 Recap: If you missed parts 1-4, featuring numbers 11 to 50, click the links below Part 1: 50-41 Part 2: 40-31 Part 3: 30-21 Part 4: 20-11 This is our fifth batch chart, so stay tuned for our big number one next. All are outstanding reads and great recommendations to buy for any teens in your life. Here are some pointers to bear in mind for this list: a. I need to have read the book for it to be considered. Nobody can read everything. b. I do not care whether a book has 30,000 stars on Goodreads or none. c. My fourteen-year-old daughter reads a lot of YA horror and has thrown her opinion in also. d. YA, does not mean books for children, these are ‘teen’ reads not books for younger children. e. Many of my other YA charts featured on Ginger Nuts blend into other genre fiction, this one concentrates on straight horror f. I am quite liberal with my age ‘rating’, other librarians might raise them by a year or two, especially in America.  10. Rin Chupeco - The Girl from the Well (2014) At first glance The Girl from the Well looks like a rip-off of Ringu, but in fact there is much clever Japanese folklore written into the context of the book. This novel is largely narrated by a ghost named Okiku, who being dead for several hundred years and was originally killed when she was thrown down a well. The main thrust of this story revolves around the ghost who also brutally kills child murderers and rapists. She can see dead children almost hanging around the neck of their killers and the ways in which she seeks revenge is both nasty and gruesome. Killing the murderers releases the spirits of the children which is what she wants to do. The ghost Okiku is attracted to a teenage boy whom she can also sense the aura of death around, but although he is not a killer, but is certainly troubled. Also, the boy can see her, as can the boy’s cousin, a likable trainee teacher. Soon we enter the realms of demon possession, exorcisms, and some bloody killing in this excellent horror novel. The book is initially set in America, before moving to Japan, where there is lots about the Japanese supernatural world. The Girl from the Well is an outstandingly well-paced read and you genuinely feel for seventeen-year-old Tark who faces his inner demons. Literally. It was very well balanced and the quirky three way friendship with the ghost (who let’s not forget was a multiple murderer) worked really well, as did the family dynamics of the boy who doesn’t realise he comes from a family who have powerful connections with the dead. The cover bills this book as ‘14+’ but I would be happy enough giving it to most kids who like horror, have a passing interest in folklore and legends or just want an entertaining page turner. The story continues with the sequel The Suffering. AGE 13+ 9. Alex Bell – Frozen Charlotte (2014) Alex Bell’s dark and unsettling tale of tiny porcelain dolls, the size of two pence pieces, is an edgy read loaded with tension and dark atmosphere. Right from the opening pages of Frozen Charlotte, with teenagers unwisely fooling with online Ouija boards, it builds into an outstanding page-turner with these evil little creatures whispering from behind a locked glass cabinet and with their words, they have the power to kill. Equally demonic, the Charlotte’s can control and influence others to do their bidding, sneaking around a vast haunted house sowing horrible plans and turning characters against each other. Loaded with gothic atmosphere, superb setting, a huge house converted from Dunvagen School for Girls which was closed in 1910, poor Sophie is sucked into a mystery which takes her all the way back to 1910. But first she must solve the secret of what really happened to her dead cousin Rebecca. Bearing in mind this novel is aimed at kids it has some hair-raising scenes, these nasty little dolls, once they escape from their cabinet even blind one of the characters with their “stick a needle in their eye game”. However, some of the most unsettling scenes are character driven, rather than perpetrated by the dolls. The pace moves fast, the characterisation is strong and the combination of mystery and the supernatural is finely balanced. It is perfectly pitched at children who like a good mix of horror, thriller, and mystery story. It also has an outstanding prequel, Charlotte Says and both books have been massive hits in my school library. AGE 10+ 8. Dawn Kurtagich – The Creeper Man (2016) The Creeper Man was a challenging, twisty, unpredictable, and layered in such an intelligent manner, adults could enjoy it as well as any teen reader. On the simplest level the plot revolves around two sisters who escape London and their violent father to live with an aunt in a remote country house in the middle of a foreboding forest. Something happens to the aunt and she shuns the girls and locks herself in the attic. The intimidating dense and surrounding forest seems almost alive and threatens the sanity of the girls, which is questioned repeatedly throughout the novel. For much of this multi-layered corker you can never really be sure whether there is a supernatural entity at work or whether everything is psychological, as the girls have complex personal issues shadowing their judgements. The Creeper Man of the title is a superb creation and is as effective as any bogeyman creation in most adult horror as he and the imposing forest edge closer to the girls as the sanity of the elder girl disintegrates. You will find yourself asking questions, such as when is it set? Why don’t the girls go to school? Why are there no phones? Is there a war going on? And not all these questions are answered as this claustrophobic read has a truly remarkable unreliable narrator in Silla. The merging of her delusions with reality play a crucial part of this exceptionally clever psychological horror novel which is fiendishly well plotted with a superb ending and very clever twist. I highly recommend this challenging novel which is teen horror of the very highest order and Dawn Kurtagich is developing one of the most distinctive voices in YA horror. AGE 13+ 7. Jonathan Maberry – Rot and Ruin (2010) Rot and Ruin is an outstanding series (also known as the Benny Imura sequence) set in a zombie infested world. Two brothers hunt the creatures, but not for the most obvious reason, as they are a slightly different breed of zombie killer, which plays a major role in this excellent adventure horror story. Leading up to this, when Benny turns fifteen, he needs to find a job otherwise his rations will be cut in a beautifully described isolated community of survivors. This was Maberry’s YA debut, which remains the best zombie teen series in the business, through a combination of strong characterisation, clever plot and very well developed post-apocalyptic world near the Mexican border. Although they are primarily aimed at adults, many of Maberry’s other series deserve to find teen audience, Joe Ledger, Dead of Night and Glimpse have all been popular titles in my school library. Maberry is simply a terrific author to gets teens reading, with his intensely fast-paced fiction, loaded with page-turning action sequences and likable characters which kids can easily connect with. The author recently returned to this world in a second series which begins with Broken Lands, and sees Benny Imura return with a host of other characters and further zombie adventures. I am not sure how successful that will be as the zombie craze never truly took off in YA like it did with adult horror. Rot and Ruins direct sequel, Dust and Decay, is also top notch. AGE 12+  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+  2. Kevin Brooks – The Bunker Dairy (2013) If Jack Ketchum were to write a YA novel it might be something like The Bunker Diary, which is the highest possible praise I can give this stunning novel. You do not need demons or monsters to shock and sometimes the evil of man is more than enough, and The Bunker Diary has that in spades. This brutal and multiple prize-winning novel has never been truly been regarded as a horror story and is rarely discussed in genre circles but carries more bite and controversy within its pages than the whole of the YA horror establishment combined. In 2014 this stunner won the prestigious Carnegie Medal, the oldest and most sought after prize in children’s literature, it was not a particularly popular win, with many arguing the book was just too bleak to win such a high profile prize and that younger children might pick it up by mistake. I can sympathise with that train of thought, because it is arguably the darkest book on this list and the high levels of uncomfortableness which permeates from its pages are unrivalled. However, we live in a nasty world where horrible things happen to children all the time and not everybody has a happy ending. This stunning novel follows in the tradition of Robert Cormier and Melvin Burgess and does not sugar coat us with a happy ending. Far from it. Perhaps it is the ending which is most troubling? My teenage daughter, who obviously reads a lot of horror, was totally shellshocked by the final pages and this ranks as one of her favourite ever books. Linus is a teenage busker who has run away from his wealthy family and is living hand to mouth, after being tricked and drugged he wakes up in a large basement, with zero windows and no way out. There are cameras everywhere and gradually other teenagers appear in the basement, all from different backgrounds, but with similar stories of being duped. What does the watcher want and demand them to do? This was an exceptionally chilling novel, which is partly presented through the diary written by Linus, but be prepared for infighting, stress, tears, and a lot worse. The Bunker Diary ranks amongst the darkest and best YA novels ever written. It would scare the hell out of most adult readers. Do not read it lightly. AGE 14+   |
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