If you are yet to hear of Clown in a Cornfield, then you must have been living in one for the last six months! We were delighted to risk life and limb in catching up with Adam Cesare to discuss his YA debut, which is undoubtedly one of the most hyped YA horror novels for years.

You have been on the horror scene for around eight years now, why write a YA novel now?

It’s one of the most happening spheres in horror, I think. I also think a lot of my work (Video Night, Zero Lives Remaining, for example) have centred teen protagonists, dealt with their issues, so in a way I think I’ve been writing YA for a decade, just never really took that marketing approach.

I loved ‘Clown in a Cornfield’, as YA novels go it is gory, how did you manage to sell it to Harper Teen? Did your editors have much to say?

First off, thank you so much, Tony. I really appreciate that. Especially from you—someone who knows this genre inside and out—it means even more.

Honestly, I don’t think the gore was ever once a concern with the editorial department over there. Or if it was a concern, I was never told about it. I think the goal and the ethos of the book was, “Look, by its very nature—thematically and story-wise—this has to depict a certain level of violence. It’s a disservice to that story and those themes (and to readers, really) if those punches don’t land the way they should, or this will run the risk of feeling condescending if the slasher action feels watered down or compromised.”

Was ‘Clown in a Cornfield’ always, from inception, intended to be a YA novel or did you ever think it had potential to be an adult book?

Always YA, 100%. Like I’d said, from my very first book I’ve been dealing with teen characters/issues, but it was from the perspective of “the end goal of this is to sell/label it as midlist adult horror.” So I think with CiaC, I very consciously wanted to look at where the YA genre is/was and make a true attempt at writing to that genre and audience, but approach it in a way that stayed authentic to what interests me as a writer.

The funny thing is, now that this has been starting to hit reviewers, among those who’ve read my other work, they seem to be completely split. I’ve had people say “wow, this is so different for Adam” and then another person say the exact opposite, like “wow, this is just like his other books but it’s got a big press and the YA label.” Which, I actually don’t agree with either of those positions, but I don’t get a say. But I think it is kind of illustrative of how subjective the reading experience is. All I truly care about is whether people like the book or not, and—thankfully—people seem to be enjoying.

Although main character Quinn Maybrook is not quite a classic Final Girl, did you have that in mind when you were writing it?

I’ve seen a lot of slasher movies. And it seems to me that the final girl archetype—both the academic sketch Carol Clover draws in Men, Women, and Chain Saws and the ‘informal’ one that Williamson and Craven draw in Scream—isn’t wrong, per se, but does seem to best apply to the “tentpole” slashers. If you look outside the bigger titles, especially in the 70s and 80s when the people making these movies were businessmen trying to make a quick buck, not fans or “students of the genre” or whatever, the definition of what constitutes a final girl can be a lot broader.

I operated from a similar “there’s no rules” position. I just wanted to make Quinn a compelling, relatable character. She’s her own person, thus I felt she wouldn’t cleanly fit into any pre-stamped archetype. I feel like all people you meet are like that. We can all be broadly grouped, but it’s the wrinkles, the moments where our traits or interests buck against-type, that make us human.

Why did you decide to make the central character a girl? Ginger Nuts of horror ran an article last year which indicated that the male teenage lead had all but disappeared from modern YA fiction! Did you feel it would be an easier book to sell to publishers with a predominately female driven narrative? 

I think your last question answered that, in a way. The Final Boy exists in slasher film, but they’re few and far between. I’m a slasher traditionalist in a lot of ways. I wanted to subvert *some* of the tropes (all the best slashers do, no matter what the “rules” in Scream have taught people), but I was very, very, conscious of “if you remove too many signifiers from a thing, does it stop being that thing?”

So, Quinn was always going to be Quinn. But, and not to spoil it, but there are some POV digressions in the book where we get a couple of male character’s perspectives, one of whom emerges as very much running a parallel “Final Boy” story alongside Quinn. I (and readers?) get to have my cake and eat it, in that way.

Which slasher film most closely resembles ‘Clown in a Cornfield’?

Wow. That’s a great question. And I really don’t have an answer beyond… all of them at once? I wanted something that feels “a part of the tradition” without having to be “dependent upon” the genre and its history.

Were you aware that the pacing was quite (slasher) cinematic? Most of the action is centred over a single night and violence held back to the second half of the story. Was this deliberate?

I always try to at least *keep in mind* the unities of space, time, and place, even when my books rarely adhere to them. But, like you said, this felt like one case where it made a lot of story and thematic sense to stick to it.

Did you part of you feel that the clown had been overplayed as a horror device in recent years?

Yes. And, not that the book’s a metatextual 4th wall breaker anything, but “clown fatigue” was 100% a consideration when it came to writing the villain, Frendo the Clown. The book’s very quick to point out that he’s not a “clown” in any sense of the word beyond the costume and the mask. I didn’t want joke-slasher kills like crushing someone’s head under an oversized Ronald McDonald shoe, or cotton candy suffocation, or anything like that.

The killer here is someone who’s deliberately using the iconography of this small midwestern town against their victims. It just happens to be a clown mask (and all that that thematically implies…).

This is one of those horror novels that adult readers may well pick up and not realise it is primarily for teens, do you have any concerns that the teen audience of 2020 may not pick up on the nostalgia for the horror of yesteryear an adult reader might smile at?

I think a lot of that sense that this is “retro” or “throwback” horror the book owes to its cover (which is beautiful, I think, Matt Ryan Tobin and the HarperTeen design team knocked it out of the park). I almost hope most teens don’t read it that way. It’s a book that was written in a crazy, specific period in American (and world) history and that’s almost gotten more-timely (sadly) as we near publication. In some ways I bet *how* modern it is might be a turnoff for some readers, especially if they pick up the book expecting Stranger Things-level “Yeah, wow, I remember Alf too.” (And not to judge, my book Video Night operates on that level, this just isn’t that).

The slasher genre’s been around for half a century and it’s changed with the times. Some early readers are comparing it to certain slashers they love, I think that’s more of a Rorschach test of when they were watching these movies than it is a reflection on the actual content of the book. So far, I’ve gotten as many Friday the 13th Part 2 comparisons as I’ve gotten, I Know What You Did Last Summer. Both of those points of reference are completely valid and correct, but there’s a lot of years between those movies. I think in each case it’s that nostalgia trigger of the genre itself. The slasher is cyclical (and currently semi-dormant), I wrote this in a mind of “well, what would the cycle look like now?”

Do you read much current YA horror? If you have been following Ginger Nuts of Horror recent top 50 novels of the last decade there is much for you to check out…

If you’d asked me 4 or 5 years ago, I would have said no, but since I wanted to do this right, and not be a kind of carpetbagger or interloper for the genre, I did my research and read a ton. Was blown away by a lot of it, really. I think a lot of “adult horror” fans ignore these books, and I was that way myself, but now that I’ve had my eyes opened, I’m not going back.

But I could always be reading more, so have bookmarked that list.

Was YA a thing for you when you were growing up? Who did you read, and did you graduate to adult horror early?

I’m the perfect age for Goosebumps mania, so I had every single one of that original runs. But I think my “graduation” to adult horror, as a kid, was a lot more of a porous process. Because I was starting to dabble with King, Rice, and Barker at the same time, so there was definitely some overlap, before I fully immersed myself in adult horror fiction.

Do you feel you’ve written a book you would have loved to read as a 12 or 13-year-old?

I hope so! But I think by 12 or 13 I’d kind of adopted that prematurely mature “nobody can tell me anything, I’m already an expert” stance (which, kids, stop doing that, you’re insufferable), so who knows if I had a time machine if I’d even be able to convince myself to read it. I’d have to leave it somewhere in the house, trick myself into thinking reading it was my own idea.

The number of authors who successfully write both YA and adult horror is very small, so congratulations for bridging a very difficult gap! Which adult horror writer you admire would you love to see write a YA horror novel? (mine is Adam Nevill)

Orrin Grey feels like he’d have a voice suited for it. And I selfishly always want more long fiction from him.

I read you were working on a second YA horror novel, could you tell us a little bit about it?

It’s one mean mother! Other than that, nope, can’t yet, sorry.

If you were to spot any writer (alive or dead) reading Clown in a Cornfield who would it be?

When I got an email from my editor that Clive Barker had read and blurbed the manuscript, I was completely overwhelmed. Legitimately sat there speechless and trembling. And since then a lot of incredible writers who I love and respect have said nice things about the book. But I can’t even answer this hypothetical honestly, because the best case-scenario has already happened. I’m so grateful to Mr. Barker for his kindness.

Adam, it has been a pleasure having you on the site and we hope Clown in a Cornfield brings you the success it richly deserves.

Tony Jones

​In Adam Cesare’s terrifying young adult debut, Quinn Maybrook finds herself caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress—that just may cost her life.

Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. 

On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.

Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now. 

Today we are delighted to bring you an in-depth interview with Dawn Kurtagich who has impressed us greatly with the three novels (and novella) she has written since 2015. There are few authors which blend the troubled teenage psyche with the enticing ambiguity of horror so convincingly. Dawn writes intelligent and challenging horror novels which keep teenager readers on their toes with clever and multi-layered plots. If you have never tried her fiction, we highly recommend it, with The Creeper Man a perfect place to start.   

When I come across adult horror fans being dismissive of YA horror (“we didn’t need it in my day blah blah blah I read IT when I was ten…”) Dawn Kurtagich is one of the ‘go-to’ authors I would use to put these individuals straight! In fact, her fiction is more thoughtful and advanced than many adult novels. If you ever thought YA was just for kids, think again. Anybody can read these stories and enjoy them, and you will quickly forget you are not the target audience.

In our recent top 100 countdown of my favourite YA horror novels of the last decade Dawn was one of a select few authors who made two appearances with The Creeper Man (Number 8) and The Dead House (number 24). Female authors currently dominate the YA dark fiction landscape and Dawn is one of the very best.

I was also delighted that of the seventeen female YA horror authors she name-checks later in the interview that Ginger Nuts has reviewed fifteen of them on the site. I will have to investigate the odd two out! Now, let’s talk horror….

Did you have many false starts, or unpublished manuscripts under your bed, before ‘The Dead House’ was published in 2015?

 I did, yes. I wrote my first novel at 12, finishing it at 17. That one taught me a lot about what not to do. After that it took another four manuscripts (some written many times), before I got my book deal. Honestly, writing is the best way to learn and I don’t consider any of my previous books false starts because they taught me so much.

‘The Dead House’ beautifully blends psychological thriller and crime with elements of horror. Did you see yourself as a ‘horror’ author at this stage or could your career have taken a slightly different literary direction, I’m thinking mainstream thrillers perhaps?

I definitely saw myself as a horror writer at that stage, though I always knew I would branch into thriller and fantasy at some point. I love dark stories, and horror is my “beloved”, my bread and butter, my cherry on top, but I am drawn to other genres as well. One of the previous books I wrote was a psychological thriller, another was a paranormal, and two were fantasy.

Our recent feature on Ginger Nuts of Horror ranked your second novel ‘The Creeper Man’ the eighth best YA horror novel of the last decade, the level of ambiguity in that novel connected to the horror was stunning, how did you pull it off?

Thank you. I have a mind that naturally seeks out ambiguity—my family often jokes that I’m obsessed with mirrors and duality, and it’s true. Ambiguity is fascinating—how stories can be one thing and another at the same time. I grew up having to dig through many narratives and I suppose it taught me a great deal and framed how I think.

‘The Creeper Man’ character which lurks in the background was as good a ‘boogieman’ style character as I have come across in a YA novel, where did you dream him up from? Is he inspired by any other characters in fiction?

I’ve always been fascinated by boogieman type figures, and they featured heavily in my childhood (literally and figuratively). There are some fascinating African versions that I have up my sleeve for future works. I remember being fascinated by Babadook, Slenderman, the Judderman from the TV advert for Metz, which incidentally my friend Kat Ellis reminded me of when she was reading The Creeper Man in manuscript form, and I think had a small helping of inspiration for her novel, Harrow Lake (we love the Judderman!). Any type of boogieman legend is immediately fascinating to me.

Along with Amy Lukavics, the troubled teenage voice in The Creeper Man is one of the most convincing I have come across in recent years. How did you go about developing her voice?

Thank you. Silla came to me first, fully formed, so I suppose she’s inside me somewhere; a part of me.

The range and quality of horror and dark fiction being produced by women in the YA world is incredible, who are your favourites?

Amy Lukavics, of course, but I recently read Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall, which had a beautiful, nightmarish quality of atmosphere and dread. It was almost like a mash up of The Dead House and Neil Gaiman! It was also written in a found-footage style, which I, of course, love. Some other favourites include Rory Power, Kim Liggett, Ann Davila Cardinal, Kendare Blake, Holly Black, Danielle Vega/Rollins, Brenna Yovanoff, Emily Lloyd Jones, Emma Berquist, Cat Winters, Sara Faring, Christine Lynn Herman, Amelinda Berube, Seanan McGuire, and Kat Ellis. We really are spoiled for choice.

Is there much of the teenage ‘you’ in your novels? Which of your characters is closet to yourself?

Absolutely. They are all some part of me. The closest though? Probably Emma and Seamus from Teeth in the Mist.

Do you feel you could pull of a male narrative? They have all but disappeared from modern YA horror fiction. There are many men writing female voices, but virtually no women doing boys…

I agree. I would love to see more male narratives. It would be an interesting challenge for me, since I have a particular obsession with women in general.

Your most recent novel ‘Teeth in the Mist’ was a multi-stranded (and time periods) complex haunted house story. How close was this to being an adult novel? It seemed more ambitious than your previous two novels…..

Teeth in the Mist was definitely my most ambitious novel. It is a complex, glorious nightmare and it was a challenge to write. I think most of what I write in the YA space could be considered crossover—but honestly, my books so far have been for teens. I don’t believe in holding back when it comes to teenage readers. They are smart, cunning, and vastly more capable than most adults give them credit for.

Do you read much current YA horror? If you have been following Ginger Nuts of Horror recent top 50 novels of the last decade there is much for you to check out….

I have been reading as much as I can with deadlines for several projects looming. I greatly enjoyed the Ginger Nuts Horror top 50 list.

Was YA a thing for you when you were growing up? Who did you read, and did you graduate to adult horror early?

I was not a natural reader, being dyslexic. I positively hated reading. But my mother persisted, and eventually I found my love of books (thank you, Mum!). I remember loving Goosebumps the most (along with Animorphs, which are sci-fi novels). Soon after I was onto Stephen King, as I think a lot of us were. Then Brigitte Aubert and other adult novelists. There certainly didn’t feel there was as much choice as there is now. I’m honoured to be a part of that.

Do you feel you write books you would have loved to read as a 13 or 14-year-old?

DAWN: Absolutely. There is a reason I sought out adult novels so early. Books for younger readers felt, in a way, limiting. I wanted to know more, delve deeper, have more complicated stories—I wanted a puzzle to solve. Too many books for young readers shied away from real darkness, and I had questions that didn’t get answers. I was a precocious young adult, and I write for precocious young adults.

Your fiction is a whisker away from the adult market, do you have any plans to write an adult novel?

Yes.

There are elements in all three of your novels which many teenage readers will find challenging and will have to devote their concentration to. Your novels are not throwaway easy reads and are more akin to ‘literary’ writing than straight genre fiction. Have you been tempted to perhaps pitch your fiction at a more mass-market audience? 
 
No. I have always been more on the literary side, both in what I write and what I read. But never say never, as they say. I like a challenge. That’s not to say that there isn’t a place for more easy reads, because there is—and trust me when I say that “easy reads” are difficult to write! I just like to indulge in what I enjoy, and what I enjoy are puzzles.

Could you tell us a little bit about what you are working on at the moment?

Currently in the works: My fourth YA novel and two other projects. When I can reveal more, I will do.

If you were to see any author (living or dead) reading ‘Teeth in the Mist’ on the train, who would it be?

I might fall over if I ever saw Shirley Jackson, Neil Gaiman or Edgar Allan Poe reading Teeth in the Mist. I have been lucky enough to have my books blurbed by authors I admire, like R. L. Stine, Christopher Pike, V.E Schwab, and Teeth in the Mist was blurbed by an author I admire very much, Juliet Marillier, so it feels like I’ve already had that “falling off my chair” moment, knowing that my book was in their hands.

It has been a pleasure having you visit the site. We would like to wish you good fortune for your future projects, but please don’t abandon YA horror for the adult markey, we need to hear your very distinctive voice!

Tony Jones

​Polly Ho-Yen – Boy in the Tower

The Boy in the Tower is a lovely juvenile (threatening, but not too scary) twist on the Day of the Triffids story, but in this version the strange plants which begin appearing start attacking the foundations of all the buildings in the south London housing estate where the action takes place. It is called the Boy in the Tower at the main character, Ade who is in his final year of primary school, lives in the last building left standing in the local area, which there is a specific reason for, revealed later in the novel. As a certain point his best friend (who is partially deaf) disappears and as the buildings collapse one after the other Ade becomes more and more isolated, stuck with his sick mother in the flat, scared that his building will be the next to collapse. As hunger pangs set in, some of the inhabitants start catching pigeons for food giving an added level of realism.

The story is split into a ‘then’ and ‘now’ narrative which takes the action before and after the arrival of the nasty plants. The leading character is lovely and very easy to connect with, and this would be a beautiful book to read to a 7 to 9 year-old as a bedtime story as the narrative is perfect for a child at the top end of primary school. It is slightly too easy for secondary school kids, but might still suitable for 11-12-year-olds not ready for anything too challenging.  AGE 9+

Chelsea Ichaso – Little Creeping Things

I do enjoy dark YA thrillers, loaded with twists, which keeps the readers on their toes until the end and there have been plenty of examples in recent months to choose from. Chelsea Ichaso's debut Little Creeping Things is one to watch out for, led by a fine unreliable narrator who may be hiding something, or then again, perhaps not. The main character Cassidy accidently started a serious fire when she was a child which resulted in the death of a neighbour. Although she cannot remember the incident, she has never been able to move on, and even as a teenager is bullied because of it and is even called a murderer for something which happened a decade earlier. Or so we are told.

One of the main bullies disappears and the mystery thickens, written in such a way in which the reader is never quite sure of Cassidy's involvement, which is complicated by the appearance of mysterious text messages. Cassidy sets out to solve the mystery, and perhaps unlock the secrets of her past, so make sure you hang in there for a very clever ending. There was alot of enjoy in this edgy thriller, which is an excellent read particularly for teenage girls who are the likely target audience. AGE 13+

CS James & Sean Elwood - Fright Filter (Twisted Books to Leave You Shook Book 1)

When you read books like Fright Filter you need to climb into the shoes of your ten-year-old self, and I am certain the junior version of Tony would have lapped this story up! The action opens with twelve-year-old Nicole in school and being peer-pressured into (almost) posting a picture of her classmate Patty on social media, with her face morphed into that of a pig. The teacher, Ms Crawford, catches Nicole in the act and confiscates the mobile phone just before the picture goes live. Fright Filter handles the tween friendship and bullying part of the story with confidence, balancing it with a developing supernatural edge which is introduced quite slowly. As with most fiction aimed at children of this age, it does have a morale message which is delivers without getting too patronizing or heavy handed.

Nicole ends up turning into a monster, then an old lady, due to a dodgy filter on her phone and although she reaches out to her best friend Rebecca, it is eventually Patty who comes to her aid. In some sections it is played it for slight laughs, with Nicole doing her best to avoid her mother and little brother, when she should have been more horrified in being turning into a monster. The final sections make some big plot jumps and as a result the ending felt a little rushed, but overall blended the horror with family drama nicely. Along the way there were parental issues (a recently dead father) and some back and forth with Nicole’s annoying little brother and stressed mother. A solid debut to a promising new series. AGE 8+

Alexandra Monir – The Final Six

The Final Six is more dystopian, environmentally tinged science fiction than horror, which already has a sequel, The Life Below. The sequel is the curse in YA fiction and this book is another perfect example, all the good stuff is being kept for the second instalment and teenage readers may well feel cheated by what is effectively half-a-book. However, it is still a decent enough story, with two engaging lead characters, but I would still question whether there is enough going on to split it into two books. If you remember the old 1980s Disney film Space Camp, this novel is a YA environmental themed updating of it, except for the outer space element, which is being saved for book two. Unless book two is a genuine killer, it might have been wiser to cut a lot of the padding in The Final Six and give the reader a very strong single volume. 

Set slightly in the future, the planet has been destroyed by global warming and mankind is looking to explore other planets for a way to salvation. The International Space Training Camp come up with a list of 22 potential astronauts, of which six will be chosen to be sent on a mission one of Jupiter’s moons. That is the whole plot and although Leo and Naomi are engaging central characters there was not quite enough going on to carry the story as those chosen become minor celebrities through intense media speculation. However, some of the background character development was eye-catching; Leo was a champion swimmer who plundered art masterpieces which were now underwater in Rome and Naomi was a teen science genius. As the new hope of salvation picks up speed, the new-found celebrities are slowly whittled down from twenty-two to six. AGE 12+

Patrick Ness – Burn

Patrick Ness is one of the most awarded and distinguished YA authors in the UK and I always look forward to seeing what he produces next and Burn is probably his best novel for a few years. It has a genuinely fascinating premise; being set in 1957 with the Cold War rumbling in the background, however, in this alternate history, dragons live in tandem with mankind. In the distant past there were wars between the two species, but as things currently stand men pay dragons to carry out farming work and other jobs and a vaguely uneasy alliance exists. Along the way we find out that most of the dragons live in a part of Canada which is uninhabited by man who do not really know what goes on in these areas. The story revolves around a teenage girl whose father hires a 50 foot (considered to be small) blue dragon called Kazimer to clean out his fields.

This is one of the Ness novels which is aimed at older pupils as it has several complex storylines which are connected to both an ancient prophecy and various Cold War related plots and conspiracies. I thought the dragon stole the show, he was both vaguely unsettling and in turn amusing, with the relationship he develops with Sarah. The stories tie in together and although it is technically a fantasy novel, it is undoubtedly the least showy dragon book you are ever likely to read. Forget Pete’s Dragon! The level of world building, both authentically connected to the genuine Cold War era, and how the dragons fit into this alternative universe was superb. Burn was not an easy read and was more of a drama than a page-turner which I would happily recommend to strong teen readers who will find it captivating. AGE 13+

Steve Stred - The Boy Whose Room Was Outside

Steve Stred is a prolific adult horror writer, check out The One That Knows No Fear as a great example of his recent work, who turns his hand to children’s fantasy horror with The Boy Whose Room Was Outside. Amazon mentions this is YA, however, it is aimed at younger kids, probably around eight to ten. It is quite a gentle and non-threatening fantasy novel, which older kids might find a bit unchallenging, so stick with the younger age group. The story revolves around a young boy who when he falls asleep wakes up in a fantasy and magical world where he meets lots of different animals who can talk. Whilst he is in this other world, he is also being watched by a dark presence which draws closer to him as the story progresses. This dark force does not want him in the forest, but we do not know why.

This was a very easy read which might fire the imagination of younger children but considering the depth of excellent fantasy novels on the market a story needs more strings to its bow than talking animals to genuinely hold the attention. Peter repeatedly goes backwards and forwards to the other land and after a while it got repetitive as too many of the journeys were similar, where not that much happened. However, there were many nice touches, including his relationship with his parents, his dad attempting to get to the other world, Peter’s understanding mother and the fact that his parents couldn’t figure out where he learned to swim! The giant was a lovely character, but in the end of the day the ‘dark’ character did not do much apart from lurk in the background and so the story lacked a strong villain. Having said that, not all stories have to be truly dark and Peter’s journey was a nice, gentle, and easy to read coming-of-age story aimed at younger children. AGE 8/9+

Teri Terry – Dark Blue Rising

I have been a fan of Teri Terry since her arrival on the YA scene with the excellent Slated in 2012 which developed into one of the best dystopian series of the last decade and have read most of her subsequent books and she has been incredibly popular in my school library. Although Dark Blue Rising is a very solid very enjoyable read, it lacks the sinister edge which Slated possessed and the end-of-the-world scenario in the virus driven Contagion trilogy. However, Dark Blue Rising is still very good YA, albeit a gentler, character driven read, which crosses between drama and thriller and for the most part is tricky to figure out exactly where the book is heading. It also suffers the current YA curse: it finishes for a sequel and lacks enough resolution at the end of this first book.
​
Sixteen-year-old Tabby lives with her mum Cate, she does not go to school, and they travel around gypsy and traveller camps and seem to be living a transient lifestyle. Cate is suspicious of everything any might be on the run, but from who or what? After a bullying incident leaves Tabby with a broken arm her life begins to seriously unravel and when the police become involved a major revelation is dropped on her which turns her life upside down. In the background we realise Tabby is an amazing swimmer and can hold her breathe underwater for an incredibly long period and has a weird attraction to the sea. A potential conspiracy bounces nicely with Tabby trying to start a new life, until she realises Cate might have kept her hidden for a reason. But that is for book two, which some readers might find frustrating. AGE 12+

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. Hell, with a killer title like that a younger version of myself would be snapping up this film from the video shelves in a heartbeat! However, you would be mistaken, as this is a Young Adult (YA) horror novel and an impressive teen debut from Adam Cesare who has been making a name for himself in the adult horror scene over the last decade or so. 
 
One of Adam’s previous novels was called Video Night and the wildly entertaining Clown in a Cornfield, especially the second half, reads like one of those slasher films many of us watched on video in the 1980s and 1990s which there is much nostalgia for. This is not a typical YA novel and I applaud Harper Teen for getting behind such a retro story which does not play by many of the normal rules of teen fiction. It is not deep, the characters neither ‘change’ or ‘grow’ and it does not have a heavy underlying serious message. This observation should not be taken as any form of criticism; it is wildly entertaining and once the clowns start slashing it is non-stop action until the final page. In recent years there have been decline in the sales of YA fiction and one of the main reasons is the fact that it takes itself too seriously and kids have been put off by too many books with ‘messages’ which often come across as patronising or worthy. Although Clown in a Cornfield does have a dash of social commentary it is cheerfully very old school horror and is all the better for it. Let the blood flow and prepare to be drenched instead of patronised!
 
I do love a ‘Final Girl’ and although the story is told in the third person, taking in various characters, Quinn Maybrook dominates the book and she is an excellent Final Girl (okay, other characters survive too) when the body count spirals in the second half of the story. Depending on where you look Clown in a Cornfield is listed as either for kids 9-12 or 14+ and for a YA novel it is violent, featuring decapitations, head explosions and other cinematic style kill scenes. I would suggest the 14+ rating is a bit too prudish, many horror fans of that age would have already graduated to adult horror, so I would mark it as 12+, note also it does feature a large amount of swearing. However, unlike the 1980s slasher films it might have been inspired by, it features no sex scenes.
 
This truly is a book of two halves in which the first sets up the plot and in the second the story explodes. The set up was handled very well, my only concern might be that some readers might be frustrated by the lack of action in the first 50%, however, Quinn Maybrook and the other characters were varied enough to keep the reader invested in how the story would play out and intrigue in what part the clowns might have. Interestingly, the book is set over a very short time of a couple of days, after Quinn and her father Doctor Glen Maybrook arrive in the sleepy and very remote small town of Missouri town of Kettle Strings. Once the action kicks off, like many of the horror films it is inspired by, the action takes place over a single night.
 
Quinn and her father are after a fresh start, moving at short notice from Philadelphia after the recent death of her mother, and is in her final year of high school. The novel frames Quinn as the ‘new girl’ in a tiny rundown town which has struggled since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory closed and upon arrival at school we meet many of the other teenage characters who populate the novel and will be stalked by the clowns.  Quinn is surprised to find that many of the other kids are involved in making video pranks which they load onto their You Tube channel and soon she meets the local ‘bad boy’ who is the son of one of the town’s richest men. Quinn was an engaging main character and both her backstory and relationship with her father were convincing as things went from bad to worse. 
 
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 three generations. This is all part of the effective small town atmosphere Adam Cesare creates, almost time-warping us back to the 1950s, but in the background there are never-ending cornfields which surround the rural community, with the corn rustling in the wind, all of which is disconcerting for city girl Quinn.
 
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 readers eyes 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. There is no need for librarians to be prudish and hide the book away, let the kids who want to read it have fun with Frendo.
 
YA horror does not take up a large slice of the overall YA book market and there are very few novels like this in the bookshops. We desperately need more teen horror novels like Clown in the Cornfield to remind us that 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 if you dig deep enough you will smile at the theme which lurks at the back of the novel “Make Kettle Springs great again!” (ring any bells?!?) Adult readers will undoubtedly find the rationale behind the core story rather weak or far-fetched, but then again, in a slasher film that was usually the case also. Although Quinn Maybrook was a great main character is was a shame to see the two main boy characters playing second fiddle. Dark YA fiction is positively teeming with great and inspirational female characters, whereas the male lead has virtually disappeared. However, this is a book which is written in a style which will be equally enjoyed by both boys and girls.    
 
The number of authors who successfully move from adult to YA fiction is incredibly small and Adam Cesare deserves to make a splash with this entertaining and over the top kill fest. I am very happy to recommend Clown in a Cornfield and hope it ends up in the hands of as many teenagers and school libraries as possible. This is an excellent gateway novel for young teenagers not quite ready to make the jump to adult horror. 
 
I have heard on the horror grave-vine that Cesare is working on a second YA horror novel. This area of literature badly needs new blood and I am hoping we have found a new voice.  
 
Tony Jones

In Adam Cesare’s terrifying young adult debut, Quinn Maybrook finds herself caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress—that just may cost her life.

Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. 

On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.
​
Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now. ​

The sequel, The Deck of Omens, picks up right where we left off with that amazing cliff hanger. I was so pleased I did not have to wait a year to pick the same story up again! In this book, we also have Isaac and May’s POV which was a nice addition, but we lose the voice of Justin. However, I kind of missed him, throughout this story he becomes a background character, but the author made it up by giving more page time to Isaac. In The Deck of Omens, we get a lot more insight into some of the characters and what occurs during their specific rituals. A few new characters are added into the mix, including Gabriel, Isaac’s older brother who he was estranged from. Also, May and Justin’s father, Ezra plays a more significant role.

Throughout The Deck of Omens, ‘The Gray’ is leaking into the town causing is to spread a disease that harms the town, but the founders are immune. In the first book, we saw that ‘The Beast’ was stopped but its presence is still very dominate, overpowering, and decidedly creepy. This book, more so than the first, shocked me because of how many twists in contained and to fully understand them you would have to read the first book. Under no circumstances pick up The Devouring Gray before The Deck of Omens, as it will not make much sense.

A key aspect of the sequel which was not heavily featured in the first was the relationships, especially those of a romantic nature. For instance, we get to see a lot more of Harper and Justin, in the first book there was a lot of tension between them, so it was great to see this develop. One of the other things that stood out from this book is that several of the characters bi-sexual, including both teens and adults. I also liked the parent child relationship as the adults were more prominent in this second novel.  Also, some of the parents have history together to which was subtly suggested in The Devouring Grey but explored more fully in the second.

Many themes are covered, including grief and trauma that a lot of the characters experienced when carrying out their rituals. I was especially drawn to Isaac and Harper because their rituals were talked about in the first book but never fully addressed until the last few pages or the second book and I was itching to know more.

The Deck of Omens answered all the questions that were left open ended in The Devouring Gray and I felt satisfied by the ending but also a little sad on how some of the relationships ended. Overall, this duology was a solid, amazing read which I highly recommend to anyone who loves creepy novels that ooze of mystery, strained friendships, and some serious twists. I am amazed I have not heard more about these YA books, where have they been hiding and seem to be flying seriously low under the radar? I am excited to see what Christine Lynn Herman writes next because I am hooked on her writing style!
AJ

For fans of Stranger Things, Riverdale and The Raven Cycle. Can a group of teenagers hold back the otherworldly horror that stalks the woods?

On the edge of town a beast haunts the woods, trapped in the Gray, its bonds loosening…

Uprooted from the city, Violet Saunders doesn’t have much hope of fitting in at her new school in Four Paths, a town almost buried in the woodlands of rural New York. The fact that she’s descended from one of the town’s founders doesn’t help much, either—her new neighbours treat her with distant respect, and something very like fear. When she meets Justin, May, Isaac, and Harper, all children of founder families, and sees the otherworldly destruction they can wreak, she starts to wonder if the townsfolk are right to be afraid. When bodies start to appear in the woods, the locals become downright hostile. Can the teenagers solve the mystery of Four Paths, and their own part in it, before another calamity strikes?

The teenagers of Four Paths must save their home, in the sequel to hit fantasy The Devouring Gray. For fans of Stranger Things, Riverdale and The Raven Cycle

With the Beast subdued, the town of Four Paths discovers a new threat: a corruption seeping is from the Gray, poisoning the roots of the town and its people. Only May Hawthorne realizes the danger, forced to watch as her visions become reality.

Meanwhile, the town is riven by change: Harper Carlisle is learning to control her newfound powers, and how to forgive after devastating betrayals; Isaac Sullivan's older brother, Gabriel, has returned after years away; Violet Saunders is finding her place and Justin and May's father has finally come home.

With the veil between the Gray and the town growing ever thinner, and the Founder Families all returning to their roots, the time has finally come to settle ancient grudges, to cure the corruption and stop the Beast once and for all.
​
But more than one kind of beast preys on Four Paths...

If you are after a fast-paced, gory, and very stylish YA horror novel then look no further than Cat Scully’s excellent debut splash Jennifer Strange. All too often Ginger Nuts of Horror struggles to find genuine YA horror to review, be rest assured this monster and demon-soaked romp is the real deal which moves at an incredibly fast and very silky lick. The novel is also part comic, with catchy illustrations opening the story, with additional drawings at various key points along the way. It is not a graphic novel and is being referred to as an ‘illustrated novel’, however, it is more of a traditional novel than anything else.
 
Be careful who you give it to, the cool packaging might look cartoony, but it is considerably bloodier than you might think. Bracken MacLeod has said: “The first time I started this novel, my reaction was, "THIS is a YA book?!" HELL yeah, it is. But it ain't just kids' stuff.” I would agree with Bracken, but also, there are plenty of kids out there who will take the numerous creatures and kills in their stride. It depends on how prudish they (or their parents) are, personally, I found it relatively harmless and I suspect most kids will take it the same way.
 
Jennifer Strange starts swinging and does not relent for a moment 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 where there are a lot of ghosts and helped in creating a funky Buffy: The Vampire Slayer style vibe. There was an early scene where a demon killed several school kids and it was blamed on a gas leak; that sort of coverup happened in Summerdale High all the time!  
 
Is there a dash of Buffy in Jennifer? More ‘no’ that ‘yes’ but give her time! Instead of slaying vampires Jennifer is a conduit for ghosts and demons. This means that the undead can attempt to inhabit her body and take over her physical form and effectively 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 connected to her weird gift. The plot does not hold back on either the violence or death, with a swiftly mounting body count as Jennifer begins to investigate a supernatural mystery. Much of the violence does have a stylised bubble-gum, almost comic book, feel to it which complement the expressive drawings perfectly.
 
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 not a deep book and nor does it pretend to be. The characters are sketchily drawn with limited back stories, with its strength lying in its pace, action sequences and snappy dialogue. It lacks the intense inner reflection, conflict, and maturity which you might find in other YA fiction, for example, an Amy Lukavics novel. However, that should not be taken as a criticism, as this is a light and frothy read which provides easy-going entertainment. I was delighted to hear that Lukavics was also a fan of Jennifer Strange, providing the following lovely quote: “A mysterious, dark, and perfectly bone-chilling tale of self-discovery and seizing your destiny, Jennifer Strange is a tremendous addition to Young Adult horror”.
 
I really enjoyed the supernatural world which Cat Scully develops and the colourful range of demons and other beings which pop up, here is an excerpt when they make an early appearance in the story:
 
“My cellphone shook in my hand as the bright camera light flickered when it found Bloody Mouth. He held a student up by the base of his neck and brought the guy’s face crashing down into the black hardtop of one of the tall desks. Bloody Mouth smashed, and smashed, and smashed until the guy’s face had turned to putty.”
 
Other highlights included the rekindling of the family relationship between Cat and her sister Liz, and the developing of her own supernatural powers and the mystery behind the term ‘Sparrow’ which the demons continually refer to her as. The handwritten diary flashbacks written by her father which provide insights into where the power originates was another clever development. There was a lot to enjoy in this very fine debut.
 
Jennifer Strange is great fun and a colourful read for young teenagers not quite ready to tackle adult horror novels. Even younger kids, who are not too bothered about swearing and violence, will find much to get their teeth into. 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 lapped up. I have a feeling the story of Jennifer Strange is not yet over and I will certainly be returning for more.
 
Tony Jones

Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange is the Sparrow, cursed with the ability to give ghosts and demonic spirits a body-a flesh and blood anchor in the mortal world-with the touch of her hand. When a ghost attacks her high school and awakens her powers, her father dumps her unceremoniously in the care of her estranged older sister Liz, leaving only his journal as an explanation.

Drawn to the power of the Sparrow, the supernatural creatures preying on Savannah, Georgia will do anything to receive Jennifer's powerful gift. The sisters must learn to trust each other again and uncover the truth about their family history by deciphering their father's journal...because if they can't, Jennifer's uncontrolled power will rip apart the veil that separates the living from the dead.

A fast-paced and splattery romp, fans of Supernatural, Buffy, and Evil Dead will enjoy JENNIFER STRANGE - the first illustrated novel in a trilogy of stylish queer young adult horror books with big scares for readers not quite ready for adult horror.

Cat Scully's illustrations bring the ghosts and demons of her fictional world to eerie and beautiful life, harkening back to the style of SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK and Ransom Riggs' MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN.

 
I always enjoy authors making changes in 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 excellent Mayhem. However, it is not a complete turnaround as a large proportion of this 1987 set story is a compelling family drama, the twist being that the Brayburn clan are not quite your average family. Teen readers will have to show patience in this slow burner, before figuring out what exactly makes them different. 
 
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. For the previous thirteen years they have lived in Texas with Roxy’s violent and domineering husband Lyle who recently struck Mayhem, the final straw in a catalogue of domestic abuses incidents which led to them running away. The teenager barely remembers her ancestral family home but is aware that her natural father died there, possibly suicide, not long before her mother moved to Texas thirteen years earlier. Much of the story is built around Mayhem’s return to Santa Maria and the secrets connecting her to her family and their weird history.
 
In the years away from Santa Maria, Roxy has developed a prescription drug habit and the complex relationship between mother and daughter lies at the heart of the plot. Expanding that, 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 Jason (almost eighteen), Neve and Kidd who is nine. The eldest and youngest are natural brother and sister, whilst Neve is a wild free spirit who is a contrast to the much more reserved and closed-off Mayhem.
 
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. Readers looking for a loud supernatural romp might find this book to be rather frustrating, it is a much quieter coming of age story with Mayhem trying to uncover the mystery of herself and her connection to the local area, which frustratingly, nobody wants to talk about. It is very subtly handled with the teenager being an engaging first-person narrator, moving from outsider to a key member of the group of four. On the other hand, her mother Roxy was frustrating to the point of irritation, with her daughter showing more sense of responsibility than the flaky parent.
 
I felt one of the main taglines which has been used with this book was slightly misleading; “The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel.” Firstly, technically there are no traditional vampires, there is only one boy in the story, and it was not ‘feminist’. Just because a book has predominately female characters does not automatically make it a feminist novel. Comments have also been made of its mid-eighties setting, it did not particularly come across as eighties; neither did it rely on the usual pop-culture references from the period, this was not a particular drawback as the story could have been set in any modern time period. The author is obviously a fan of The Lost Boys as Mayhem features several references to the film, including characters called ‘The Frog Brothers’ which viewers of the film will undoubtedly recognise. However, these references may well be completely lost on the teenagers of 2020.
 
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, never mind The Lost Boys, this had me thinking of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s ‘Hell Mouth’, where Sunnydale was located.  
 
Whilst Mayhem is unearthing her family’s unusual history, helped by the discovery of old diaries, there is a second major plotline of a serial killer, the ‘Sand Snatcher’, killing young women, which eventually involves Mayhem and her new siblings. This was not the strongest element of the narrative and lurked in the background before bubbling to the top towards the end of the novel and was resolved far too easily and with little suspense or threat. However, the spooky beach setting was excellent and contributed much to the atmosphere. On the downside, an unconvincing, and unnecessary, romance was also thrown into the plot in the final third. 
 
Mayhem is aimed at girls aged thirteen, or older, and continues the trend in recent horror and dark fiction to turn male characters into background wallpaper and, sadly, this is exactly how Jason was portrayed. Overall, I enjoyed this novel, but 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. Some readers will find it too slow and lament the lack of action, but for those teens who enjoy thoughtful dramas with a supernatural twist there is much to recommend.
 
4/5
 
Tony Jones

The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel.

It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else. 

But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. 

But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost. 

From the acclaimed author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back, Estelle Laure offers a riveting and complex story with magical elements about a family of women contending with what appears to be an irreversible destiny, taking control and saying when enough is enough.

• Author’s social handles
  • Twitter: @starlaure
  • Instagram: @estellelaurebooks
    
    
• Link to a buy-this-book page:
              https://wednesdaybooks.com/galaxies-and-kingdom/mayhem/

We hope you have enjoyed following our ‘Top 100’ YA novels published across the previous decade and find something for yourself or a loved one to check out. It is very much a personal choice and includes a fantastic blend of ghosts, vampires, zombies, and good old-fashioned scares. For the first time, we are releasing numbers 51-100 which include novels which are also well worth having a closer look at.
 
We are delighted to crown the amazing Amy Lukavics the Ginger Nuts ‘Queen of YA Horror’ as all four of her published novels are ranked within the top 100 at 4, 12, 23 and 51. My daughter, who helped with the list, had also read all of Amy’s novels argued that I should switch around 23 and 51! Perhaps, but in the end of the day all 4 are terrific. This incredible author deserves every plaudit possible and her brand of edgy, angsty, and varied YA horror needs to be made as widely available as possible.
 
Amy is followed by the uber-cool Frances Hardinge, who has three entries in the top 100, positioned at 17, 53 and 79. This British author effortlessly blends horror with fantasy and historical fiction, with number 17 Cuckoo Song her closest novel to straight horror and is regularly recommended by horror legend Ramsey Campbell. In the UK Frances is a literary institution, but lesser known in the USA, so check her out if you have not sampled her unique blend of genre-blending.
 
A group of other authors made impressive double appearances in our top 100. Most impressively Alden Bell who scored number one with The Reapers are the Angels, and 11 with When We Were Animals, writing as Joshua Gaylord. What can I say about the amazing Alden/Josh? I love the guy and hope we see another novel from him soon. Others recording fine doubles were Melvin Burgess who is not especially seen as a horror author, Dawn Kurtagich, Jeyn Roberts, Juno Dawson, Courtney Alameda and William Hussey. Well done to all. Melvin Burgess, Bill Hussey and Juno Dawson have all been around for years and are very well known in the UK, and I am sure the others have exciting careers in front of them. All highly accomplished writers and represent the very best in what dark YA fiction has to offer.
 
For the last number of years women have been responsible for much of the fantastic YA horror fiction published and this is reflected in the fact that 55 of the 100 selected were written by females. This is fantastic to see, and Ginger Nuts of Horror is happy to acknowledge the tremendous lift women given the genre.
 
It is a shame so little foreign language YA horror is translated into English and as a result, sadly, the 100 books selected are predominately from the USA or the UK, with Rin Chupeco being the major exception. Approximately 56 were from authors who were from the USA or Canada, around 42 were from the UK or Ireland, with a couple of other countries represented also. We felt this was a strong international spread with the USA rightfully leading the charge.
 
The only international book prize for YA horror is the Horror Writer’s Association Stoker Award, who have had a YA category for the last decade. However, if you are looking for recommendations, I would urge caution as their shortlists have frequently featured very mediocre novels and weak winners. The fact that zero of their last ten winners are featured in this top 100 tells its own story, although some of those shortlisted are. Also, the YA Stoker, even though it is an international award only seems to celebrate American authors, this top 100 is considerably more balanced.
 
I have not featured sequels in the list, however, there is one particularly brand which has 4 entries in the top 100, Red Eye. This is the UK equivalent of 1990s Point Horror and after 12 books is an incredibly popular UK brand with a range of top authors on their books.
 
Note also the total absence of the sub-genre Paranormal Romance, this is not because I had anything against angels, werewolves and vampires, but the big hitters of the genre all published their first books in the previous decade and sequels (which do not count) for this list.
 
A very small selection of the 100 are what you might call ‘accessible adult’ titles, these are books originally released for adults which have either picked up YA audiences, or I believe they deserve to. This includes: Alden Bell – Reapers are the Angels (1), Neil Gaiman – Ocean at the End of the Lane (6), Joshua Gaylord – When We Were Animals (11), Richard Farren Barber – Closer Still (35), Victoria Dalpe – Parasite Life (40) and Michael Thomas Ford – Lily (44).

Charts like this are always very subjective and disagreement is ultimately a good thing and in its own way every book I have mentioned is fantastic and has much to admire and worth reading. In the end of the day my aim is to encourage as many readers to try books I love within the broad remit of dark and horror YA fiction. You do not have to agree with my choices, but if you choose to take a punt on Alden Bell’s The Reapers are the Angels, I hope you love it as much as I do. There are many much better-known authors in the horror field, who have written much better known and influential zombie novels than this, but none touched my soul the way this beautiful book did.

How can a zombie novel touch the soul? Read on to find out.  

Since I randomly stumbled upon this novel way back in 2011, I have read it four times. It is rare for me to read a book more than once and I only do so when it is a title we are studying for my Psychotronic Book Club at school. We discuss six novels in a school year and over the last ten years I have revisited The Reapers are the Angels three times with different groups of teenagers. Through reading it with my book groups I have been repeatedly stunned by the impact it can have on teenage readers. Yes, it is a zombie novel, but it also an incredibly moving and beautiful story with an ending which is so powerful you may well cry once you have read the final lines. Over the years lots of kids have admitted to shedding a tear at the bittersweet end, including my fourteen-year-old daughter, who openly bawled her eyes out.

It is also one of those tales which is perfect for readers, adult or teenage, who would never ever read a zombie or horror novel in a million years. We have featured The Reapers are the Angels on Ginger Nuts before and I have said in the past, if Cormac McCarthy was to write a zombie novel, he might produce something like this. I cannot give Alden Bell’s masterpiece higher praise than that, his limited use of punctuation, in the Southern Gothic style is pitch perfect.

Alden Bell is a pseudonym for Joshua Gaylord who featured at number eleven in our chart with When We Were Animals. My daughter was equally moved by that novel and interviewed Alden/Josh for Ginger Nuts and she asked him whether both books were YA novels, because it was very difficult to tell. Josh responded:

“When I wrote them, I didn’t think of them as YA books.  I didn’t think of them as adult books either.  I just thought of them as books I would like to read.  My publishers like to market them as YA/Adult crossover novels—but I’m less concerned about categories and labels.  I think teenagers can certainly read them, and I think they would recognize a lot of themselves in the books.  But I think that’s true of adults too.  If you try to write something authentically human, then I don’t think such writing has age limits.”

Like with Neil Gaiman’s Ocean at the End of the Lane, which is featured elsewhere in the top ten, I particularly love books where it is very difficult to pinpoint whether they are aimed at an adult or YA audience. The Reapers are the Angels is an exceptional example of this, my book groups would argue until the cows come home on the subject, but for myself the strength of the fifteen-year-old narrator, Temple, makes this a perfect fit for YA audience, even if it is not ‘traditional’ YA.

Without exaggerating, I would rank Temple amongst my favourite ever characters in fiction, YA or otherwise. She is wracked with guilt, mostly on the run and trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world without any family. She is equally strong and vulnerable, making her the perfect character for teenagers to connect with. Interestingly, When We Were Animals also features an equally engaging teenage female lead and when we interviewed Josh, we asked him why he chose girls to lead his novels:

“For my money, teenage girls are the best kinds of characters to write about.  Somehow, whatever they’re doing is believable.  I think it’s because teenage girls are masters of disguise—professional adopters of roles.  They luxuriate in their own drama and they are taught by culture to don a different mask for every circumstance.  What more could you ask from a character?  Also, when I was a teenager myself, I think I was more of a teenage girl than a teenage boy.  I had no idea how to interpret boys.  They wanted me to hit a ball with a stick and run around in a circle.”

Reapers are the Angels is different from most other zombie novels in that the creatures take a back seat and there are small signs that America is beginning to recover from the apocalypse of some years earlier. The plot revolves around Temple who had lived her entire life in the aftermath of this world changing event. She has existed and travelled by herself for most of her life, struggling to connect with the other people she meets along the way. After she kills someone in self-defence, is hunted down by a man called Moses and whilst on the run meets many characters including Maurey, who has special needs, and takes him with her on race away from Moses. Throughout the story flashbacks reveal why she decided to help Maurey and the underlying reason for her guilt.

Prepare yourself for an incredible road novel across an empty America with a teenager who does not fit into the settlements which are beginning to rebuild and is more at home travelling the dangerous landscapes where there are more vicious predators than zombies. A masterpiece and one of the finest horror novels of the last decade, YA or adult.
Tony Jones

6. Neil Gaiman – Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is, hands-down, my favourite Neil Gaiman novel and I have read most of them. It is predominately seen through the eyes of a little boy and features the scariest babysitter/nanny of all time who terrifies the child. Hell, she terrified me. This breath-taking blend of fantasy and horror is almost impossible to pigeonhole and possibly takes the best bits from many of Gaiman’s other novels; increasing the fear-factor from Coraline and The Graveyard Book, includes snatches reminiscent of Stardust, but without the huge page length of American Gods. It might very well be Gaiman’s masterpiece with old and dangerous magic filtering into the world.
 
On one level it reads like a children’s book, on another it is a story of loss, aging, and childhood memories. This is a big question: is this an adult or a YA novel? It is very hard to tell, and I have a special love for novels which blur that boundary. Since its publications I have read it twice with different book clubs at school and readers frequently argue about how it should be categorised. However, if it an adult novel, it is perfect for strong teenage readers and the majority I lend it to adore its strange blend of coming-of-story, childhood fear and nostalgia, not to mention very old magic. Life might not be normal for a boy whose nearest neighbours are a family of ancient witches, including a little girl who he befriends, in this dark and brooding tale of childhood and witchcraft which is half-forgotten and is totally unforgettable to the reader. Genius. But watch out for that babysitter…. AGE 13+

5. Sarah Pinborough - The Death House (2015)

When I recommend books to teenagers, I am always on the lookout for titles which the readers can make strong emotional connections with and in my experience, there are few better than The Death House. In the years I have been recommending this amazing dystopian thriller I always tell the kids to watch out for the stunning ending and if I enquire how they got on, more than a few admit to crying at the very sad end. Certain readers think the ending is unnecessarily downbeat, I am not sure though, but it is amazing that it encourages such debate. One thing is for sure: there are a lot of teenagers out there who are truly passionate about this knockout of a novel. This is another novel which has been incredibly successful at my school book club where it has been widely debated. A few years I invited the author to my school, but as she was too busy she very kindly sent me four signed copies of her subsequent YA novel, the excellent thriller 13 Minutes.

You could argue The Death House is not strictly a horror story, but it is so good I add it to just about any list I can. It has a haunting mix of dystopia, where everything is kept enticingly vague, and teen novel which has been rightly compared to classics such as Lord of the Flies. Children who are infected with a virus, which they have been told is deadly, are shipped to a remote orphanage on an island which they call ‘Death Houses’ because the survival rate is zero. What follows is a quite beautiful and haunting look at the teens who live there, waiting to die, whilst trying to live. The story is seen from the point of view of Toby, who has been in the Death House longer than everybody else (who are all dead) and what changes when a couple of girls arrive amongst the latest bunch of inmates. YA writing has never been better as young love begins to blossom on the island. An absolute stunner and I loved it more than you can ever imagine. In recent years Pinborough has written some very successful adult thrillers, but I hope she returns to YA some day.  AGE 13+

4. Amy Lukavics - The Ravenous (2017)

Amy Lukavics is the undisputed queen of YA American horror and Ginger Nuts of Horror has been a fan for some years and the fact that she has not won the Horror Writer’s Association Bram Stoker YA award turns that competition into somewhat of a joke. Amy has three books in our top fifty (all four in the overall hundred), I loved them all, but this was my daughter’s personal favourite, so I have ranked The Ravenous the highest. This terrific story has complex family issues beating at its dark heart, much more than twitching goes on beyond the curtains in this broken household. I do not think there is any better YA writer anywhere in cross-pollinating the issues of everyday life, damaged teenagers with that of the supernatural than Lukavics. It also has a healthy amount of gore, as the eldest sister makes good use of the family hammer, as her unhealthy interest in serial-killers develops and the body-count increases. But with good reason.
The Ravenous is told from the point of view of Mona, the middle of five teenage sisters. Getting into the head of a teenager, making it convincing, is incredibly hard to do but the author totally nails the isolation felt by the girl. The eldest of the sisters acts as a surrogate parent to the others, as their mother is an alcoholic and their father absent. However, tragedy strikes when their mother causes a drunken argument and the youngest falls into the deep basement, tumbling to the bottom and dying instantly breaking her neck. This was one of many brutal sequences, the family staring at their broken sibling, her head twisted at a wrong angle. In her madness, the mother claims she can “bring Rose back” and then disappears for a few days with the body. When she returns, she is not alone, and Rose is alive again. But at what cost? Brutal all the way until the unsettling end. AGE 13+

3. Peadar Ó Guilín – The Call (2016)

The Call was one of the finest horror, Irish mythology, and teenage fantasy mashups I have read in many years and should be tried by absolutely everyone, kid, or adult. It is that good. Over the last three years it is the most borrowed novel in my library, in which we have multiple copies where most are always on loan. I recommend it a lot, but its success also comes from the fact that so many kids recommend it to their friends, it is a genuine ‘word of mouth’ smash which is also incredibly rare in that it has a sequel, The Invasion, which is as good as the first. Both books complement each other beautifully and are stunningly led by a spunky teenage girl who has a handicap but does not let that drag her down. Nessa is one of my favourite characters in recent YA literature and you will love her.

The Call has a superb plot: in this weird version of Ireland the country has been sealed off from the rest of the world by a supernatural barrier connected to an ancient curse. Teenagers can be ‘Called’ at any-time during their teenage years, this means they are magically summoned (or time-warped) 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 are 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, capture, and unimaginable pain is almost impossible and virtually nobody manages it. 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’. The tension is beautifully ramped up as the reader awaits the big moment when Nessa is forced to fight for her life.  You simply will not read a better blend of fantasy, horror and mythology coupled with stunning world building than in this blinding novel. AGE 12+