Gripping Thrillers for YA Fans

What do fans of mystery podcasts and murder-filled documentaries have in common? There are plenty of YA books filled to the brim with page-turning plots that will make each happy. These seven thrilling YA books and series will keep you on your toes and will make you want to read way past midnight. From spooky small towns to daring spies, these YA thrillers have it all.

Some Kind Of Animal by Maria Romasco-Moore

Jo lives in the same Appalachian town her mom disappeared from fifteen years ago. People said she was wild and that’s what happens to girls like that. Now people are starting to say that Jo is falling in her mother’s footsteps as she is barely passing her classes and she falls asleep at her desk. But Jo has a secret: she has a twin sister who is not like most people. She lives in the woods and feasts on raw rabbits. Night after night, Jo meets her sister in the trees and they run together. But when a boy in the town is attacked, everyone blames Jo. Should she admit it was her twin’s fault? Or should she run?

Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti

Sydney Reilly is not looking forward to returning home to San Francisco. Her mother, film star Lila Shore, prizes her own beauty and male attention over anything else – including her daughter. Sydney becomes even more concerned when her mother begins to date Jake, an arts dealer with shady connections, and Sydney feels his eyes on her whenever she is around. She also seems to be attracting both good and bad attention from others around her including the unsettling construction worker, the handsome Nicco Ricci, and even her mother. Beauty is complicated and Sydney will learn this when a thrilling night goes very, very wrong.

Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer

While Nita’s mother murders supernatural beings and sells their body parts on their internet, Nita is tasked with dissecting them. But when her mother brings home a live specimen, Nita wants out as dissecting a living being is a step too far. But when she tries to save her mother’s victim, Nita ends up on the black market in his place as she too is a supernatural being. Now Nita will cross any line to escape and make sure no one will ever be able to capture her again.

The third and final book in the series, When Villains Rise, will be available on September 8.

The Athena Protocol by Shamim Sarif

Jessie Archer is a part of the Athena Protocol, an elite organization of female spies who enact vigilante justice around the world. Athena operatives are never to shoot to kill, so when Jessie pulls the trigger, she gets kicked out right before a mission to take down a human trafficker in Belgrade. In order to right her wrong and prove her worth, Jessie begins to look into the mission but her former teammates have been ordered to take her down. Jessie must face all sides of danger in order to complete her mission and survive.

Its sequel, The Shadow Mission, will be available on October 6.

Lies Like Poison By Chelsea Pitcher

Poppy, Lilly, and Belladonna would do anything to protect their friend, Raven. When they discover that he is suffering abuse at the hands of his stepmother, they decide to fill her evening tea with petals of poppy, belladonna, and lily. But someone got cold feet, and the plan and the group fell apart. Three years later, Raven’s stepmother turns up dead and only belladonna is found in her tea. When Belladonna is taken to jail, she reaches out to her estranged friends to help prove her innocence. They each answer the call but are not prepared for what they find next.

This book will be available on November 10.

Those Who Prey By Jennifer Moffett

When Emily headed off to college, she expected to meet new friends and feel like she belonged. But she has found herself alone, not finding a home away from home yet. When the Kingdom, an exclusive on-campus group, find Emily, they offer everything she could hope for: acceptance, friends, a potential boyfriend, a summer trip to Italy for a mission trip. But the trip is anything but what Emily expects, and they are quickly stripped of their passports, money, and contact from home. The Kingdom’s practices quickly grow dangerous and manipulative – and someone ends up dead.

This book will be available on November 10.