CHRISTMAS YOUNG ADULT SELECTION: YOUNG BLOOD TOP TEN NOVELS OF 2020

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, voucher, or novelty socks. As usual we feature books which cover the broad areas of ‘dark fiction’ rather than straight horror which always seem to be thin on the ground. All these books were published in 2020 and have been previously reviewed at some point on the site over the year. These choices are solid YA selections, rather than Middle Grade which we often feature, and are aimed at kids aged twelve or thirteen and above. 
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Courtney Alameda is undoubtedly the most seasoned Ginger Nutter on the list and is the only author to have featured in our previous annual top ten lists and has written three outstanding YA horror novels on the bounce. We love you Courtney! It is also heartening to see several debut authors making convincing splashes and I am sure we will read further great works from Darren Charlton, Cat Scully, and Erica Waters in future. The top ten also features some very experienced authors in Lauren James, Kat Ellis, Estelle Laure, and Daniel Kraus who between them have written a great range of horror and non-horror fiction. No YA list of 2020 would be worth its salt without the inclusion of the all-conquering Clown in a Cornfield in which Adam Cesare seamlessly moves from adult to YA horror. Go Frendo!
In 2019 Ginger Nuts of Horror wrote about the worrying trend of the disappearance of the teenage boy from YA horror and dark fiction. Sadly, this has continued throughout 2020 and only one of the ten novels featured today has a lead male character. It must be said, I am shocked by the tiny percentage of YA novels which give boys a fair shake. Follow the link to read the original article: 

https://gingernutsofhorror.com/young-blood/the-strange-disappearance-of-the-male-lead-in-ya-dark-fiction 

There are some very original and engaging titles featured here and I guarantee there are some real winners for budding horror fans out there…. 

They are presented in alphabetical order by author.

Courtney Alameda & Valynne E Maetani – Seven Deadly Shadows

I am a massive fan of Courtney Alameda and would highly recommend both her previous novels Shutter and Pitch Dark which are beautiful blends of horror and science fiction. This latest effort, co-written with Valynne E Maetani, changes direction beautifully with a supernatural story set in Japan which is partly inspired by Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai. Who knows how many teens of 2020 (zero possibly!) will be aware of that masterpiece, but it remains a very cool source to tap for inspiration. In Shutter, ghosts are visible to everybody and in Seven Deadly Shadows the premise is slightly similar, in that some people can see ghosts and spirits. The novel is very top heavy with Japanese culture and references and you will find yourself dipping into the word glossary at the back of the book.
The story revolves around seventeen-year-old Kira Fujikawa who is one of those who can see the ghosts, called ‘yokai’ and soon discovers that a powerful demon will rise imminently and to counteract it she summons seven other death gods (hence the Seven Samurai reference) to help in the fight to save Japan and also the world. The authors obviously put a huge amount of research into this book and if you are a fan of Japanese mythology it is truly unmissable. It was so cool seeing the main character going from bullied schoolgirl to a powerful type of sorceress who battles to maintain control over the wildly different creatures she summons but grows whilst doing do. This novel is aimed at very strong, confident teen readers and is a sophisticated blend of horror and Japanese culture which any adult reader could also enjoy. AGE 13/14+

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Adam Cesare – Clown in a Cornfield
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With a title like Clown in a Cornfield you might be forgiven for thinking you had stumbled upon a glorious ‘straight-to-video’ release from the 1980s heyday of lurid but wonderful horror films. However, you would be mistaken, as this is a Young Adult (YA) horror novel and an impressive teen debut from adult horror author Adam Cesare and in the several months since its release is surely destined to become the biggest YA horror hit for a while. I do love a ‘Final Girl’ and main character Quinn Maybrook ticks many of the boxes when the body count spirals in the second half of the story. Clown in a Cornfield truly is 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 which, like many of the horror films it is inspired by, the main bout of action takes place over a single night. 


What of the clowns? I will drop no spoilers on how they are factored into the story, however, this part of the plot is inspired by ‘Frendo’, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat which has been  connected to the town for decades.  If you have watched many of the slasher films Clown in the Cornfield plays homage to, you’ll realise these films were all about the kill sequences and in this regard the novel does not hold back on the gore which involves chainsaws, shotguns and crossbows. 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. I hope this highly entertaining novel is taken in the spirit in which it is intended: old fashioned gore, unrelenting action and gleefully violent fun which is played out with a nice group of teenage characters. YA horror does not take up a large slice of the overall teen book market and there are very few novels like this in the bookshops. First and foremost, teen fiction is a form of escapism, which is supposed to be fun, and in that respect this novel is an absolute winner and I hope school librarians everywhere shove it into eager teen hands everywhere. AGE 13/14+

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Darren Charlton – Wranglestone
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Whilst zombies dominated the adult horror market a few years ago, they were a mere blip on the YA landscape where never amounted to much. It has also become trendy to write zombie novels without the dreaded ‘Z’ word ever used and in Darren Charlton’s excellent Wranglstone we have another, instead the Zs are referred to as the ‘Restless Dead’. It might be a zombie yarn, 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 mythology, with a few nods to Warm Bodies along the way. 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 and regulations, for example, not accepting newcomers. 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. 
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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. Cooper, on the other hand, is more outgoing and has more of a role as a 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 fresh take on the zombie yarn. Adult connoisseurs on the ‘Z’ subject will undoubtedly have come across most of the ideas elsewhere, but for a teenage reader it was excellent stuff and the final third throws some very entertaining curveballs and decent twists about the darker side and origins of Wranglestone. 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 12/13+

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Kat Ellis – Harrow Lake
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A sly and clever YA novel for teen horror freaks to savour! Lola’s father is a very famous horror film director and after a serious knife attack, he remains in hospital. Lola’s mother has been missing for more than a decade, so she is sent to live with her grandmother in the isolated town of Harrow Lake when strange things begin to happen. Harrow Lake is also the location of where the film ‘Nightjar’ was filmed, which made both the insignificant town famous and her father a star. It is very strange for Lola to be visiting the town which was also the home of her actress mother made famous by the flick. Also, Lola soon realises many of the locals know much more about her family history than she does as she struggles to adapt to her new location. She is also the spitting image of her missing mother, Lorelei, which is made worse when her clothes strangely disappear, and she is forced to where those which once belonged to her mother. Even freakier. 
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Harrow Lake was a smartly plotted novel which has several layers which you will want to read very carefully, especially as you head towards the end. Along the way there are lots of smart film references as Lola tries to make sense of her life, her missing mother (who seems to haunt her) and the parallels which connect with twenty years earlier when the famous movie was shot. An extra layer of supernatural possibilities is added by ‘Mister Jitters’ a local legend which may (or may not) be true and involved in odd goings on when the famous film was created. Jitters lurked in the background and for the book to truly live up to the hype of ‘Scream meets the Babadook’ (Kirsty Logan) we perhaps needed to see more of him. As a main character Lola was superb and I can think of lots of teenagers who are going to love this book and get lost in its gripping story. Clever, creepy, very original, and superb YA preparation for adult horror. AGE 13+ 

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Lauren James – The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker
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Lauren James is five books into a highly impressive career, with The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker her first supernatural effort. Her previous stories have taken in first love, with her third novel The Loneliest Girl in the Universe (science fiction) and fourth The Quiet at the End of the World featuring a virus kills off most of the human race, particularly enjoyable reads. I love authors who confidently dance around the genres and few do it better than the highly versatile Lauren James. In the simplest of terms this latest novel is a confident splash into the supernatural world and her world-building after main character Harriet Stoker falls to her death in the opening pages is second to none. YA novels set in the ‘after-life’ are dime-a-dozen, this effort was top loaded with engaging characters and a carefully thought out after-life eco-system which adds extra dimensions to the plot. It is much too easy to have dead teens observing those they have left behind, this novel throws that concept out the window and concentrates on the ‘being dead’ side of things and is all the better for it.
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Harriet lives with her grumbling grandmother and has just started a photography course at university, whilst exploring an abandoned building she falls to her death. When she wakes up, she does not realise she is dead, but the moment of her demise sent a bolt of life energy around the building and reawakened all the other ghosts which inhabit the building. Why do so many ghosts ‘haunt’ this building? You will have to read it to find out. Although Harriet is the main character, the story is also seen from a few other ghosts, who have been there for varying lengths of time. Also, many of the chapters are elusively opened by an unnamed narrator who drops hints here and there of the bigger picture at play. There is a lot going on in this book, some great twists, including ghosts having unique special powers and the system in which ghosts exist within the house (which they could not leave) was outstanding. And watch out for the granny! This was a great book and a fine splash into the world of horror by Lauren James. AGE 13+

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Daniel Kraus – Bent Heavens
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Kraus has a superb back-catalogue of dark/horror YA fiction, including the highly recommended Rotters, and this 2020 release maintains this high standard. Eighteen-year-old Liv Fleming leads this genre-bending thriller which dances around horror and science fiction in a very convincing, Ohio, small-town setting. Teenage readers will easily tap into the troubled psyche and angst of a girl whose world was turned upside down when her father disappeared two years earlier, but it is the circumstances surrounding her father which makes this story fascinating. Lee Fleming was a very popular English teacher at the school Liv attended and before he disappeared indefinitely, vanished for a much shorter period before reappearing, naked, on the school campus. He was not the same man and was deeply psychologically traumatised claiming to have been abducted by aliens, with vague memories of being experimented upon. Officially, it was presumed he suffered a mental breakdown and the family struggled to cope with the very public emotional fallout. 


Once Lee Fleming returns after his first disappearance, he becomes obsessed with aliens and constructs a series of six very dangerous traps in the woodland surrounding his house and names them; Amputator, Hangman’s Noose, Crusher, Neckbreaker, Abyss and Hard Passage. If you have ever read the Iain Banks cult classic The Wasp Factory the traps might ring some bells and eventually his creations catch something significantly larger than a squirrel. I found Bent Heavens to be a great read and it has enough strings in its bow to attract differing types of teen readers with its convincing blend of horror, drama, and thriller. In the end the story did not go where many readers might expect it to and is backed up an impressive twist (although I saw it coming) which was also completely heart-breaking. Ultimately, even though Liv might not have been the most sympathetic of characters, her pain and grief were convincingly portrayed in a powerful novel about the lengths people will go to know the truth. Even if the answers are going to provide more pain, there is at least closure. AGE 13+

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Estelle Laure – Mayhem
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I always enjoy authors changing direction with their fiction and with her third YA novel Estelle Laure edges away from teen dramas into the world of the supernatural with the beguiling Mayhem. The novel begins with sixteen-year-old Mayhem Brayburn and her single parent mother, Roxy, returning to the family home in the seaside town of Santa Maria where her father died when she was a baby. Much of the story is built around Mayhem’s return to her hometown and the secrets connecting her to her family and their unconventional history. Mayhem deals with the family dynamics in the Brayburn family and the vaguely explained hold they exert over the town they live just outside. In the time Roxy has been away her sister Elle has fostered three other children who are key characters in the novel and in the convincing relationships Mayhem builds when she uncovers her past.   


The convincing developing friendship of the four children were crucial to the success of the book and for most of the time their relationships dominated the plot and the supernatural element lurked in the background. The subtle supernatural angle revolves around what makes the Brayburn’s different from everybody else in Santa Maria, with added conflict thrown in because the three other children are not Brayburn by blood. At a certain point, the ‘magic’ is explained away because the town is built upon a ‘Psychic Vortex’ where weird stuff can happen. Although I enjoyed Mayhem, its success with real teen readers will depend on how well they connect with Mayhem as a leading character and their interest in the family vibes which dominate the story. Other readers may find it a tad slow, but for those teens who enjoy thoughtful dramas with a supernatural twist it was highly engaging. AGE 13+ ​

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Melinda Salisbury – Hold Back the Tide
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Melinda Salisbury, who has written some excellent YA fantasy novels, seamlessly moves genres, blending historical fiction, drama and ultimately monsters in her debut horror tale. The story is narrated in the first person by sixteen-year-old Alva, who believes her father murdered her mother seven years earlier, and dreams of escaping her harsh life. Meantime, she helps him monitor the surrounding mountain lake (loch in Scottish) which feeds essential water into the local mill in the nearby village. Crucially, a drop in the water level uncovers caves nobody has seen for years and the mill owner worries of shortages. Her father is disliked by the local community and Ava is tarred with the same brush, but remained a spiky, likable and believable heroine which readers will easily empathise with. She also has a very cute friendship with a boy, Ren, whom is also an outsider for other reasons. They often meet secretly, or unchaperoned, and I did wonder how common this would be in the late 1800s, however, this may well be another example of Alva breaking the mould of what was expected of a teenage girl in that period.


What of the horror you might ask? The first half of the novel sets the scene perfectly, with believable dynamics involving the mill owner, her father and the fact that the individual with most money holds court and is effectively the law in a village that was so small a priest only visited twice a year. Once the horror is fully introduced, and there is no surprise it is connected to the lake, the pace really picks up and some readers might be surprised in the direction the story heads, effortlessly switching from period drama to horror. I really enjoyed the mythology behind the loch and what lurks there and with that the conflicts, and sense of duty, Alva faces. YA novels can often be let down by either cop-out endings or are frustratingly left open for an unnecessary sequel. Be rest assured Hold Back the Tide has a tremendous and very moving ending which I hope teen readers will find very satisfying and might even lead to a tear or two being shed. But before you get to the ending there is also a knockout twist about seventy pages from the end. AGE 12+

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Cat Scully – Jennifer Strange
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If you are after a fast-paced, gory, and very stylish YA horror novel then look no further than Cat Scully’s excellent demon-soaked debut Jennifer Strange. The pace is unrelenting from the first page with the entire plot spread over a few days after Jennifer arrives in Savannah to stay with her estranger elder sister Liz, whom she has hardly spoken to since their mother died a few years earlier. Savannah is beautifully portrayed as a city full of ghosts which helped create a funky Buffy: The Vampire Slayer style vibe. Jennifer is a conduit for ghosts and demons, which means that the undead can attempt to inhabit her body and take over her physical form and possess her. Bearing in mind that Savannah is regarded as one of the most haunted places in America, Jennifer really is in the wrong city and on the first day of school there are deaths connected to a demon manifestation and her weird gift. The plot does not hold back on either the violence or death, with a swiftly mounting body count as Jennifer is sucked into a supernatural mystery. Much of the violence does have a stylised bubble-gum, almost comic book, feel to it which complement the cool drawings which open some of the chapters. 


Written with a first-person narrative, Jennifer was a cool lead character, who is presented in an accessible and down to earth manner which young teens will have fun connecting with. She is neither a superhero or ultra-cool and is just coming to terms with her new power and the reader has fun following her initial baby steps into the realms of the supernatural. I also loved her vulnerability; highlighted with her nerves when she attends school for the first time, head down, scared to draw attention to herself. Jennifer Strange is great fun and a colourful read for young teenagers developing an interest in horror. The creatures are relentless in their quest to get to Jennifer and it was incredibly easy to be sucked along on this rollercoaster journey. There is a serious lack of this gory type of horror for kids on the market and I am sure if the book is targeted at the correct audience it could be a major hit. I have a feeling the story of Jennifer Strange is not yet over and I will certainly be returning for more. AGE 12+

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Erica Waters – Ghost Wood Song
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The debut novel from Erica Waters, Ghost Wood Song, has a unique position in YA horror; the first I have ever read which features bluegrass music as a major theme. Hell, how many mid-teens even know what bluegrass is? I just asked my fifteen-year-old daughter and she responded with “that weird hillbilly banjo music that kid from Deliverance played” so perhaps a few might! Shady Grove is named after a famous bluegrass tune and longs to follow in her late father’s footsteps by playing old school bluegrass music and 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. Although Ghost Wood Song was terrific, I question whether it will transfer to the UK teen audience easily, with the combination of bluegrass, family problems and trailer park small town American life distant from our lives on this side of the pond. However, for older teens looking for a slow-burning drama with a strong musical theme and supernatural overtones there is much escapism to be had 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 will be too slow for some teens, those who enjoy a thoughtful read, with well-drawn characters are in for a treat. AGE 13/14+

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