Christmas will soon be with us and you may well be looking to buy a literary gift for your favourite niece, nephew, or any kid who might appreciate a book instead of a box of chocolates or novelty socks. As usual we feature books which cover the broad areas of ‘dark fiction’ rather than straight horror which always seems to be in short supply. All these books were published in 2019 and have been previously reviewed at some point in the year.
There are some very original and engaging titles and are all excellent reads. I guarantee there are some real winners for budding horror fans out there…. They are presented in alphabetical order by author.
If you wish to purchase any of these books, simply click on the book's title, or use the widget at the end of this article
ANN AGUIRRE: HEARTWOOD BOX
Ann Aguirre’s highly engaging Heartwood Box is not a traditional horror novel, but there is much to enjoy in a teen thriller which blends elements of science fiction, messages passing through time (in the Heartwood Box) and an outstanding female leading character in Araceli Flores Harper. This spunky teenager finds herself living in a tiny town with her ancient great aunty Ottillie as her parents are going to be working abroad whilst she completes her final year at high school. Upon arrival Araceli notices missing posters all over town and soon realises people have been disappearing in this town for twenty years, including the husband of her great aunt and kids from her new school. The clever plot has several different layers; first up, Araceli is half-Mexican in a town which is incredibly white and so it has interesting stuff to say about race. The teenager also likes to dance and tries to get on the school team. It convincingly tells a teenage story of a girl trying to fit it and her developing friendship with the nice boy who lives across the road, who also happens to be the sheriff’s son and has issues of his own. As the disappearances continue Araceli finds a freaky way of writing to an American soldier who has just shipped to France way back in 1917 and much of the plot focusses on this time-slip development. It could have been something out of the X-Files, but I found it worked very well and the relationship between Araceli and her great aunt was perfectly pitched. Make sure you hang around for the wonderful knock-out ending! AGE 13+ LAURA BATES: THE BURNING If you’re on the hunt for a YA novel which effortlessly blends the horrors of teenage social media with the tale of a 400-year-old witch trial, then look no further. This was a superb read which carries a powerful message about the dangers of posting the wrong stuff and peer pressure, delivering it in a naturalistic style, which never becomes heavy handed or preachy. In no time at all you will be rooting for the teenage protagonist Anna who is dragged through a horrific emotional wringer. The Burning is horror with a light touch, the pain and long-term repercussions of one naive decision becomes scarier than any supernatural bogeyman. The fallout was severe, and The Burning opens with Anna and her mother leaving their old life in Birmingham behind to live in a small coastal village near Saint Andrews on the east side of Scotland. Starting any new school is difficult and Laura Bates completely nails the awkwardness of this transition, but before long she becomes friends with local girls, but bullying is never far away and soon her past catches up with her. The Burning has a second main story which nudges it into the horror genre, beyond the horrors of everyday teenage life. As part of a school history project everyone researches a topic of local interest and after Anna discovers an obscure reference to someone who was suspected of being a witch centuries earlier. As she uncovers the story, the plight of Maggie, she realises the ‘witch’ has many startling similarities to her own story and starts to feel a strong connection to the long-dead young woman, part of which whose story is told in flashback. In my experience in YA fiction kids generally avoid books which obviously have a heavy-handed message, The Burning works because its warning are very subtle with a top-notch story, believable story and a convincing dose of history. AGE 13+ AMELINDA BERUBE: HERE THERE ARE MONSTERS I was really captivated by this slow-burning YA horror/fantasy novel which genuinely nailed the troubled psyche of a sixteen-year-old girl who is trying to deal with the sudden disappearance of her little sister, aged thirteen. The younger girl Deirdre has issues, which are revealed slowly as the plot moves backwards and forwards through narratives before and after the disappearance. Although Skye was not to blame, she feels guilty and it puts a strain on her relationship with her struggling parents who try not to accuse her. But when they’re so stressed tensions run very high. The supernatural aspect is slowly filtered into the book and the haunting aspect of the story is cleverly connected to Skye, her new friends and what lives within the local forest. Or is it something which has followed the sisters throughout their childhood? The compelling friendship dynamics Skye has with her new school friends works very well as she struggles to cope even more as the length of the disappearance stretches. The mystery quickly deepens, and I found this to be an excellent and atmospheric read for teenagers looking for a subtle supernatural slow burner. AGE 13+ JIMMY CAJOLEAS: THE GOOD DEMON The Good Demon was a very refreshing, rather different, and quite funny spin on the possession story which begins after a demon is forcibly removed from teenage Clare by two charismatic Christians. This was not exactly an exorcism, as exorcisms are Catholic ceremonies, this was a ‘deliverance’ and what makes this slightly odd is that Clare is sad to be without her demon, which had lived within her for several years. She always looked upon the demon as a friend and a comforting experience which she referred to as ‘Her Only’. She is struggling to get on with her life when she meets the teenage boy who helped with the deliverance and they become friends, with him feeling a certain about of guilt for his part in the ‘deliverance’. Bizarrely, although the demon is gone Clare believes she is receiving messages from ‘Her Only’ she begins to search for her demon, with the teenager whom she begins to fall for. You’ll have great fun following the clues, meeting irrelevant characters and will be rooting for Clare in no time, who was a lovely character with an authentic voice. There was a lot going on and the book has much to say about fundamentalism, family, first love in a very entertaining and non-judgemental manner. AGE 13+ 
ANN DAVILA CARDINAL: FIVE MIDNIGHTS
I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced supernatural thriller set over a few hot and sweaty days in Puerto Rico. An American teenager (who has a Puerto Rican father) who speaks rubbish Spanish visits the island for the summer she gets sucked into a supernatural mystery surrounding the disappearance of her cousin and several of his friends. Luckily her uncle is the chief of police and so she has some insider knowledge on what is going on and inserts herself into a convoluted and brooding mystery. The horror aspect revolves around a Puerto Rican version of the boogieman who is killing teenagers with birthdays whose are very close together and known to Lupe. Has someone activated a curse, or how is this create targeting its victims? This is all part of the drama Lupe is sucked into. Seen from multiple points of view, throw in a splash of romance, a musical heartthrob, Lupe is an energetic lead character who is not scared to clash with the tough local women who see her as a ‘gringo’ interloper who needs to be put in her place. A highly entertaining supernatural thriller with a convincing and enlightening culturally different setting. AGE 13+ GABRIEL DYLAN: WHITEOUT A huge snowstorm is brewing whilst a group of British sixth form school pupils retire to their hotel after a hard day of skiing, in the remote mountains of Austria. The hotel is weirdly short of staff and all the locals have abandoned their shops. In the middle of the night one of the girls screams after blood is found and the pupils soon discover some of their teachers have also disappeared. They quickly realise something horrible is outside and once a ski instructor is ripped out of the door and they are under attack. This all happens incredibly quickly and soon the group are attempting to hide and wait it out but with the storm raging they realise there is no help coming anytime soon. Whiteout is an outstanding addition to the Red Eye series. It was a very gripping book that wasted no time introducing the horror elements and was unrelenting once it got going. I say this because the deaths start mounting up as early as page sixty. This very violent opening section gives the reader terror, action and humour revolving around the time the enemy makes its first bloody appearance. I would recommend this novel to anyone who reads the Red Eye series or who enjoys action and horror novels. Overall, it was a great page turner and an easy, quick and undemanding read that will leave you satisfied. AGE 12+ CAROLINE FLARITY: THE GHOST HUNTER’S DAUGHTER Sixteen-year-old Anna is having a tough time at school, often known as ‘Zombie Girl’, because she has a prominent scar on her face and a father with a very odd job. He is a type of ghost hunter (or exorcist) and specialises more in ‘cleaning’ haunted objects, rather than ghosts. They struggle to pay the bills and Anna still reflects on the death of her mother eight years earlier and the fact that her soul may be stuck in spiritual limbo and could still be possessed by a demon. I thought this novel cleverly balanced its supernatural story with the normal trials and tribulations of a teenage girl who comes from a weird family and does her best to deal with it. Anna has two good friends she can count on (Freddy and Dor) but has a major crush on a boy from school which plays an important part in the story. As well as covering stuff like social media shaming, bullying and peer pressure the supernatural angle builds nicely as the plot develops into a much wider conspiracy. As Anna is her dad’s assistant in his supernatural dealings she is bullied at school, but at the same time strange stuff really does seem to be happening, which many people believe is because of a rare solar storm which will light up the night sky. Anna is an engaging character, she is not perfect, makes a lot of wrong decisions, but nobody gets it right all the time and shines when the chips are down. A great combination of school life, teenage angst and a few demons. AGE 13+ FRANCES HARDINGE: DEEPLIGHT Hardinge’s last three novels have mixed the supernatural and historical fiction, Deeplight is set on a sprawling archipelago called the Myriad. There are hundreds of tiny islands which trade with each other for survival and the action begins on the Island of Lady’s Crave where two fourteen-year-old street urchins Hark and his best friend Jelt scrape a living. You could be forgiven for thinking an adventure story with two orphans sounds slightly familiar, however, it is the setting and the world-building which marks this book apart from the competition. Myriad is a superb creation and if you’re after a location to fire the minds and imaginations of young teenagers then look no further than Deeplight, as the backdrop is something special and positively brimming with clever ideas. For centuries the islanders lived in awe and dread of the grotesque and terrible gods that lurked in the deep seas, which were effectively giant sea-monsters who could attack boats and ships at a moment’s notice. However, thirty years before the novel begins there was a cataclysmic event where all the god-monsters unexpectedly killed each other. In the three decades since the monster gods died, fisherman and travellers have discovered fragments of the dead creatures whilst out fishing or swimming. These finds supposedly have exciting and useful properties, so a diving and submersible salvage and scavenger culture has emerged all over the Myriad. Ultimately finding valuable ‘godware’ can make your fortune, but much of it is fake and the two teenagers get sucked into this world when they find a very strange piece of godware, which is most definitely not fake. Children novels which allow youngsters to forget technology and escape to faraway places are vitally important as we all need to dream of these places. Lands which are drawn so vividly they become real enough to touch are truly special and Frances Hardinge has created such a place in Deeplight. AGE 12+ 
JUSTINA IRELAND: DREAD NATION
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 and temporarily put their differences aside. This stunning novel picks up the story fifteen years later. The word zombie is never used (‘shambler’ is the preferred term) and there is not the slightest hint of anything supernatural, it is merely portrayed as some sort of infection which science cannot yet explain. As Dread Nation is set fifteen years after the outbreak and America has begun to recover. Many cities in the east have been lost 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. On one level Dread Nation is a convincing 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 (or mixed-race) and is used as a virtual slave as a type of bodyguard (called Attendants) to a white woman. A new law, the ‘Negro and Native Re-education Act’ forces young black women to be taught a mixture of fighting skills and house etiquette and are the first line of defence against any shamblers which might attack the walled settlements. Jane is a funny, sassy, proud and terrific character whom you’ll be rooting for all the way. AGE 13+ LIZ KERIN: THE PHANTOM FOREST If you’re looking for a read which mixes horror, fantasy and a dash of ancient mythology then Liz Kerin’s The Phantom Forest is well worth investigating. Part of the novel is set in a Hell type location called the Underworld where a cursed demon called Haben lives. He’s a sympathetic character, whom at certain times turns into a creature called ‘The Savage’, when this transformation occurs, he is unable to resist the taste of human flesh. Above ground, in the town of Khronasa where most of the story is set, several times a year, there is a human sacrifice to this creature. When the novel opens a teenage girl Seycia gets into a fight and catches the eye of General Simeon who is the feared dignitary in charge of the local area. Due to bad blood with Seycia’s dead father soon the girl and her little brother are next in line to be lunch for ‘The Savage’. Thrown into the pit, which fills with water, everyone awaits the appearance of the fearful creature. Seycia is one tough girl and is not going to be an easy kill for anyone, not even an immortal demon. There were many plot strands in this fresh and entertaining novel which had me guessing where and when it might be set? There were guns and cars, but there was also talk of long ended wars, but it remained elusively difficult to pinpoint it as post-apocalyptic. Interestingly, the overruling empire had banned human sacrifices, but General Simeon allowed the practice to go on anyway. He was a great character with a horribly deformed face and a long memory; throw in a spunky little brother, the seeds of rebellion and the quest to discover the Forest of Laida where human souls were kept it was all great stuff which licked along at a nice pace. At a point human and demon get confused and the developing friendship of the demon Haden and Seycia was a major highlight. AGE 13+ CAITLIN KITTREDGE: DREAMING DARKLY I was quickly sucked into Caitlin Kittredge’s moody and twisty gothic mystery, Dreaming Darkly, which was loaded with a tasty dose of moody teen romance. Set on Darkhaven, an American island off the New England coast, whose sole occupants are two feuding families, this atmospheric, fast-paced page-turner featuring a teenager who moves to the island after the death of her mother. Sixteen-year-old Ivy Bloodgood ends up staying with her uncle, a man she never knew existed until he claimed her after her mother’s death. At first it looks like things might be working out for Ivy, who is a great leading character, until odd things begin to happen around her and she begins to see weird things, has crazy dreams, wakes up in odd places and begins to question her own sanity. Along the way Ivy meets the teenage son of the neighbouring feuding family and hears of an old family curse; the majority of which either end up committing suicide or murdering someone. Friendship soon develops and the boy helps her solve the mystery of who she is and who her absent (or dead) father is. Nothing is quite what it seems and Dreaming Darkly is a fine mix of moody family drama, teenage angst, mystery novel with heavy supernatural overtones. AGE 13+ DAWN KURTAGICH: TEETH IN THE MIST I am a huge fan of Dawn Kurtagich and we have featured both her previous novels The Dead House and Creeper Man on Ginger Nuts. Her latest novel Teeth in the Mist is perhaps even more ambitious and is a complex story, set in a huge mansion in rural Wales, split over three narratives in the present day, 1851 and 1583 with a strong supernatural theme permeating through the story. It was a very chunky book, with different fonts and voices and took a bit of time to get into the flow but it is worthy sticking with. This was the case with both her previous two novels, let us hope teenage readers give it a chance as it is not an easy read and may overwhelm many. Sixteen-year-old photography buff Zoey ends up at Medwyn Mill House and is fascinated with the ruin and after spending the night there with her friend Poulton and is sure they are not alone. Jumping back to 1851 seventeen-year-old Roan arrives at Mill House as a ward and soon realises she is connected to an ancient secret and must try and escape the house, but that is not as easy as it might sound. However, there is something connecting the three young women, which also includes Hermoine who relocates with her husband to the same area in 1583. This was a very strong blend of mystery, horror and dark fantasy, resulting in another highly original read. AGE 13+ 
KIM LIGGETT: THE GRACE YEAR
Kim Liggett’s The Grace Year is a very clever mix of teenage angst and gender suppression in an unnamed, superstitious and backward society. Tierney James lives in an isolated village where at the age of sixteen girls are chosen to be brides and there is shame upon the families of those not chosen. The rejected individuals are then given menial jobs and will never marry. Tierney is a tomboy and does not expect to be chosen…. However, before the marriages take place the girls (both chosen and not chosen) are banished for a calendar year to an isolated camp to survive for themselves, they are not allowed to leave and there are many dangers. Why does this happen? It is believed that for this year girls develop magical powers and if they’re kept isolated then they cannot cause any harm to the rest of the village, particularly men who may fall under their thrall. Kim Liggett creates a very believable setting and society in which suppression dominates the everyday lives of girls who do not know any better. This is a world in which a woman can be hung with little evidence and certainly no trial. As the girl’s time in the isolated camp lengths the author plays an excellent game of smoke and mirrors as the full extent of the conspiracy is revealed. The Grace Year was an outstanding thriller with a young woman fighting against oppression in a society where she had no voice. AGE 13+ JACQUELINE WEST: LAST THINGS Young Adult novels with a musical theme are notoriously tricky to get right and when you throw in heavy metal it becomes even more difficult to avoid the dreaded devil-horn clichés. Amazingly, Jacqueline West superb Last Things avoids these pitfalls in a gripping tale of a tortured teenage musician who believes his success might be because of a strange conversation he can’t get out of his head. The music scenes with Anders truly sizzle, equally his obsession with improving his guitar style and the comedown when the gig is over is completely convincing when he is alone brooding in his bedroom. The story is told via two uniquely different first-person narratives in alternating chapters; ‘Thea’ and ‘Anders’, with all the action taking place in the small Minnesota town of Greenwood. The band are beautifully portrayed as three young men, with dreams of escaping their small town, until the cracks begin to show after Anders makes a few rash big decisions on his own. They are big news and it is easy for the reader to get carried along by their success. Where’s the supernatural angle you might ask? Anders believes, even if he practices for hours every day, he plays better than he should. He suspects something has happened to make him this good and feels that deep down he is a cheat and does not deserve this success. The blend of atmosphere, the music vibe, the subtle supernatural approach and a host of engaging characters made this one of the best YA supernatural thrillers I have read in a while. Make sure you’re listening to Rage against the Machine if you’re checking out this book! AGE 12+ ALEXANDER YATES: HOW WE BECAME WICKED How We Became Wicked was an odd, but entertaining, mix of apocalyptic and dystopian thriller. At some point in the past a type of ultraviolet mosquito like insect, which become known as ‘Singers’, carry an infection which leads a huge proportion of the human population being murdered by the other half (or third…) The plague, which is called ‘Wicked’, spreads through the world creating three types of people which effectively ends the world as we know it. The story picks up the action some years later when humanity is on its last legs. Modern teen dystopian fiction is forever splitting people into groups, but the idea in How We Became Wicked is quite a neat one. Group one is ‘The Wicked’ who have been bitten by the ‘Singers’ and live solely to kill those who have not been infected. They are not mindless thugs and maintain an intellect and can hide their infection before casually adding something like “I would really like to explore the inside of your brain” into the conversation. The Second group is ‘The True’ who live in contained and isolated communities and the novel is set in one of these communities on a remote Canadian island, which has been cut off from the rest of the world for years. The third group is ‘The Vexed’ which is a much smaller group who are immune to the mosquitoes, some of which live with ‘The True’. The story is mostly seen from the point of view of two teenagers, who were once a couple, one is ‘True’ and the other ‘Vexed’ and a complex and clever plot as they begin to dig into the history of the plague, weird goings on at the lighthouse on a neighbouring island and how it is to be the two youngest inhabitants at the island by some years. This book was outstandingly quirky, had lots going for it, many clever observations and an outstanding ending. AGE 12+ 
 Three is most definitely the magic number when it comes to sequels and series; the classic beginning, the powerful middle and the knockout ending, famously captured by trilogies such as Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. It’s also fair to say that many series, with yet another unwelcome entry, overstay their welcome and after a while begin to stink. Sadly, a significant number of these lurk in YA and children’s fiction which is full of authors which have found a moderately successful formula and refuse to budge from it, or their publisher will not let them. We recently ran an accompanying article on duologies and today we list our favourite trilogies. Many of the best of these were always intended to be three books, a few might have been extended due to unexpected success and a few yet may yet develop into quartets. If you’re looking for something to buy a teenager for Christmas there are lots to choose from here, many featured ventures into science fiction and fantasy, generally inhabiting the world of ‘dark fiction’. Enjoy, both the old and the new! They are listed alphabetically and the date of first and last book is noted. Do get in touch if you think there are any glaring omissions.  ILSA BICK: ASHES (2011-13) Nail-biting fusion of science fiction and horror sees huge casualties after an unexplained and potentially apocalyptic EMP strike. Worse things are to come though, some of the survivor’s morph into beings which are no longer human and are incredibly dangerous. But Alex, who was suffering from a brain tumour is strangely unaffected and was in an isolated location when the EMP went off, fights to survive in this tremendous series which is begging to be made into a great film. The author previously wrote Star Trek fiction, but Ashes is a cut above that with an engaging and sympathetic female lead who puts her own serious health problems aside to survive the day. AGE 12+ ALICE BROADWAY: INK (2017-19) I adored this quirky and highly original dystopian tale of a land where the whole population have the significant moments from their life tattooed on their skin to record the event. The whole culture and society are built around this weird concept and when teenage Leora leaves school she hopes to get a top job working in tattoo design. After death the deceased are skinned, and their tattoos are turned into remembrance books, this acts as a story of their life and is stored in a type of library. However, a few are refused this type of ‘burial’ and this happens to Leora’s father and she investigates uncovers a conspiracy and a group without tattoos, the ‘blanks’. AGE 12+ SCOTT CAWTHORN: FIVE NIGHT’S AT FREDDYS (2015-18) I was going to give this one a swerve, but my daughter really enjoyed it, so I bowed to her greater wisdom and paraphrased her thoughts. Based on the horror video game series, Five Nights at Freddy's, the first book The Silver Eyes, was originally self-published by the creators of the videogame and after over-night success was picked up by Scholastic and is making inroads into becoming a franchise. It is very similar in look, style and content to old school Point Horror novels, and as page turners go by daughter was a very happy customer and she said it had lots of good creepy scares. They are standalone stories and there may well be more to come. AGE 11+. JOHN CONNELLY: SAMUEL JOHNSON VERSUS THE DEVIL (2009-12) This superb adult writer can turn his hand to just about anything and is best known for the Charlie Parker series featuring his own brand of detective, thriller and horror. However, I would recommend this great supernatural kids series which begins with The Gates in which a comedy of errors leads to a gate to hell opening and poor little Samuel (and his pet dog) is just the boy to close it and save the world in an outstanding blend or the supernatural and fantasy. AGE 11+.  JANET EDWARDS: EARTH GIRL (2012-14) In 2788 only the handicapped and those with blood disorders and diseases live on Earth, whilst everyone else portals between worlds. Eighteen-year-old Jarra is among one of a small percentage of people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets, this means that she can’t planet hop anywhere else and has been abandoned by her parents and forced to live amongst the rejects. Called an 'ape' and a 'throwback', Jarra is a terrific central character who finds a way of piggybacking onto a research party that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities that have always intrigued her. With echoes of Blade Runner, this is an outstanding science fiction series which also has inter-connected novellas. AGE 12+ ANDREW FUKUDA: THE HUNT (2012-13) Humans have been hunted to near extinction by vampires in this gripping series top-loaded with clever observations of how a world ruled by vampires might look like and function on a day to day basis. This is a million miles away from Twilight and although it borrows ideas from The Hunger Games, has some tremendous scenes with a teenager who becomes very, very good at hiding the fact he’s human. When the novel opens, shockingly, he does not know anybody else who is human. Which is a tough ask when you attend (vampire) school and cannot afford to show any emotions whatsoever, otherwise you’re dogfood and will be ripped to shreds by the creatures. AGE 12+. SALLY GREEN: HALF BAD (2014-16) If you’re after a top-notch thriller which perfectly blends the supernatural and magic, then look no further than Half Bad. In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and central character 16-year-old Nathan, who is both. Nathan's father is the world's most powerful and dangerous Black witch, and his mother is dead. He has a very tough life. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, Nathan must escape before his seventeenth birthday, or else he will die before inheriting full witch powers. Throw in a dash of romance and the result is an outstanding pare-turner. AGE 12+ SARAH GOVETT: THE TERRITORY (2015-18) In The Territory school exams truly are a matter of life and death, as those who fail are shipped off to the Wetlands, which is the lawless area of the UK which has been destroyed by Global Warming and rising water. Fifteen-year-old Noa Blake is academically very strong, however, she still has a disadvantage, those who come from rich families can download information and facts straight into their brains, bypassing the need to study. Fearing failure and a life in the Wetlands Noa must fight for everything she has and loves in this outstanding trilogy in which success is unfairly balanced towards those who are rich. AGE 11+  KATE HARRISON: SOUL BEACH (2011-13) Suspenseful and thoughtful supernatural thriller about a virtual cyber world full of dead souls stuck in an online type of Purgatory which has been billed ‘Facebook for the Dead’. Alice receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick joke, but it includes details that only her sister would know. Later, Alice receives an invitation to the virtual world of Soul Beach which is much more than it seems in this neat self-contained trilogy which builds an intricate story around with social media, thrillers, technology and loss. AGE 12+. LILY HERNE: DEADLANDS (2012-14) This is a very cool horror adventure series set ten years after a zombie plague almost destroyed South Africa written by a prolific author who also writes under other names. The survivors are protected by a shadowy group known as Guardians and their yearly ‘lottery’ picks a ‘Chosen One’, this happens to be the main character Lele who goes on the run in the Deadlands rather than face what the Guardians have in store for her. This really isn’t a lottery you want to win. In recent years there has been a real glut of YA zombie reads which has thankfully now petered out, but this remains one of my favourites. AGE 12+. JOHN HORNOR JACOBS: THE TWELVE FINGERED BOY(2013-15) This is one of my very favourite YA novels of the last few years from a versatile author who effortlessly moves around genres; from YA to adult horror and fantasy. I first came across him after loving his adult horror debut Southern Gods and followed that with an entertaining zombie novel This Dark Earth and his fantasy series The Incorruptibles which moved more into fantasy but retained strong whiff of YA. I reckon this author could turn his hand to just about anything and this dark coming of age tale set in a juvie prison about a boy with special powers is hard to beat and very easy for teenage boys to connect with. AGE 12+. LEO HUNT: 13 DAYS OF MIDNIGHT (2015-17) Outstanding series about a teen who inherits both a substantial sum of money and a house from the father (who was a famous TV magician) he did not know when he was alive. To his surprise he also inherits the ghosts who are trapped in his house and were used as slaves by his father. Sensing he is both new, naive, and not exactly supernatural savvy, the ghosts try to break free and kill him and anybody else they can get their hands on. Very quickly things start to go wrong and the ghosts start to cause havoc around the local town as the boy is a very inexperienced master who also has to contend with school, GCSEs, and friends, never mind the Devil who is after his soul! AGE 12+.  WILLIAM HUSSEY: WITCHFINDER (2010-11) In the opening novel, Dawn of the Demontide, Jake Harker does his own thing, has few friends and loves comic horror books. However, things are about to change. The comic horror soon becomes real when Jake meets the Pale Man and his demon Mr Pinch on a dark, lonely road and his previously humdrum life goes out the window as he is sucked into a thrilling supernatural mystery in which he has to fight for survival once the barriers to the darkness on the other side start to disintegrate. A very nice series and introduction to horror for younger children looking for a good scare. AGE 11+. ROBIN JARVIS: DANCING JAX (TRILOGY 2011-13) Outstanding return to form for one of the top fantasy writers of the 1990s. With echoes of Alisteir Crowley, amateur ghost hunters find an old book, probably cursed, in a haunted house and then weird things start happening in a sleepy seaside town which just happens to be Whitby, older fans of Jarvis will know of the author’s love of that famous old town and its connections to the supernatural. These are chunky books, but for fans of fantasy with a good blend of the supernatural, they are of the highest quality. AGE 12+ DEREK LANDY: DEMON ROAD (2015-16) Sixteen-year-old Amber is forced go on the run when she uncovers a horrible secret: her parents are monsters which are hundreds of years old and to prolong their own lives will eat her on her sixteenth birthday, which is just around the corner. Not exactly the birthday present she was expecting! What happened to a new phone?!? Once she is on the road Amber realizes threats and traps lurk beyond every corner as she is hunted down, as her parents are not the only monsters after her huts. This has the same sort of pace and style as the author’s mega selling Skullduggery Pleasant series but is probably aimed at a slightly older audience. AGE 12+ EMMY LAYBOURNE: MONUMENT 14 (2012-14) Six teens hide in a huge American supermarket whilst there is an apocalyptic disaster occurring outside which begins with a massive hailstorm with potentially deadly pollution in the air. Trapped, scared and not trusting each other the kids must band together to survive as they go stir crazy within the centre, unaware of what is going on outside. This entertaining mix of horror and dystopia is much better known in the USA and has an accompanying novella. AGE 12+  DAYNA LORENTZ: NO SAFETY IN NUMBERS (2012-14) This super cool trilogy is better known in the USA, but well worth checking out if you haven’t come across it in the UK. The action is tightly built around a group of teenagers trapped and later quarantined in a giant shopping mall after there has been some sort of biological germ attack which affects the air ducts. The exciting story is told via several points of view and is a riveting read of survival and near-apocalyptic fiction when society quickly collapses. AGE 12+ GEMMA MALLEY: THE DECLARATION (2007-10) This is one of my favourite dystopian trilogies and deals with children who are born illegally, known as ‘surpluses’ in a world where people can live for hundreds of years, but as a consequence are not allowed to have children. The main character of The Declaration, Anna Covey, is a 'surplus'. In a society in which aging is no longer feared, and death is no longer an inevitability, children are an abomination. Like all surpluses, Anna is living in Grange Hall which is a cross between a prison camp and an orphanage. She is quietly accepting of her fate until, one day, a new inmate arrives. But is she brave enough to believe this mysterious boy when he claims he knows both her real parents and name? This is a tense and utterly compelling story about a society behind a wall and how the selfish take from those who are not allowed to have a life. AGE 11+ ISAAC MARION: WARM BODIES (2010-17) Odd novel seen from the point of view of a zombie who can both feel and think and explains his humdrum existence as he wanders aimlessly around an airport. When these zombies chow down on the human brain, they have flashes into the lives of those they are eating, and a reminder of what life was like when they were human. Sure, that idea is lifted from lots of other zombie films, but it’s written with a very engaging style and the narrator has a very quirky voice. It was originally sold as an adult novel, but wisely repackaged as a YA read when the decent film version came out. AGE 13+ JON MAYHEW: MORTLOCK (2012-14) Fantastically imagined horror set in the Victorian era following the story of orphaned twins Josie and Alfie as they try to uncover the mysterious secret connected to their past, that has been passed on to them in in a note by Josie's dying guardian. This is a great atmospheric chiller which has a nice level of gore child readers will lap up. Although it’s billed as a trilogy, these historical horror novels can happily be read as standalone novels as the further books head into demon and djinns with new plots. A collection of short stories, Mr Grimhurst’s Treasure, published in 2018 takes us back to the world of Mortlock. AGE 12+  LISA McMANN: WAKE (2008-10) Janie is pulled into other people’s dreams. It’s a pretty nasty curse; when someone falls asleep close to Janie, like on a bus or train, the poor girl is pulled into their dream, like it or not. Because of this Janie ends up struggling to cope with life in school in this series which convincingly blends drama and the supernatural. Soon she realizes she is being stalked within the dreams by another who has a similar ability. McMann is a highly prolific author and has had some successful supernatural themed novels which are popular in the USA and deserve to be more widely read in the UK. AGE 12+ KATHLEEN PEACOCK: DEADLY HEMLOCK (2012-15) Lupine Syndrome, the werewolf virus, begins to infect more and more of the population in this clever series which takes the werewolf story into the world of science and viruses and away from the supernatural. It combines this scientific angle by cleverly blending paranormal romance with a well written thriller. Book two develops the story in an innovative way; introducing the werewolf rehabilitation centre. AGE 12+ JEYN ROBERTS: DARK INSIDE (2011-16) Great teen series in which a huge earthquake releases a poisonous gas which turns vast numbers of the population into uncontrollable killers. ‘Inner rage’ is released from the cracks and many people succumb and turn to horrible violence as they become violent psychopaths. Soon anarchy and chaos become common bedfellows as society begins to quickly disintegrate in this fine apocalyptic series which will have you running for cover, or the next in the series. AGE 13+ CARRIE RYAN: FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH (2009-11) A gated community, protected by the Sisterhood, which lives in fear of zombie like creatures known as the ‘The Unconsecrated’ which stalk their boundaries beyond the forest and their wall of protection. A great riff on the zombie novel which has many twists and turns revealing its secrets slowly; cleverly throwing in fundamentalism, feminism and ideas you wouldn’t normally come across in this type of horror novel. Like the best zombie stories, the ‘Z’ word is never actually used at all. So, calling this striking and thoughtful series ‘a zombie novel’ is a real disservice, it’s much more than, which also has several added novellas, including a prequel. AGE 12+  NEAL SHUSTERMAN: SKINJACKER (2006-11) Everlost is the place where people who suffer violent deaths are sent before they completely severe their connection with our world, it is a type of Purgatory and a place that is very dangerous with its own set of rules. This is a gripping horror fantasy which explores questions of life, death, and what just might lie in between from a fantastic and versatile author. AGE 12+ NEAL SHUSTERMAN: ARC OF A SCYTHE (2016-19) The setting is a world where due to population overcrowding anyone can be randomly killed (‘gleaned’) by ‘Scythes’. These are individuals whom have been appointed by law, judge and jury to effectively kill or cull a certain amount of people every year, meeting their own quota, which is around 300 people. Each Scythe uses their own criteria on how to reach their 300+ criteria. The main drive of the story concerns Citra and Rowan, two teenagers who are selected to be apprentices to a Scythe, and despite wanting nothing to do with the vocation are sucked into a dangerous conspiracy and realise the Scythe they are connected to is perhaps not all bad. AGE 12+ SCOTT SIGLER: GENERATIONS (2015-17) Sigler ranks amongst my favourite ever authors and has written many terrific adult novels, but Alive is his first full foray into YA which expertly blends science fiction, dystopia and horror with a group of kids waking up in coffins, not knowing who or where they are; all suffering from amnesia and feeling rather weird in the bodies they now inhabit. It’s an outstanding move into YA from the author of the horrific Infected trilogy and the inter-connected trilogy has many outstanding twists along the way. AGE 13+ LISA STASSE: FORSAKEN (TRILOGY 2012-14) Alenna fails a genetic ‘test’ which predicts she has the genetic makeup to become a violent criminal and her life changes overnight. She is sent to an island for the criminally insane and all the other teenagers who have failed the test has to fight for survival and her own sanity where joining a gang seems like the only chance of survival where life-expectancy is very low. A fine mash of dystopia, thriller and horror and one of my favourites of the many dystopian reads which have dominated the bookshops in recent years. It’s not that well known in the UK and deserves to be much more widely read. AGE 13+  TERI TERRY: DARK MATTERS (2017-18) Contagion opens the very clever Dark Matter trilogy about the horrific effects of a biological experiment gone wrong which spreads a disease with a mortality rate of about 95%. The epidemic spreads incredibly fast and soon quarantines are being set up everywhere and people cannot travel. Much of the action is set in rural Scotland and delves into dodgy experimentations, teenagers on the run and gives an outstanding portrayal of Britain pushed to the brink in a very short space of time. Forget Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth, Teri Terry is the queen of apocalyptic dystopias with this fine follow-up to the outstanding Slated series, itself a trilogy until a prequel recently arrived. AGE 13+ MARK WALDEN: EARTHFALL (2012-17) This is one of my favourite ‘invasion of Earth’ style stories for kids which packs a lot of adventure, technology and monsters into its three books. Sam wakes to see strange vessels looming above the skies of London. As he stares up, people stream past, walking silently towards the enormous ships which emit a persistent noise obviously in a type of trance. Only Sam seems immune to the signal and very quickly there are very few people left and the boy is left hiding and alone. Picking up the story six months later Sam is hunkered down in an underground bunker and is wounded by a scouting alien drone, but this chance encounter makes Sam realise he is not alone, and that the resistance exists, and he is now part of it. AGE 11+ SCOTT WESTERFELD: MIDNIGHTERS (2004-06) Brilliantly scary series which begins with The Secret Hour about a town that freezes in time for one-hour every day at midnight; but having a secret hour, when there is a supernatural threat to the local area. However, the town is defended by a group called ‘The Midnighters’ and when fifteen-year-old Jessica Day arrives she realises she is one them and develops special abilities which help her fight ancient creatures that try to enter our world in the secret hour. Before long the creatures are determined to destroy Jess and make a special beeline for this spunky leading character. This was a clever series which would have made a very nice television show. AGE 13+ SAM WILSON: EXTINCTION TRIALS (2017-19) The Extinction Trials is set in a world very much like ours; dealing with its own problems of hunger, overcrowding and lack of healthcare. As it’s also a dystopian setting life is cheap, wealth is shared unfairly and there are regular life-threatening contests held for participants to win much needed supplies and medicine. This world is split into two continents; on one live humans (Earthasia), squeezed together competing for space and the scant resources which do exist, on the other landmass live huge dinosaurs (Piloria), with potential living areas and food supplies that we might be able to utilise should there be no monsters. The winners of the various competitions which take place in the first half of the novel are those chosen to explore and extract valuable resources from Piloria, including dinosaur eggs. AGE 11+    It’s hard to argue that three is not the magic number when it comes to sequels and series; the classic beginning, the powerful middle and the knockout ending magically famously captured by trilogies such as Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. It’s also fair to say that many series, with yet another sequel, overstay their welcome and after a while begin to stink. Sadly, a significant number of these lurk in YA and children’s fiction which is full of authors which have found a moderately successful formula and refuse to budge from it, or their publisher will not let them. Considering that kid’s fiction is cursed by sequels this article salutes the duology which when done well is an absolute artform which can leave the hooked child crying for the third book which does not exist. One of the finest modern examples of this is Peader O’Guilin’s The Call which is so perfectly formed, ending with such beautiful closure, one imagines it must have been born a duology in the author’s head! I have a feeling many of the books featured below were always intended to be duologies, but who knows. Many would have been sold to publishers as two book packages, others might have been cut short due to poor sales and a few are perhaps extended due to unexpected sales. Note also, we have cheated slightly, in that some of these books such as Emily Suvada’s Mortal Coil have a third book in the offing. YA series can often take time to build momentum and those which have a 2019 date may well still have more to come. If you’re looking for something to buy a teenager for Christmas there are lots to choose from here, many of those chosen move into science fiction and fantasy, generally inhabiting the world of ‘dark fiction’. Enjoy! They are listed alphabetically and the date of first and last book is noted. Do get in touch if you think there are any glaring omissions. If you like the sound of any of these books, please click on the titles to purchase via our multi region Amazon link  LINDSEY BARRACLOUGH: LONG LANKIN & THE MARK OF CAIN (2011-12) Simply terrifying tale of a house cursed by an ancient evil. Two unlucky children who are sent to live with their great aunt are next on this bogeyman’s hit list. It’s roughly based around a real ghostly character from local English folklore and this horrible creation is as nasty as anything you’ll find in adult horror fiction. If Adam Nevill wrote a kid’s book it might be a bit like this. I’ve met Lindsay at book events in the past and it’s amazing such a charming lady can create such an evil creation. (AGE 12+) VIRGINIA BERGIN: THE RAIN (2014-15) The Rain and sequel Storm are a highly entertaining pair of novels which open during a pretty normal teenage party with kids getting pissed, snogging and stoned. The next morning most are dead, something in the rain, and I mean a tiny drop, results in death. Large swathes of the population are killed off very quickly, as something nasty in the water eats you from the inside. Sixteen-year-old Ruby, with a huge pack of neighborhood dogs, tries and find her father in the very distant London and goes on a very dangerous journey. (AGE 12+) ELSIE CHAPMAN: DUALED (2013-14) If you’re after an entertaining science fiction, dystopian mashup then look no further than Dualed which has an exceptionally cool concept at its core. When kids turn eighteen, they must prove their worth by defeating a cloned version of themselves in a timed 24-hour battle. The twist is that neither of the combatants know whether they or their opponent is the ‘Alternate’ and who is the original. Get ready to meet West Grayer who has been training for years to battle her Alternate, but soon things go horribly wrong. (AGE 12+) ELLE COSIMANO: NEARLY GONE (2014-15) Perhaps UK kids cannot relate to American teens who live in trailer-parks, this is a shame as this outstanding duology genuinely deserves to find a UK audience. Leigh (known as ‘Nearly’) is a top student, trying to win a college scholarship, her mother works as a stripper and she hides the fact that she lives in a trailer from her classmates. ‘Nearly’ is an outstanding main character, who when she touches someone can feel the emotions they are experiencing, so she avoids contact whenever possible. She is also obsessed with his missing father and the possibility that he might secretly be trying to contact her through the small newspaper ads. Throw a killer into the mix, who might also be stalking Leigh, you have an outstanding supernatural thriller. Nearly Found is an equally good second book. AGE 13+  HELEN FALCONER: THE CHANGLING (2015-16) If you’re after an engaging fantasy with an Irish mythology twang, then look to further than The Changeling. Aoife mysteriously begins to develop mysterious powers after she follows a little girl nobody else seems able to see. After some investigation and prompting her parents confess that she isn't their real daughter. Their human child was stolen by the fairies, and Aoife is the changeling left behind in her place. Unsure what to do, she and a friend embark on a dangerous journey, which takes them deep into the underworld and changes everything they thought they knew about fairies and their complex relationships with people. The second book The Dark Beloved is a straight sequel and picks up Aoife’s story on her return. AGE 10+ MICHAEL GRANT: MESSENGER OF FEAR (2014-15) Grant has written a massive number of novels and is probably best known for the multi-book Gone series which is more science fiction than horror and BZRK which fuses action with genetic manipulation. I’ve got a soft spot for this rather odd novel and sequel, which is the closest he gets to horror, in which a supernatural being known as the Messenger of Fear punishes those who act maliciously by balancing out the injustice done via a game, and if they lose they must pay by enduring their worst fear as their penance and if they win go on with their lives. (AGE 12+) SARA HOLLAND: EVERLESS (2018-19) Sara Holland’s excellent dark fantasy debut Everless was based around an intriguing idea; a world where time (in days, weeks or years) can be extracted from individuals, turned into a potion, and then ingested by others to prolong their lives. Jules and her father are behind on their rent, but to stop her father draining himself of even more life-force she takes a job at the nearby and rich estate of Everless and gets much more than she bargained for when she is sucked into a world of intrigue after the royal visit of the Queen. This was a very clever fantasy novel, with a genuinely spunky heroine, which has been a well-deserved hit. There could be more life in this series yet! (AGE 12+) TOM HOYLE: ADAM GRANT SERIES (2014-15) I really like the jib of this author…. Nobody knows much about him, except that ‘Tom Hoyle’ might be a pseudonym for a school headmaster! It’s a cool story if it’s true…. In the first novel Thirteen Adam is the target of a cult that believes boys born close to midnight on 31st December 1999, Millennium night, must die before the end of their thirteenth year so that some dastardly prophecy will come true. Spiders is the second book in the series, I really hope he is a headmaster, that would be very neat. He has other excellent thrillers which blend adventure, fantasy and horror. (AGE 11+)  JAY KRISTOFF: LIFELIKE (2018-19) Lifelike is more science fiction that horror, from an author who is developing an impressive back-catalogue of genre fiction. Set in a gloriously described post-apocalyptic world full of have and have nots, Eve discovers the wreckage of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls home, her entire world comes crashing down when she realises the robot is far from it seems and not a pile of junk at all. With her best friend and her robotic sidekick in tow, Eve and Ezekiel will uncover the dark secrets of her past and the origins of her ability to frazzle technology with her mind. A top-notch science fiction thriller with likable characters and outstanding action sequences. AGE 12+ MARIE LU: WARCROSS (2017-18) Think of the most popular computer game you ever played and then multiply it by ten thousand and you’ll have Warcross. I’ve had fun recommending this science fiction thriller to kids who are deeply into Fortnite and Minecraft, as it is the literary equivalent of those games. The computer game ‘Warcross’ has been so successful it has become a way of life for many and this engaging page-turner is much more accessible than Ready Player One, involving a teenage hacker, Emika Chen, who works as a bounty-hunter tracking down Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. Trying to outmanoeuvre other bounty hunters she accidently glitches herself into the game and as a result is offered a job which sucks her into a dangerous conspiracy. A wonderful book for tekkies everywhere, don’t be surprised to see a book three as some point from an author who also wrote the excellent Legend and Young Elites sequences. AGES 12+ KIRSTY McKAY: UNDEAD (2011-12) A kick-ass teen action zombie fest which plays it for laughs in amongst the gore. A group of teens returning from a Scottish skiing holiday run into a zombie plague. An enjoyable read as Bobby tries to avoid being eaten by her classmates in this fun mix of teen angst and horror. Kirsty also wrote a serial killer thriller set in a boarding school called Killer Game which I also enjoyed. (AGE 12+) PEADAR O’GUILIN: THE CALL (2016-18) The Call was one of the finest mesh of horror and teen fantasy I’ve read in years and should be read by absolutely everyone. It has a great plot: in this weird version of Ireland the country has been sealed off from the rest of the world by a supernatural barrier. In this Ireland teenagers can be ‘Called’, this means they are summoned to another realm where they do battle with the Aes Sidhe, the ancient rulers of Ireland before they were banished in a great war. These as very evil fairy creatures and down-right nasty beasts which are incredibly cruel and live to torture humans for sport. Although they are only gone for three minutes in the alternative world this is 24 hours or longer, so avoiding death is almost impossible. The plot revolves around a girl called Nessa, who has a leg defect, and cannot run properly, so nobody gives her a sniff of survival, however she is one TOUGH cookie and sooner or later she is ‘Called’. AGE 12+  LAURA POWELL: BURN MARK (2012-13) Witchcraft is an acceptable, but feared, part of modern society in this dark thriller set in a slightly skewered version of the UK today where witch burnings are seen as popular entertainment on TV and where getting a job for the Inquisition is seen as a cool thing to do. Glory is our main character, who hails from a family of witches, and is desperate to develop the 'Fae' and become a full witch herself. A funky update of Witchfinder General for the teen generation, until Fae meets a witchfinder who is slightly out of the ordinary. AGE 12+ AMY PLUM: DREAMFALL (2017-18) Seven teenagers which have various types of serious sleep disorders are the test cases in a new technology called DreamFall in which the kids are put into a deep sleep and the technology is supposed to eradicate their nightmares and problems over the next few hours. However, something goes wrong and all seven teens, who spend virtually the whole novel asleep, start sharing each other’s nightmares. The story is told from the point of view of a couple of the teens and an intern helping with the experiment. This was terrific stuff, with all sorts of monsters, nightmares and nasty stuff going on. AGE 12+ REBECCA SCHAEFFER: MARKET OF MONSTERS (2018-19) Not Even Bones was a very clever and original debut which had me hooked from the beginning with an intoxicating blend of fantasy and horror. Nita is a teenage girl who works as a mortician for her psychopathic mother and dissects the bodies of supernatural beings she has caught and killed. Nita’s mother auctions bits and pieces of her kills on the internet with her daughter helping. However, in the opening stages of the novel the mother brings home a live boy and expects Nita to cut his ear off so she can make some cash from it. After that she intends to sell his eyes and Nita decides to help him escape. I hope this series expands into a trilogy. AGE 13+ VICTORIA SCHWAB: CASSIE BLAKE (2018-19) When Cass was younger, she had a near-death-experience which resulted in her being able to see ghosts. Her best friend, Jacob, is a ghost, whom her parents believe is an invisible friend she will grow out of. After her parents get a new job presenting a TV programme about true supernatural hauntings her family relocate from America to Edinburgh, in Scotland. Once in Edinburgh, The City of Ghosts of the first book, Cass begins to see even more ghosts and even meets another little girl who has the same gift as her who teaches her to use it properly. Aimed at primary aged kids and a gentle introduction to ghost stories. AGE 9+  EMILY SUVADA: MORTAL COIL (2018-19) If you’re into far-out science fiction, with a strong apocalyptic, an end of the world vibe, then look no further than Mortal Coil which should stretch into a trilogy early in 2020. Catarina’s father is one of the dying world’s leading geneticists who is trying to find a cure to a virus which has destroyed humanity. But his sudden death leads to fears that all hope is lost, until Cat realises that her father has left her secret coded messages within the genes of other people and only she has the ability to crack the codes whilst a powerful organisation which controls the world’s technology lurks in the background. AGE 13+ GP TAYLOR: SHADOWMANCER (2002-06) The highly entertaining Shadowmancer meshes fantasy, adventure and horror together an old-fashioned tale of an evil sorcerer trying to take over the world with only a few plucky kids standing in his way. This book was one of the earliest examples of self-publishing being hugely successful and then being bought in a bidding war in the quest to find the ‘next’ Harry Potter. The sequel reunites the same characters and another battle against the evil lord Demurral. AGE 12+ AMY TINTERA: REBOOT (2013-14) Reboot has a very clever concept behind in; set in the future where technology has advanced, but life is very cheap, those who are killed can be brought back to life as cyborg policemen, which retain a certain amount of their human emotions and personality. However, the longer they have been dead, the less human feelings they have once they are ‘rebooted’. The story revolves around Wren Connolly who was revived five years earlier and has developed into a deadly policewoman as her revival times was very long at 178 minutes. Now 17 years old, she serves as a soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation) and is deadly and barely human. Wren is given the job of training a new ‘Reboot’ called Callum Reyes, who was revived after 22 minutes and is still very human and the pair clash, but also hit it off in other ways. I don’t know how many teenagers have seen Robocop, these books certainly have part of its vibe, but it’s clever and entertaining stuff. AGE 13+ MARY WATSON: THE WREN HUNT (2018-19) Two supernatural factions (‘Judges’ and ‘Augers’) battle for survival in a version of modern-day Ireland which is top heavy with magic, superstition, and strange goings on. The two factions are eternal enemies, and the main character is an Auger, ‘Wren Silke’, who has a powerful supernatural gift which is one of the main thrusts of the novel. Wren is a really engaging character, and for the sake of her family, goes undercover, as an intern, at the family home of their sworn enemy hoping to discover anything which might tip the ancient battle in her family’s favour. However, with magic the reality is rarely black and white, and the teenager gets into trouble along the way, especially as her power and gift is slowly revealed. The second book is a companion piece rather than a sequel but features some of the same characters. AGE 13+  SCOTT WESTERFELD: PEEPS AKA PARASITE POSITIVE (UK) (2005-6) Exciting, vaguely futuristic vampire novels Parasite Positive and Last Days have a twist in which vampirism is seen as a disease. Cal picks up this infection and is a carrier who gives it to his girlfriend and tracks down those he has infected with the disease which is called ‘peeps’ creating ghoul like vampire creatures. The second novel cleverly develops this supernatural apocalypse with five teenagers fighting for survival as the deadly epidemic spreads. AGE 13+ MATT WHYMAN: THE SAVAGES (2012-14) I reckon this author must be a fan of the cult 1980s horror film Parents as it has some major similarities and is an entertaining and blackly funny look at quite a different family who are shocked when their daughter Sasha brings home a vegan boyfriend. This is a major problem for the ‘Savage’ family as they descend from a long line of cannibals. Matt Whyman is such a cool author, impossible to pigeonhole, always trying something new, and I’m a huge fan of Boy Kills Man a gun crime thriller set in Columbia and many of his other novels. AGE 13+  |
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