Horror novels and thrillers can appeal to fans for their edge-of-your-seat action; explorations of the unknown; and violence and gore. These six YA novels capitalize on the genres’ hallmarks while delving deeper to provide readers with entertaining — and thought-provoking — page-turners. See also Vincent Tirado’s Spring Publishers’ Preview interview about Burn Down, Rise Up and, in this newsletter issue, our Five Questions interview with Andrea L. Rogers about Man Made Monsters.

Hollow Fires
by Samira Ahmed
High School    Little, Brown    400 pp.    g
5/22    978-0-316-28264-2    $18.99
e-book ed.  978-0-316-28284-0    $9.99

In a fast-paced thriller with elements of the supernatural, Ahmed (Internment, rev. 3/19) continues to explore issues of racism and Islamophobia. Chicago high-school senior and budding journalist Safiya Mirza attends exclusive DuSable Prep. When escalating white supremacist attacks at school and in her Muslim community get an indifferent response from law enforcement, a determined Safiya launches her own investigation — and then a Muslim student, Jawad Ali, is found murdered. Jawad had already received attention from the media, becoming a scapegoat for right-wing conspiracy theorists, labeled a terrorist, and called “bomb boy” after a teacher mistook his cosplay jetpack for a weapon. Now, seeking closure, Jawad’s ghost haunts Safiya as she pieces together the events of his violent death, determined to seek justice for him and to challenge systemic racism. In a novel that cleverly uses time jumps; alternates narration (between Safiya and ghost Jawad); and occasionally incorporates text messages, newspaper articles, and the like, Ahmed positions her story in the larger context of a racially divided world. SADAF SIDDIQUE

Phalaina
by Alice Brière-Haquet; trans. from French by Emma Ramadan
Middle School, High School    Levine Querido    320 pp.    g
9/22    978-1-64614-182-1    $18.99

Horror, mystery, sci-fi, historical fiction of sorts — this story partakes of all four. Manon is a tiny child when she’s left in the woods after a carriage accident and a scientist’s violent murder. Saved from the killers by a flock of butterflies, she’s rescued by a peasant who commits her to a convent school — whence she escapes, only to become the victim of a cruel scientist. But who — and what — is this child with red eyes? Brière-Haquet keeps the answer well concealed. Switching points of view often, the omniscient narrator gives us bits of story through many characters — among others, a peasant, a detective, a poetess, a nun, even a dog. Letters to Charles Darwin from the murdered scientist are interspersed throughout, raising questions about humanity and humility (e.g., are the ways humans organize themselves the only ways to be?). A novel of ideas cloaked in skulduggery and populated with textbook villains, the story’s momentum is created by the threat of mysterious menace hanging over Manon. The tale is set in 1881 London but includes a few vintage American colloquialisms (“gosh darn it,” says one character) while suggesting an environmental message pertinent to the present. DEIRDRE F. BAKER

The Getaway
by Lamar Giles
High School    Scholastic    400 pp.    g
9/22    978-1-338-75201-4    $19.99

Jay has lived for three years in Karloff Country, a Disney World–like resort in Virginia whose guests include the world’s super-wealthy. It’s billed as “The Funnest Place Around,” and it is, since outside the walls in this near-future world the planet is devastated by poverty, hunger, wildfires, droughts, riots, and violence. The narration alternates among Jay and his friends Zeke and Connie, also Black and also Helpers at the amusement park; and Seychelle Karloff, biracial heiress to a multi-billion-dollar fortune. After an apocalyptic series of events, the friends come to realize that Karloff Country has been deliberately positioned as a refuge for the “prophets of finance and politics who saw society’s collapse coming” and a “doomsday prison” for the Helpers, and they put themselves at risk by joining a rebellion. Giles skillfully places the four friends in the midst of a brutal upheaval with strong racial overtones, as Karloff Country, so meticulously perfect at the beginning of the novel, is dismantled and the world inside the walls begins to look like the devastated world outside. With elements of adventure, science fiction, horror, and even a bit of romance in a broken world, Giles keeps readers wondering who can and cannot be trusted throughout this page-turning novel. DEAN SCHNEIDER

What We Saw
by Mary Downing Hahn
Middle School    Clarion/HarperCollins    208 pp.    g
9/22    978-0-358-41441-4    $16.99
e-book ed.  978-0-358-73106-1    $9.99

“Pool. Mall. Library.” The summer after seventh grade was getting boring until Skylar persuades Abbi to do something different. The best friends ride bikes to the outskirts of town, where they find an old treehouse and claim it as their own private spot to observe the world. Soon they find a mystery happening right below them: every Thursday, two cars park under the tree. A woman wearing huge sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat exits her car and gets into a man’s (they can hear his voice) SUV, which then drives off. One Thursday, however, the woman storms off into the woods after an argument in the SUV. The girls are intrigued but don’t connect what they’ve witnessed to the report that their beloved art teacher is missing. The first half of the novel is deliberately paced, with hints and clues tantalizingly placed; by the time Abbi and Skylar realize what they’ve seen, readers will be a step ahead of them, witnessing their mistakes and bad decisions. Beyond the mystery is a compelling story of family, friends, bullies, and peer-group conformity. Hahn, who has made a long career of writing thrillers, once again demonstrates how engrossing a good story can be. DEAN SCHNEIDER

Murder for the Modern Girl
by Kendall Kulper
High School    Holiday    464 pp.    g
5/22    978-0-8234-4972-9    $19.99
e-book ed.  978-0-8234-5287-3    $11.99

There’s an “angel killer” stalking the streets in this flapper-era dark fantasy set in late-1920s Chicago. Ruby Newhouse only strikes men with bad intentions, and since she happens to have telepathic abilities, she’s able to enter the dark minds of her victims. She kills for fun, because she’s a girl after a good time, but never anyone innocent. Shapeshifter Guy, seemingly meek and mousy, works at the city morgue and is doggedly determined to catch the angel killer. But sparks fly between Guy and Ruby before either of them learns the other’s secrets, changing the course of their plans. With a dangerous criminal conspiracy targeting Ruby’s beloved father, she and Guy must pursue the truth at all costs, even if it means their own identities might be exposed. Secondary characters add even more zing to the story: a flinty reporter makes an unlikely ally, as does a gorgeous socialite with more depth than meets the eye. As the bodies pile up, readers will be breathless to witness the final showdown. Fast-paced; glamorously chaotic; and, with its grisly undertones, somewhat uncomfortably unforgettable. SARAH BERMAN

The Honeys
by Ryan La Sala
High School    PUSH/Scholastic    352 pp.    g
8/22    978-1-338-74531-3    $18.99

Aspen is an exclusive Catskills summer camp, ruled by elitism, segregated by gender, and rife with long-entrenched sexism and homophobia. Returning to Aspen after a traumatic exit years before is Mars, a genderfluid teen who believes the camp caused their twin sister’s death. Alongside the pedestrian oppressiveness of this summer camp is something more alarming: memories vanish, as do people. With only one ally among the boys, Mars is drawn to the girls who tend the camp’s beehives. But the girls (and bees) are as sinister as they are welcoming. They hide Aspen’s gruesome secrets, and Mars will risk everything to uncover those secrets. This horror novel perfectly understands its genre, drawing out unease, disorientation, and grotesqueness through its language, the supernatural, and everyday evils. Mars is a strong lead, a character of fury and persistence. La Sala’s prose is dripping and heady, unapologetically gothic enough to build tension and carry readers through the more surreal portions of the story. With laser focus, the narrative arrives at its conclusions through a delicious balance of restraint and clamor. La Sala strikes all his targets: navigating gender in hostile environments; grief; the monstrous gluttony of wealth; violence; young queer desire; and yes, very scary bees. ALEX SCHAFFNER

From the October 2022 issue of Notes from the Horn Book.