the story is introduced with local legends and ghosts which live on the island, which have their own agenda for Addie. As the story moved on there were some great underwater scenes and Addie realises Eulalie Island might not want her to leave. It was relatively easy to see which direction The Depths was heading, but it was an engaging and thoughtful read for those who enjoy immersive fiction.

AGE RANGE 13+

Kate Alice Marshall – These Fleeting Shadows

Published by Viking Books for Young Readers (9 Aug. 2022)

Over the last couple of years Kate Alice Marshall has become one of the most dependable authors of Young Adult and Middle Grade horror, she writes for both age groups equally well and there is little of her fiction I would not recommend. On the MG front her Thirteens trilogy is superb, with book two Brackenbeast (2022) top notch, with the third instalment Glassheart following imminently. Some of her YA novels are quite exceptional and beautifully blend other genres with horror, found footage, fantasy and thriller and I would particularly recommend Rules for Vanishing (2019) and Our Last Echoes (2022). Her latest, These Fleeting Shadows is another complex read which blends the supernatural, dark family drama, LGBTQIA+ love story and twister of a thriller. As with all of Marshall’s YA fiction nothing is quite what is seems and you will have to read this one closely to enjoy the impressive revelations which are dropped in the final quarter of the book.

Helen Vaughan’s grandfather (who she does not know) dies and she returns with her mother to the expansive ancestral home of Harrowstone Hall for the funeral where she finds out she is the major beneficiary in the will. However, there is a massive BUT. To claim the fifty million inheritance and estate she must live in the house for a year, without leaving the grounds and function as ‘Mistress’ to the house. The novel is built around the fact that this is no normal house and the fact that a supernatural presence called ‘The Other’ lives in the house and that Helen also has visions connected to a troubled past childhood. The story concerns Helen’s year in the house as she negotiates the family members, some of which want her to succeed and other see her fail. However, it is much more complex than that as the house is intrinsically a part of the family and soon Helen finds herself getting deeper into a supernatural family drama, not to mention the witch she befriends who lives on the grounds. Although the book will be too slow for some and does not rely on jump scares or violence more discerning and mature readers and guaranteed to be sucked into its intoxicating revelations and drama.

AGE RANGE 14+

RJ McDowell - Agatha Anxious & the Deer Island Ghost (Dead Fellow Five Book 1)

Published by Crumblebee Books (20 Sept. 2022)

Agatha Anxious and the Deer Island Ghost is the first book in the Deadfellow Five series (set in Biloxi, Mississippi) and features a girl who turns thirteen over the course of the novel and has the ability to see ghosts after inheriting a supernatural gift from her aunt. Although Agatha is a nice and engaging character she comes across as much less than thirteen and I would pitch the story at kids aged eight to eleven. However, the plot is fairly slow moving and kids that young might get bored by the sluggish pace and lack of action in the initial stages. It was also disappointing to see the boy character (Leopold) given a very bland and one-dimensional support role. There is a never-ending supply of books full of girls like Agatha Anxious, but sadly boys seem to have been completely written out of the equation. Many of the characters also have really twee sounding juvenile names, such as Dorian Doom or Leopold Panic, which sound like they belong in a cartoon or in a book for even younger kids.

In the initial stages of the story Agatha realises she can see ghosts and hangs out more with her aunt than other kids at school, preferring to visit the local graveyard. Around the time her aunt Hattie disappears Agatha and Leopold embark upon solving the mystery of what happened to her aunt, whilst connecting it to another classmate finding an ancient coin which might have a connection to a local myth. Agatha realises she has to help the ghost which has been reaching out to her and this connects not only to a wider local mystery, but also a book report for school. The supernatural story was slow moving, a skeleton hand and then communication via a scrabble board, but was nicely supplemented by school classroom scenes, the relationship with her aunt and a good lead into the second book in the series. Although Agatha Anxious gives us nothing new it was a nice, non-threatening and not too scary read for lower Middle Grade readers.

AGE RANGE 8-11.

RYAN LA SALA – THE HONEYS

Published by Scholastic Fiction (18 Aug. 2022)

Ryan La Sala’s The Honeys has a terrific opening twenty pages which, although enjoyable enough, the rest of the book does not quite live up to, but there is underlying tension in the manner in which the plot will circle back to it. Marshall “Mars” Matthias is at home getting ready for bed, when his twin sister appears unexpectedly and attacks him, there is a struggle and she is killed when she falls backwards. As the family is both rich and influential the exact circumstances of Caroline’s death are hushed up and of course Mars is wracked with guilt for the accidental part he played in her death. As it is narrated in the first person we get a good sense of who seventeen-year-old Mars, a gender-fluid gay boy who is beginning to get comfortable with his own identity. Mars generally uses the ‘he’ pronoun but is also happy with ‘she’ or ‘they’ and his sexuality plays a significant part in the story and along the way makes very natural observations about makeup and the issues he has faced since becoming gender fluid. He was an engaging lead character and does not go looking for the reader’s sympathy and if far from a shrinking violet and happy to stand up for himself when required.

The story revolves around Mars trying to find out what led to his sister to fall apart in his bedroom. This takes him to the prestigious Aspen Conservancy Summer Academy where she was staying, a camp he had previously stayed in when he was younger but was excluded because of his sexuality. Mars takes up Caroline’s place at the camp and gets to know her clique of best friends known as ‘The Honeys’ as their cabin is close to the beehives. At this point events got familiar, as there are so many books set in rich American camps and the girls themselves were also dull caricatures of exactly who you might expect to find in such camps. Because of his sexuality, and the fact that he is the twin of their former friend, he is soon accepted into the group. It then blends into a rather slow-moving teen drama, coupled with Mars having both visions and flashbacks which might shed light upon what happened to his sister. Things open up in the final third and the pace quickens, and the ending will undoubtedly hold more surprises for genuine teen readers than I. There were a lot of f-bombs in the text, otherwise teens of most ages might enjoy it.

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Tony Jones

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Jamie Costello - Monochrome​

Yvette Fielding – The Ripper of Whitechapel (The Ghost Hunter Chronicles book 2)

AF Harrold – The Worlds We Leave Behind

Kate Alice Marshall – Glassheart (Thirteens book 3, the Secrets of Eden Eld)

Manon Steffan Ros – The Blue Book of Nebo

Jonathan Stroud - The Notorious Scarlett and Browne: being an account of the fearless outlaws and their infamous deeds

Angharad Walker – Once Upon a Fever

Erica Waters – The Restless Dark

Naomi Gibson - Game Over Girl​

Chelsea Ichaso – They’re Watching You​

Tess James-Mackey - Someone is Watching You​

Cynthia Murphy – The Midnight Game​

Rebecca Schaeffer – City of Nightmares

Trang Thanh Tran - She Is a Haunting

Sara Walters – Missing Dead Girls

Lily Anderson – Scout’s Honor (5/10)

Ann Fraistat – What We Harvest (7/10)​

Tiffany D Jackson – The Weight of Blood (9.5/10)​

Nicole Lesperance – The Depths (7/10)​

Kate Alice Marshall – These Fleeting Shadows (8/10)​

Robert P Ottone – The Triangle (5.5/10)

Amy Christine Parker – Flight 171 (8.5/10)​

V.E. Schwab – Gallant (6/10)​

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Andrew Joseph White - Hell Followed with Us (7.5/10)​

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Rebecca Barrow – Bad Things Happen Here

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Kayla Cottingham - My Dearest Darkest​

Kayla Cottingham – This Delicious Death

Victoria Dalpe – Parasite Life

Ryan Douglass – The Taking of Jake Livingstone

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Courtney Gould - The Dead and the Dark

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E. Latimer – Witches of Ash and Ruin

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Caroline O’Donoghue – All Our Hidden Gifts

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Rory Power - Wilder Girls

Julia Lynn Rubin - Primal Animals

Ryan La Sala – The Honeys

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Deirdrie Sullivan – Perfectly Preventable Deaths

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check out this great review of SKINAMARINK

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Holly Louise Perry – Camp Kinross

Christopher Pike – The Midnight Club

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Mary Watson – Blood to Poison

Nate Cernosek – The Hiddenseek​

Jamie Costello - Monochrome

Naomi Gibson - Game Over Girl

Chelsea Ichaso – They’re Watching You

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Vincent Tirado - Burn Down, Rise Up

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Trang Thanh Tran - She Is a Haunting

Kaitlin Ward – Bleeding Earth

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Lindsay Currie - The Girl in White

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Julia Rust & David Surface – Angel Falls

THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR PROMOTION WEBSITES

Tori Bovalino - Not Good for Maidens

Adam Cesare – Clown in a Cornfield 2: Frendo Lives

Darren Charlton – Timberdark (Wranglestone 2)

Lindsay Currie - The Girl in White

Jennifer Killick – Fear Ground (Dread Wood book 2)

Kate Alice Marshall – These Fleeting Shadows

RYAN LA SALA – THE HONEYS