Best teen mystery & thriller books according to redditors
We found 123 Reddit comments discussing the best teen mystery & thriller books. We ranked the 46 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 123 Reddit comments discussing the best teen mystery & thriller books. We ranked the 46 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Hey, OP! High school English teacher/book nerd here. Hopefully I can help you find a book that you enjoy! I reviewed your criteria, and the only thing I would like you to reconsider is the length. I know, I know, typical English teacher trying to get you to read more, but I promise you if us Redditors can find you a book you LOVE, then you won't want to put it down! I've read the following list, and think they fit your list for the most part (especially the suitable for a 13-year-old young man, this is essential for my job every day!)
Here's some young adult books that fall into the horror (read: horror, supernatural, psychological thriller, etc) or realistic fiction.
The Replacements: Mackie is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement — left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is slowly dying in the human world.
Asylum: Super creepy, twisting plot line, male protagonist, definitely a great read all around.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE BOOK ON THIS LIST A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs. If you like this book, definitely read Asylum; I found those two went well together.
Unwind: This is a dystopian (realistic fiction) novel that we teach in 7th grade in my school district. Our students LOVE it, and the good news is that it is a series! We do require mom and dad to sign off before they read (and have never had any complaints...), but check with your parents before you delve into this one!
>Where and when did you decide to become a novelist?
I have always loved writing. I have pictures of myself in first grade with my first "story" (about three sentences that told the story of the characters on my coloring sheet. For Career Day, I dressed as a secretary and carried around a typewriter because I didn't know you could have a career as author and I just wanted to do something where I typed. Everyone told me I needed a "day job" to be a writer--and they were right, I did need an income that was more regular until I could make it.
>Did you go to school to achieve your current status or did you take a different path?
No schooling. I took one creative writing class in college, and my professor--the head of the CW department--said on the first day that we could write anything for his class except sci fi and fantasy because he didn't want stories where you could wave a magic wand and everything's fine. Which is utterly stupid, because SFF isn't about that at all. I stuck it through that one class, and was so disillusioned by the elitism and snobbery of the literary wannabes that I noped out of there. Instead, I got my degree in English education, and worked as a high school teacher for six years before I could break through in publishing. I wrote ten novels over the course of a decade, submitted them all, and racked up about a thousand rejections from agents and publishers. It was basically like working a second job. My big breakthrough came with my first published novel, Across the Universe, which enabled me to quit my job and turn writing into my career.
>What is your advice for aspiring writers?
When given the choice between staying at home and writing all day or going out and having an adventure, choose the adventure. A life lived well and diversely will give you more and better stories than a life lived holed up. Of course there's a time when you need to put your butt in the chair and work, but don't do it at the expense of living.
Also, find your community. Writing is very solitary, but the writing community isn't. Reach out to other writers on your level, in your genre, etc. If you write YA, /r/YAWriters is a great resource (disclosure, I'm a mod there, but we are pretty awesome).
>And how does one become a writer for Lucasfilm?
Luck. They came to my agent and asked if I'd be interested and I tried not to freak out when she passed the offer to me.
Singularity by William Sleator!
It's a William Sleator book. I devoured those all in middle school:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140375988/
The YA sci-fi books I've read recently have spread out in several directions, not just the space opera type. All published and read recently:
You could possibly jam books like Matched and Delirium under the sci-fi label, but they didn't go into the tech much.
> So my question is: If an author were to write a YA sci-fi novel with female protagonists and the type of romance one sees in, say, Hunger Games, could that book succeed?
It could. [Across the Universe] (http://www.amazon.com/Across-Universe-Beth-Revis/dp/1595144676) did fairly well on a whole, but wasn't mainstream-shattering. I keep up with a lot of YA trends and this one hasn't really taken off the way, say, [Mila 2.0] (http://www.amazon.com/MILA-2-0-Debra-Driza/dp/0062090364/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367506827&sr=1-1&keywords=mila+2.0+by+debra+driza) (which will be a television show in the fall/spring) or things like it have that aren't outright dystopian.
> Second question is: If that were to happen, would it be good or bad for the genre? I feel like Doctor Who has started going in that direction and it's been a great success.
I hold that anything that gets people to embrace alternative genres and get them out of the "genre fiction is for X" buckets is a good thing for everyone involved.
Is this the book you're looking for:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140375988/adamcadreac
Singularity:
Harry and Barry are twins. Their parents have gone on a trip and sent them to an isolated farm out on the prairie. (Missing parents!) Barry's the dominant twin, so much so that even though they're identical, people remark that Harry acts like he's the little brother. When they meet a girl, Harry isn't the one she goes for.
Out on the farm is a shed. One day Barry steps inside and the door slams behind him. Harry immediately opens the door again to find Barry asleep and in need of a shave. He thinks he's been locked in overnight. It turns out that inside the shed is a singularity which distorts time. For every second that goes by outside the shed, an hour goes by inside.
Singularity
Broken by CJ Lyons?
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Evil Genius
The Maze Runner
Feed
Little Brother
Stormbreaker
Have Spacesuit - Will Travel
Sidekicks
The Gravity Keeper
Cirque du Freak Series
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Every Day by David Levithan
Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
In the nonfiction department, January First is about childhood schizophrenia.
Wintergirls is about eating disorders and mental illness where a teenage girl keeps seeing her dead best friend.
If you're looking for paranormal, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children might fit. It's a YA novel written around a series of weird photographs.
My son's favorite at that age was [Singularity] (http://www.amazon.com/Singularity-William-Sleator/dp/0140375988/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1406035744&sr=8-5&keywords=singularity)
My daughter liked (still likes) Diana Wynn Jones' books - see [Howl's Moving Castle] (http://www.amazon.com/Howls-Moving-Castle-Diana-Wynne/dp/0061478784/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406035839&sr=1-1&keywords=howl%27s+moving+castle&dpPl=1)
I know you're in reading recovery, but have you read Red Queen???
IT'S SERIOUSLY AMAZING
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Queen-Victoria-Aveyard/dp/006231064X
Was it by any chance this book?
The Tardis makes me really happy. I also really love fleece blankets. I ain't birthed no babies!
Also. [Happy Birfday.] (http://www.amazon.com/Across-the-Universe-ebook/dp/B00475ARSO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1376882087&sr=1-1&keywords=across+the+universe) I'm reading the third in the series right now and they're awesome. The website is also really bad ass.
Congrats on being an Aunt! I like the name, it's pretty. Have a great birthday!
Could it be The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean?
>Symone ‘Sym’ Wates is not your average teenage girl. She is obsessed with the Antarctic and the brave, romantic figure of Captain Oates from Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole. In fact, Oates is the secret confidant to whom she spills all her hopes and fears.
>
>But Sym's uncle Victor is even more obsessed—and when he takes her on a dream trip into the bleak Antarctic wilderness, it turns into a nightmarish struggle for survival that will challenge everything she knows and loves.
The old man is snoring
A book to take me back
The reason I chose this book is because it takes me back to my elementary school days when I would stay inside during rainy school days for recess and just read book after book. I was a bit of a geek/nerd so I escaped torment by getting lost in fantasy worlds and developing the look and feel of the worlds with my own mind. To me there is nothing better than a book to escape a rainy day.
Oh that sounds great! What were some of the books that were in there?
I've been dying to read The Orphaned Anything's: Memoir of a Lesser Known written by the singer of my favorite band and they don't have it at my library.
I'm not sure if you have Prime or not because shipping would put it over $10. In that case, I've also been wanting to read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
A mental mind fuck can be nice
Thanks! :)
Wow, what a great contest
Hellooo my name is Kate! This is my favorite ebook from amazon. I read a snippet about a year ago and I've wanted to read it ever since! I love reading and a kindle would make it so much easier to do so.
Not Interstellar Pig?
https://www.amazon.com/Interstellar-Pig-William-Sleator/dp/0140375953
https://i.imgur.com/AI27uvV.jpg
If I won I would love either this skirt or this book!
Merry Fridaymas!
I was going to enter earlier which if I did I would say how yesterday my exciting plans were going on a wine trail with my SO. It was very fun, despite dying in the end LOL. If that doesn't count then I don't really have anything exciting planned for this upcoming weekend 'cause all that's planned is work.
/u/MisterMagellan you have such a lovely smile & eyes! <3
Across the Universe.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00475ARSO/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1
Don't forget to flair this as solved using the instructions in the sidebar.
Partials by Dan Wells.
It's YA dystopian fiction where the main character is a female teen training to be a researcher and trying to find a cure for the virus that is killing all the newborns.
There's more to it than that, but I think it would be a good choice based on your criteria.
YA Horror/Fantasy - Anything by Darren Shan
YA Drama/Literary - 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
YA Romance/Mystery/Paranormal - 1-800-Where-R-U Series by Meg Cabot
YA Fantasy - The Ranger's Apprentice Series by John Flanagan
Urban Fantasy - The Kate Daniel's Series by Ilona Andrews
Urban Fantasy - Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs
Mystery - Miss Marple Mysteries by Agatha Christie
Mystery/Western - Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith
Fantasy - Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
Romance - Wedding Survivor by Julia London
Historical/Paranormal - Parasol Protectorate Series by Gail Carriger
Zombie/Romance - Living with the Dead Series by Jesse Petersen
Zombie - Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Horror - Whispers by Dean Koontz
Nonfiction - And the Band Played on by Randy Shilts
Manga - Library Wars
Manga - Future Diary
Sorry...got carried away. I read a lot and couldn't pick just one to recommend. What are some of your favorite books?
I've heard some pretty awesome things about this book.
Yay!
Recently got back into reading after a looooonnnnnnggggg dry spell (years) and I'm reading some fun ones!
Have you read any of those?!
Is it Nerve by Jeanne Brian?
Singularity maybe?
the Horrid Henry books are incredibly silly, my son loves them... me, less so.
He also really enjoyed reading Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children.
I don't usually brag about myself, but my family always has. I'm smart, apparently. I don't think so though. I'm not stupid by any means, but I'm not "smart," as people are led to believe; I use common sense to figure out problems, and somehow manage to remember what I need for school without studying.
I'd really like a gift card, if that's okay. I'm saving up for stuff. If not, this book looks neat.
I never said Sony did it. I said you can take a shitty situation and make bucks on it. Its what spin doctors do.
A good book on this is "Doubt is their product".
If you dont like textbooks then try "Doubt Factory" a fictional book based upon the book above. An oldie but goodie is "Propaganda". None of those texts delve into mysterious conspiracies. Doubt is their product is a well researched defence of science in the face of highly skilled spin doctors. You can also learn a lot, but from a different angle from George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language" its free. In this day and age it is vital for a citizen in a democracy to understand the constant barrage of propaganda from all sides.
it has nothing to do with who carried out the attack.
The constant accusation that if Sony tries to profit, then it was Sony who did all of it, is a derailment and a logical fallacy.
Who did it, is a separate discussion
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. I've been wanting to read this for a while, it sounds like it would totally be my kind of thing! Plus, it's $5.28 on sale for eReader (I read on Kindle App).
The White Darkness. It's YA. http://www.amazon.com/The-White-Darkness-Geraldine-McCaughrean/dp/0060890371
In The Old Apartment there were ghosts.
But no...seriously. Shit was haunted as fuuuuu
I will take you up on this too if you still feel like doing it for more than 99 cents. I couldn't find under .99 either but these are all under $3.00 as well:
Look Behind You $2.00
[Miss Peregrine's Home for Pecuilar Children] (http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Peregrines-Home-Peculiar-Children-ebook/dp/B004FGMDOQ/ref=sr_1_18?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1419918189&amp;sr=1-18) $1.99
[Eleanor and Park] (http://www.amazon.com/Eleanor-Park-Rainbow-Rowell-ebook/dp/B008SAZHLQ/ref=sr_1_24?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1419918189&amp;sr=1-24) $2.50
[Me before you] (http://www.amazon.com/Me-Before-You-Jojo-Moyes-ebook/dp/B0089EHWQE/ref=sr_1_30?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1419918263&amp;sr=1-30) $2.99
Thank you so much! I am new here and it seems nice :)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594746036/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_IOIhtb0TA4M7G
Frank and Beans!
Thanks for the contest. I really didn't wanna flash my books ;)
So, basically Across the Universe?
My favorite book is Princess Bride. I'm going to pick number 13. I'd love to read this book. Thanks for the contest!
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, for sure! Super creepy book about kids with superpowers
https://www.amazon.com/Miss-Peregrines-Home-Peculiar-Children/dp/1594746036
Stormbreaker. I read this when I was younger and really enjoyed it. To tell you the truth, I was turned away from reading when I was younger because a lot of the books I read in school were above my reading level, so I had no idea what was really going on. This book's reading level is age 12 and up, and the story is really engaging for a young boy.
Midnighters are tonally different than the Unwind series, but I still recommend it to anyone who's fine with reading YA. It's a pretty classic good versus evil story. If you like Unwind then I recommend Partials, which is fun commentary on the dangers and advantages of genetically engineered human beings. I also recommend Legend by Marie Lu. But basically everyone recommends Legend.
I'll stop reccing books now. But in theory you'll eventually run out of books and you're welcome to come back for more recs. I will have them. [It wasn't until this thread that I realized how many books I actually so read.]
Across The Universe by Beth Revis
This is the Paolo Bacigalupi book I mentioned.
It's relevant here because it's about propaganda essentially, and the response to it, and in parts about how that response is put down by money. He wrote it after reading Merchants of Doubt which is now on my reading list. This one is factual so may be more to your taste, rather than a novel.
What I'm interested in, is how seeing the response to vaping effects peoples politics, and what those politics were/are. There is the hipster stereotype of the cloud chaser, and I recall studies showing the majority of people are sort of thirties, ex smokers at the age where they want to give up, getting on with it quietly.
The right, in the UK where I live, I reckon (guess) will be less likely to be vapers due to the right wing press here. There seems to be a difference to the US, where Fox is impressively supportive, and I've unsubscribed from the very left wing TYT due to the antiscience they peddle. And a libertarian influence as to whether people are vapers, which makes sense with the government disaster-legislation that you are talking about in California and is happening in lots of places.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0140375953
Now I need to reread it.
Holy crap. There's a sequel.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0525469184/ref=pd_aw_sims_4?pi=SL500_SY115
There is a book of the same name as the movie.
This Mortal Coil
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children!
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
amazon.in
amazon.com.mx
amazon.de
amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
amazon.fr
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
Every teenager should read the Missing Series by Meg Cabot-ten times better than The Princess Diaries and has everything a teenager could want in a book, adventure, romance, mystery, comedy. This is the first in the series of 5 http://www.amazon.com/When-Lightning-Strikes-1-800-Where-R-You-Cabot/dp/1416927050/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1319300406&amp;sr=8-1
Coming out in February 2012 is "Partials" by Dan Wells, the first in what's to be a YA trilogy featuring a teen female protagonist in a dystopian future and dealing with issues of survival and government control. http://www.amazon.com/Partials-Dan-Wells/dp/0062071041 It's decent.
Across the Universe?
Jack goes to the doctor and says "Doc I'm having trouble getting my penis erect, can you help me?"
After a complete examination the doctor tells Jack, "Well the problem with you is that the muscles around the base of your penis are damaged. There's really nothing I can do for you except if you're willing to try an experimental treatment."
Jack asks sadly, "What is this treatment?" "Well," the doctor explains, "what we would do is take the muscles from the trunk of a baby elephant and implant them in your penis."
Jack thinks about it silently then says, "Well the thought of going
through life without ever having sex again is too much, lets go for it."
A few weeks after the operation Jack was given the green light to use his improved equipment. He planned a romantic evening for his girl friend and took her to one of the nicest restaurants in the city. In the middle of dinner he felt a stirring between his legs that continued to the point of being uncomfortable.
To release the pressure Jack unzipped his fly. His penis immediately sprung from his pants, went to the top of the table, grabbed a dinner roll and then returned to his pants.
His girl friend was stunned at first but then said with a sly smile, "That was incredible! Can you do that again?"
Jack replied, "Well, I guess so, but I'm not sure I can fit another dinner roll up my ass!"
FunnyPants
*I'd love this kindle book.
I just read On Writing by Stephen King, which was awesome. Half autobiography, half writing advice. If you're more interested in fiction, I just finished the Nadia Stafford trilogy by Kelley Armstrong and loved it.
A few of my WL books just price dropped to $1.99: Partials, The Whole Enchilada, Girl Parts, and Tantalize. Any one of them would be great! Thanks for the contest.
This is one I wanted to do since my freshman year of high school (currently a senior). A teacher at my school breeds tarantulas and has them in one of those glass trophy cases outside their room. So I always wanted to break into the case after school, take all of them out their cages, leaving the cages and case open, and take them to my house. Next day MASS HYSTERIA! Everyone running around, panicking looking for them, while they are safe in my house.
[$10 or less] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594746036/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=2VPWR63H4D2I0&amp;coliid=I11WI9T81YEOQM)
April Fools!
My dad is from the Netherlands and all of my friends call me dutchie. Birthday is July 27. Afraid it's not that interesting of a story, lol, but it's mine.
This http://www.amazon.com/dp/1594746036/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;colid=33U7PBU8Z6ENP&amp;coliid=I28FTRYXM8VH64 is a book I've been wanting to read and since I finished my BA last week (YAY!) I finally have time!!!
Was this the inspiration for The Walled City by Ryan Graudin?
My first favorite was Singularity. I first read it in 7th grade immediately following Jurassic Park and have been hooked ever since. The one I'm reading now is The Immortal Series by Ted Dekker. I highly recommend them!
I really want this picture to show up in one of the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children books.
I just finished "This Mortal Coil" by Emily Suvada. You can find the description of it here:
https://www.amazon.com/This-Mortal-Coil-Emily-Suvada/dp/1481496336
It's my second favorite book of all time.
These suggestions all fit the category of 1. hard to put down. 2. simple reads
They are also more on the fantasy side of the spectrum.
Highly recommend:
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children All three books in the trilogy are great. Maybe stay away from the movie...
The Night Circus
The Hunger Games trilogy Yes, I'm sure you've seen the movies, but the books will add another level.