YOUNG ADULT (YA) FEBRUARY 2023 HORROR ROUNDUP

5/3/2023

Young Adult (YA) February 2023 Horror Roundup

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

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

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

Naomi Gibson - Game Over Girl

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House; 1st edition

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

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

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

AGE RANGE 13/14+

Chelsea Ichaso – They’re Watching You

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

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

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

Tess James-Mackey - Someone is Watching You

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder Children's Books

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

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

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Cynthia Murphy – The Midnight Game

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic Fiction

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

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

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Rebecca Schaeffer – City of Nightmares

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder & Stoughton

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

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

AGE RANGE 12/13+

Trang Thanh Tran - She Is a Haunting

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury YA

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

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

Sara Walters – Missing Dead Girls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Sourcebooks Fire

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

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

Tony Jones