An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award: the Best of Britain (and a few other places)

An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award: the Best of Britain (and a few other places)

No website in the world provides as much coverage to YA horror/dark fiction as the Ginger Nuts of Horror and for the last number years we have reviewed all the books featured on the HWA Bram Stoker YA preliminary ballot and eventual shortlist. One thing these lists always have in common (irrespective of whether they’re great or mediocre novels) is the fact that they are almost always entirely American. Perhaps it is time the HWA rebranded their prize the ‘American’ Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel as non-American authors being nominated (forget winning) is as rare as hen’s teeth!

This article does not intend to criticise the books on the current list, I have read them all, and it is a solid (but unremarkable) selection. However, YA horror literature quite simply does not begin and end in America. Below is how we rated the books which appear on the Final Ballot in an earlier GNOH feature. That same article also openly queried whether Chuck Tingle’s Camp Damascus was genuinely a YA novel? That book originally appeared on the YA Final Ballot and has since bizarrely been moved to the Best Novel Category. So others obviously agreed. 

Kalynn Bayron – You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight 7/10

Cherie Dimaline – Funeral Songs for Dying Girls 7/10

Trang Thanh Tran – She is a Haunting 6/10

Kristen Simmons – Find Him Where You Left Him Head 5/10

Cynthia Leitich Smith – Harvest House 4/10

Sadly, school librarians and others in education circles, looking to beef up their YA horror collection will find the above shortlist rather uninspiring. Shortlists really need to be top heavy with ‘Killers and No Fillers’ and, sadly, this list is the other way around.

This is a shame, as 2023 was a great year for YA horror, but this Stoker list just does not reflect this. So here is our own ‘Top 21 of 2023’ (of non-American YA horror novels). The reviews are republished verbatim as when they first appeared on the site, with some minor alterations or updates when necessary.  

The Stoker also has a Middle Grade section, now in its second year, I have not read enough of those books to comment on that award. However, I have included a few crossover Middle Grade novels here. 

The books are presented alphabetically by author and were all published in 2023 (in the UK). They feature authors from England, Ireland, Taiwan, Australia and Holland, or have strong connections with one of these countries. 

An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award: the Best of Britain (and a few other places)

Nicholas Bowling – The Undying of Obedience Wellrest

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House

Since Witchborn (2017) was released I have read most of Nicholas Bowling’s fiction and he remains one of the finest writers of children’s historical fiction in the UK, skilfully and artfully moving around different periods. In the Shadow of Heroes (2019) whisked us back to Ancient Rome, Witchborn to the time of Queen Elizabeth I and his latest historical thriller The Undying of Obedience Wellrest to the period of graverobbing, bodysnatching, alchemy and medical exploration of the eighteen century. This entertaining gothic mystery has a split first-person narrative ‘Ned’ and ‘Bede’ (short for Obedience) and the two characters could not be more different. When the story opens the pair do not know each other, as they come from different class systems and rarely cross paths. Ned is the grandson of the local gravedigger, who is also the custodian of the local graveyard. They live in suspicious times, where even the gravediggers are suspected of being complicit in robbing graves and selling the bodies. Bede is the sixteen-year-old daughter of the local landowner who hopes to marry her off to a wealthy man of science, Phineas Mordaunt. Bede, a spirited young woman, has other ideas.

The two meet early in the story but their narratives do not genuinely connect until further into the book as Bede has concerns of why Mordaunt is so interested in her family history. In particular a nameless grave associated with her descendant Uncle Herbert, who was rumoured to practice alchemy and conduct research into life after death. Mordaunt, a hack of a scientist, was an entertaining villain and realises Bede is considerably more than an uneducated teenage girl and has been conducting scientific research of her own. Ned is sucked into their orbit, takes a fancy to Bebe, and aids her in a deepening mystery involving disappearing bodies and the search for a diary Herbert might have hidden in a grave. This was a highly engaging historical thriller, with Bebe dreaming of studying science at university, but being held back because of her gender. The situation of Ned helps provide solid background on the plight of the lower classes, the suspicions, the graverobbing and how tough life was for those below the poverty threshold. The plot plays its cards close to its chest and for much of the story the reader is unsure whether there is anything magical (or alchemy related) going on, but a nice plot reveal/twist in the riveting finish blew the mystery wide open. AGE RANGE 12+ 

Linda Cheng – Gorgeous Gruesome Faces

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Quercus Children’s Books

Linda Cheng’s debut Gorgeous Gruesome Faces initially caught my eye because of its connections with the South Korean brand of music, K-Pop (which I know about via my teenage daughter who regularly goes to gigs) wondering how this could be spun into a YA horror novel. However, in reality it does not have much to do with K-Pop itself, as the entire novel is set in America and centres around teenage girls auditioning through boot-camp talent and dance routines in the hope of getting chosen for future TV shows (all are manufactured, so anything will do). This is certainly the manner in which TV and music bigwigs use to select the members of manufactured K-Pop bands or for related TV shows and the book beautifully portrays the manner in which youngsters are brutally dropped when they do not make the cut. Interestingly, the main character Sunny Lee has already had an earlier shot at fame on a reality TV show and squandered it after a scandal with dodgy photos and making a move on a singer who already had a girlfriend (this sort of thing is a big ‘no-no’ in the world of K-Pop). The story jumps between ‘now’ when eighteen-year-old Sunny is in bootcamp for a new show and ‘then’ which jumps back three or four years when her TV show and three-piece girl band were on the cusp of stardom before their downfall, also told in flashback. 

There is a lot going on in Gorgeous Gruesome Faces and I thought this was a very clever novel in which takes its delicious time in revealing its supernatural colours. Although brief, it does feature some very gory and shocking sequences. Although South Korea is not featured in the story directly, the supernatural angle most definitely does have a Chinese or East Asian flavour. I enjoyed the way this novel was not rushed, which also features a LGBTQIA+ story which delicately slowly develops. Even before the supernatural narrative arrived this was an unnerving book, main character Sunny Lee was very much alone when the audition bootcamp begins with all the girls desperate for success in a cutthroat industry, which really shone through. The backstory on how everything unravelled in the ‘then’ story was convincing and I loved the manner in which it circled around to the ‘now’ narrative. Sunny Lee was American Taiwanese and the novel also investigated these subcultures of pushy mothers trying to turn their daughters into the next star. Gorgeous Gruesome Faces is guaranteed to get under your skin, even if you do not read much horror, the idea of being on the scrapheap at seventeen or eighteen was incredibly sad, but sensitively explored. AGE RANGE 13+ 

Darcy Coates – Where He Can’t Find You

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Black Owl Books

Bestselling adult horror author Darcy Coates enters the cut-throat world of YA with an absolute 5/5 banger! I’ve read a few of Darcy’s adult titles (would highly recommend both From Below and Dead of Winter) but Where He Can’t Find You was probably scarier than both those adult novels. Do not be put off by the YA tag, there is more than enough horror and creepiness in this tale to keep most adult readers happy, mainly because the boogieman creature ‘The Stitcher’ who dominates the novel from the shadows has such a clever mythology built around him. I loved the fact that Coates pretty much tells us who The Stitcher is early in the narrative, you might think that would ruin suspense, far from it, instead it adds to the intensity and nothing is quite as straight forward as it seems. Rarely have I seen ‘smalltown horror’ done as effectively as it is in Where He Can’t Find You, where the activities of The Stitcher serial killer dominate every waking moments of the inhabitants of the town Doubtful. When a murder is anticipated technology begins to fail and red thread is often discovered close to the victims, who have often been dissected and sewn back together with the pieces of other bodies. Ritualistically, it is seen as bad luck to move the belongings of those who have been killed, so cars can sit abandoned with the wallet of the dead untouched on the car seat for months or even years. 

Instead of trying to solve these horrible crimes the police force takes bets on who the next victim might be! The probable identity of The Stitcher is made early and that just makes this clever page-turner even more gripping. Abby and Hope Ward live with their ill mother and have a solid group of friends (the Jackrabbits) around them, they follow a mantra to keep themselves safe from The Stitcher and remain in regular text contact, including do not walk alone or stay out late. The friendship dynamics was outstanding, particularly including Rhys who lost his parents to the creature some years earlier and still suffers. The story revolves around the arrival of a new police officer who has a daughter the same age as the Jackrabbits who joins their friendship group but does not believe in the monster. This novel had outstanding pace and when it morphed into a creature feature in the second half was hard to put down as the group (these kids were brave!) came face to face with the beast. Darcy Coates has delivered an outstanding YA horror novel and I hope this finds the audience it deserves and that there are many more to come. AGE RANGE 13+

An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award

Amy Clarkin – What Walks These Halls

Publisher ‏ : ‎ O’Brien Press

Plotwise Amy Clarkin’s fascinating debut What Walks These Halls lurks in the same ballpark as Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood and Co series, but the manner in which the supernatural is presented is refreshingly different from Stroud. This very clever novel downplays the spooky stuff and completely ignores the bombastic approach of Stroud’s extrovert Anthony Lockwood and this low-key approach makes the entity more realistic and threatening. The story is built around a house with such a notorious reputation it does not appear on any ghost hunter maps. Events are set in motion by a YouTuber breaking into the house, looking to spend a night there and is instead terrified out of his wits and ends up in hospital with amnesia. This leads indirectly to the revival of the ghost hunting outfit, Paranormal Surveyance Ireland (PSI) which led a big investigation in the house five years earlier, leading to the death of one of the senior operators. 

The narrative takes in several third person characters, the most prominent being nineteen-year-old Raven O’Sullivan, who is the daughter of the investigator killed in Hyacinth House five years earlier. Early in proceedings we find out that her younger brother Arthur intends to revive the family business PSI and return to the house and solve the mystery which led to the death of his father. One of the strengths of What Walks These Halls was the banter between these older teen characters, their relationships, LGBTQIA+ representation and the bonds they make in the latest incarnation of PSI. Éabha McLoughlin was another highlight, a university student who has grown up seeing and hearing things no one else does, and after being cut-off by her possessive family joins the team and helps in the investigation of the ghost which threatens anybody who gets close to Hyacinth. I also smiled at the fact that whilst Arthur is the new boss of PSI he also has a daytime job working in a coffeeshop! This was quite a slow-moving book which is aimed at older teens as the characters are more mature and I also enjoyed the fact that everybody already believed in ghosts and the manner in which it completely non-sensationalises them. On the downside I would have enjoyed spending more time inside the haunted house and with the ghost itself, this was a great debut though and I cannot wait for the whispered about sequel. AGE RANGE 13+

Yvette Fielding – The Witches of Pendle (Ghost Hunter Chronicles book 3)

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Andersen Digital

In the third of the Ghost Hunter Chronicles Eve, Clovis and Tom make a welcome return, following The House in the Woods (2021) and The Ripper of Whitechapel (2022), both of which were reviewed favourably on the site. I do not know how successful these terrific Middle Grade horror thrillers have had, but I have certainly soaked them up and the series deserves to pick up momentum with the kids getting involved in a secret government department which monitors supernatural activity, which was introduced at the end of book two and is a major factor in The Witches of Pendle storyline. I particularly enjoyed the manner in which Yvette Fielding skilfully weaves the true story of the infamous Pendle Witch Trials of 1612 into the story, giving young readers plenty of scope to investigate the horrific events in how a group of women were tortured, accused of witchcraft and eventually put to death. However, in this story the ghosts of the restless dead (guilty or not) will not stay dead and the young teenagers are sent to investigate, supported by Eve’s uncle, Professor Rufus. 

I love Middle Grade horror as it is scary enough to keep most kids happy and you can be rest assured that even the most sensitive readers should manage this novel no problem. The Witches of Pendle pitches it perfectly, the kids eat lots of cakes and drink hot chocolate being supported by a bunch of kind adults as they leave their London homes, with Christmas just around the corner, to investigate weird goings at Pendle. The spooky murmurings begin after a family move into a new home and a kid finds what turns out to be a Witch Bottle (again, kids might have fun looking this up!) and then gets ill and if followed by others getting sick, seeing things or acting strange. This third book had a particularly exciting finish, with Evie coming good which promises future storylines. I also enjoyed the kids staying at a hotel that existed out of time, with Sir Winston Churchill almost making a guest appearance! I hope there is a fourth book in the pipeline as this series is going from strength to strength with a quality blend of sympathetic characters, chills, clever historical references and page-turning chills. AGE RANGE 10-13

Kathryn Foxfield – Getting Away With Murder

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic

Kathryn Foxfield is fast becoming one of the top UK authors for blending past-faced thrillers with horror, often with a dose of technology, social media and dysfunctional teen relationships thrown into the mix. Her latest Getting Away With Murder uses the same mix of ingredients which made her three previous books so readable and if you do not have Good Girls Die First (2020), It’s Behind You (2021) or Tag, You’re Dead (2022) in your school library then that should be rectified immediately. Foxfield’s fiction might not be deep or have worthy messages about changing the world, instead they provide highly diverting clever plotlines and realistic teenagers caught in outrageous situations. If you have a young teenager who spends too much time on their phone or other devices these are the types of books which could break the spell as they are fully immersive with a sneaky balance of realism and (possibly) the supernatural from abandoned piers to remote haunted underground mines or ultra-realistic virtual reality games, Kathryn Foxfield always spins cool stories.

Getting Away With Murder is an edgy spin on the high-tech escape room, I am surprised anybody ever attempts these, as they never seem to go well! The plot is a split chapter-by-chapter narrative with two teenage sisters whose relationship is at rock bottom and their feud has spilled out into school and onto social media. The story is seen from both ‘Saffron’ and ‘Georgia’ perspectives and it was fun seeing alternative versions of the same events. When the story starts both girls are on work experience, with Saffron working at a gaming company about to launch a new escape room, whilst Georgia is working at a local newspaper. Sensing a story, Georgia’s boss wants to ger her invited to the big premier launch of the game where things go horribly wrong. This is balanced against not only the dangers of AI technology, but the fact that those who are invited to the launch all know each other from the online game ‘Soul Survivor’ which the escape room mirrors in some quirky ways. After the first death the group realise the game is very real and there is no escape or pause button. This book is equally great for both those who love and hate technology! Has a lot of F-bombs and a couple of gory kills, otherwise most kids could read it. AGE RANGE 12/13+  

An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award

Naomi Gibson – Game Over Girl

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House

I was a massive 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 earlier novel 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+

Frances Hardinge – Island of Whispers

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Two Hoots

Frances Hardinge climbs down to Middle Grade with the gently impressive Island of Whispers, illustrated by Emily Gravett. In recent years Hardinge has been setting the bar incredibly high with her YA fantasy and this latest is more in tune with some of her more junior fiction from earlier in her career. This is one of those books which is aimed at upper primary to kids around thirteen, but ultimately it could be enjoyed by adults. Not a word is wasted in this brief 120-page novella in which the younger of two brothers, Milo inherits the family occupation of Ferryman, responsible for ferrying the dead over to a nearby island where they can be sent on their next stage of their journey. If not handled properly the dead are doomed to wander the island for eternity as lost ghosts. Written in a dreamy, almost melancholic style, when the action begins Milo has always believed that his elder brother Leif would ultimately become the next Ferryman, Island of Whispers concerns how this is not the case and why destiny can be both strange and unpredictable.

I loved the manner in which the dead were presented, dangerous if not controlled, but at the same time deserving to be treated with compassion and respect. Which is partly the job of the Ferryman, who collects the shoes of the dead and then takes them to the Broken Tower with Milo not performing the task in the same way as his recently deceased father might. The moving story revolves around a rich Lord who cannot accept his daughter Gabriella is dead and refuses to give Milo her shoes, whilst Milo is able to see the sad ghost girl, who is also unable to accept that her life is over. The matter of life and death is handled very sensitively and younger pupils should be able to read this without too much distress. Island of Whispers tackles some big themes with some style; destiny, bravery, facing the unknown and how we accept death. A beautifully atmospheric story, which although sad, finishes on a beautiful note of hope and acceptance. AGE RANGE 10-14  

Tess James-Mackey – Someone is Watching You

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder Children’s Books

Tess James-Mackay’s debut Someone is Watching You blends toxic friendships, silly 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+

An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award

Dave Jeffery – The Devil Device

Publisher ‏ : ‎ macabre Ink

Dave Jeffery is an established and critically acclaimed adult horror author who every few years authors another book in his long-running Beatrice Beecham series, about a teenage girl who lives in the English coastal town of Dorsal Finn where weird and unexplained occurrences are the norm. I have read a few of the series and they definitely deserve to be much better known in the YA book world than they are but suffer from the fact that they have been released by a number of different publishers who do not specialise in children’s books and as a result lack a brand to connect them. However, I love the brand-new makeover Beatrice has been given for The Devil Device and kids could easily read this as a standalone novel no problem. Should you want to invest further I would recommend the two previous adventures, Beatrice Beecham’s Cryptic Crypt and Beatrice Beecham’s Ship of Shadows as well worth tracking down. The plot of Beatrice’s latest adventure The Devil Device follows the events of predecessor Ship of Shadows, but has a brand-new plotline, with a large ensemble cast of Beatrice, her friends and other Dorsal Finn locals. 

Beatrice is to Dorsal Finn what Buffy Summers is to Sunnydale, she has the strange supernatural power to withstand The Dark Heart, an ancient and malevolent entity which lurks underneath the town, with an agenda to corrupt and is a beacon for all things devious and evil. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Beatrice has a loyal group of friends around her and she needs them as her latest adversaries have the ability to shape shift and take over the bodies and personalities of anybody they choose. Fans of Stranger Things will find much to enjoy here, with a convincing LGBTQIA+ storyline playing a part in Beatrice having to come to rescue of both Patience who has personal problems which spiral into something horribly worse and Elmo being seduced into believing he is the next big guitar superstar. All this is connected to the Dark Heart and the four strangers who arrive in town. Interestingly, there were also some adult narratives, more so than you would normally see in a YA novel. Also, Beatrice has slightly less page time than usual, with the author deciding to give Patience, Elmo and Emily more page-time. Dorsal Finn is a fantastic location for supernatural adventures and I am always happy for a revisit and spending time with Beatrice and her friends whenever Dave Jeffery drops a new book in the series AGE RANGE 12+

Kelly McKain – Green Witch

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lodestone Books

Kelly McKain has a substantial number of junior/primary school novels to her name going back two decades and if Green Witch is anything to go by she is most definitely a YA voice to watch out for. Although the plot does include supernatural elements it was also nice to see this balanced against the ‘magic’ of the earth, nature and the power of healing. When the novel kicks off main character sixteen-year-old Delilah could do with some healing, arriving at the dilapidated and remote country home of her great aunt who she has not seen for many years and lives with dementia. Delilah is spending the summer helping her relative before heading off to sixth-form college. She has a strained relationship with her wealthy property developer father and still struggles with the loss of her mother a decade earlier. Delilah was an outstanding lead character, with all the usual insecurities of a normal teenager who is new to village and desperate to make new friends, which she does very quickly after attending a party in the woods which is close to her family’s property. The friendship dynamics was very convincing, as compared to Mae, Cal and Milly, Delilah with her private school education, would be considered ‘posh’ in comparison. 

At the party Delilah meets Tol and there is an immediate attraction, but the same night he crashes his motorbike and ends up in a coma. Following that incident Delilah is attacked by two owls in the forest and begins to see Tol in her dreams, but they are so vivid she is certain she is still awake and these visions begin to threaten her and her friends. Things get considerably darker when Delilah investigates the disturbing presences, including the Green Witch, who is supposed to live in the forest, but nothing is quite what it seems. Even readers who do not like dark fantasy or horror will find much to enjoy in this intense coming-of-age tale of a teenager who must learn to be independent whilst coming to terms with her own peculiar destiny. AGE RANGE 13+

Cynthia Murphy – The Midnight Game

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic

Cynthia Murphy follows 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 which included a neat twist.

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+

An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award

Sarah Naughton – You Better Watch Out

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic;

Sarah Naughton started out writing YA around a decade ago with the excellent The Hanged Man Rises (2013) which was nominated for the Children’s Costa Award and The Blood List (2014) before switching to mainstream adult thrillers. Five thrillers later Sarah has returned to YA, not to write straight horror, but You Better Watch Out, an engaging YA version of her adult thrillers. This was a solid and highly enjoyable dark thriller which is guaranteed to put you off the festive ‘Secret Santa’ gift tradition forever as you never know who you might upset! Obviously, this is the perfect time of year to read this fast-moving page-turner which has an authentic London backdrop of cash strapped families, teenage problems, parents struggling and a group of Year 11 pupils preparing for their GCSEs. Early in the action main character Eleri’s bag is seemingly stolen but returned to her home, after that she begins to receive messages telling her to go to an abandoned block of flats close to where she lives where there are gifts waiting, initially they are insignificant things like a box of Quality Street chocolates. These gifts coincide with the 25 days of the Nativity and begin on December 1^st, with the book chapters structured around the countdown towards Christmas. However, quickly the gifts turn from quirky to sinister with Eleri no longer believing the messages are coming from a potential school crush. 

Eleri was a complex and believable character, one of the strengths of You Better Watch Out and although a normal teenager does not see herself as particularly popular and has had the same clingy best friend since she was young. The friendships also play an important part in the manner in which the narrative develops, as two of her friends have serious family problems as home which spill over into the plot. Eleri suffers from lingering guilt from an incident from the same time where a teenager who was new to the class, Nina, disappeared. Although quiet and withdrawn Eleri tried to befriend her and feels she could have done more and been more welcoming. Everything connects together nicely with a good balance of drama and suspense, although you will undoubtedly be asking why the police did not play a more active part in proceedings after the gifts start to turn dark. It was great to read a thriller which was not top loaded with rich Americans, with believable financial worries bubbling in the background, and with the hook cleverly circling back to the Secret Santa. There was little violence, limited swearing and no sex, so this is a twisty fast moving contemporary thriller for most secondary aged pupils to enjoy. AGE RANGE 12+      

Tomi Oyemakinde – The Changing Man

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Macmillan Children’s Books;

Teen thrillers and dramas set in posh boarding schools are being published at an alarming rate and I have reviewed many of them, however, there are probably few as off-the-wall as Tomi Oyemakinde’s debut. Billed as a ‘speculative thriller’ the final third is totally bizarre and not what I was expecting in the slightest, moving from school drama with racial overtones into full blown Stranger Things mode. The action starts with teenager Ife joining Nithercott School through its prestigious Urban Achievers Program, which aimed to support poorer but very clever pupils. Ife already feels hugely different as there is only one other Black girl in her school year and does not feel she is made to feel very welcome. 

The mystery itself was fast paced and engaging and Ife was a fun character to spend time with. One could feel her anxiety levels increasing as her phone was confiscated and struggles to settle in class with no friends and being unaware how the school ticked and its weird rules. There was one particularly unsettling scene where a teacher confronts her up for having her skirt too short, not realising (or maybe not caring) that the skirt has been rolled up because it was second hand. Soon Ife makes friends with Ben and Bee and she is sucked into the mystery to find Ben’s elder brother who disappeared in the prologue and it takes them to the most unsuspecting places and into the path of a local legend ‘The Changing Man.’ One might wonder why the police did not show more interest in disappearing children, but it does all tie in nicely at the end, leaving things open for a sequel which take the action beyond the boarding school. A complex blend of racial commentary, thriller, boarding school drama and some outlandish plot developments. AGE RANGE 12+ 

Lisa Richardson – Channel Fear

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House

Lisa Richardson’s debut Channel Fear was a tasty blend of thriller and horror which cleverly used our obsession with social media and stardom, whilst asking how far we are prepared to go to gain a few more ‘likes’ or smiley faces. A convincing toxic friendship lies at the centre of Channel Fear, Iris co-hosts an unsuccessful ghost hunting YouTube channel with Byron and his girlfriend Molly. The reader sees the negative comments (and only a few hundred views) after their latest episode fails to make any impression and early in the action we find out that Byron has become tired of the show and is intending to leave, taking Molly with him. The story is told in the first person by Iris, who is much more intense and obsessed with the show’s success, there is also a keen sense of her being an unreliable narrator, as she tries to convince Byron to stay (for more than one reason). 

The main hook of the plot was a very clever one: the three are on the hunt for YouTube ghost hunting stars Zach and Lucas, who had a following of over three million subscribers. Ultimately Iris, Byron and Molly dreamed of their success and in a bid to find new viewers try to uncover what happened to Zach and Lucas via a series of shows. After a few damp squids a lead takes them to the long since abandoned Thornhanger House where most of the novel is set. They believe Zach and Lucas visited this spooky house and soon they find clues, however, the novel revolves as much around the dynamics between Iris, Byron and Molly just as much as whether there is anything supernatural going on. As a blame game starts Lisa Richardson nicely balances bumps in the night, friendship troubles with potential sabotage. There are some nice jump scares, obvious comparisons with The Blair Witch Project, clever use of found footage with a strong social media spin relevant for teenagers of today. Apart from a few f-bombs, there was not much violence, I felt anybody in secondary school could read this. AGE RANGE 12+ 

An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award

Laura Steven – Every Exquisite Thing

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Electric Monkey;

Every Exquisite Thing follows Laura Steven’s critically acclaimed The Society of Soulless Girls (2022). Although the books are not connected they both have older YA settings, universities or drama colleges where all the characters are eighteen. Having more mature teenagers changes the dynamics of the stories slightly as the girls, even if they deal with the same sort of issues, handle them in slightly more adult ways, or at least attempt to. Every Exquisite Thing is set in an exclusive boarding school outside Edinburgh where narrator Penny Paxton struggles to escape the shadow of her hugely successful actor mother who also attended Dorian Drama Academy. She believes everybody else sees her as a nepo baby and suffers from imposter syndrome as well as an eating disorder. The story is narrated in the first person by Penny, who we realise has wanted for nothing, but struggles to connect with her distant mother whom she longs to please.

Much of the story revolves around Penny’s problems and the feud she ignites with fellow student Davina Burns after she steals the role of Lady MacBeth in a rather underhand way. The clue of where the story lies in the name of the college, ‘Dorian’ and the rumour that there is a painter who if he paints your portrait, it is the portrait which ages rather than the person. As the story revolves around what it means to be beautiful and the psychological trauma many teenage girls go through, it nicely balances a thriller with a mounting body count and a teenager who ultimately is very lonely struggling to cope with life. In many ways this was a very sad book, as Penny had everything and still was not happy whilst the eating disorder weakened her. She started off fairly unlikable but grew on me as the story developed and explored her vulnerabilities moving deeper into the supernatural realms.  Every Exquisite Things was an engaging character driven slice of older teen life with supernatural overtones which make it clear that everything comes at a price. AGE RANGE 13+

Deirdre Sullivan – Wise Creatures 

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hot Key Books 

I first came across Deirdre Sullivan back in 2019 when we reviewed Perfectly Preventable Deaths, a beguiling novel about witchcraft in rural modern-day Ireland. Wise Creatures is similar in style in that it is also a slow burner which has to be read very carefully and is aimed at older teens. It is also one of those YA novels that adults could read and not initially realise they are not the targeted audience. Unless you follow the subtexts of the plot, the subtle shifts and narrations it is extremely easy to miss what is going on. Fifteen-year-old Daisy is the main character, who lives with her aunt (Susan) and cousin (Nina) their relationships are so close she regards them almost as sister and mother. Her parents are dead and this is revealed via flashbacks and to other traumatic moments from Daisy’s past which are crucial to the story. The past plays a huge part in the present narrative as Daisy believes ghosts (the ‘Wise Creatures’ of the title) from her childhood have returned to haunt her increasingly withdrawn cousin Nina. These are not ghosts in the traditional sense (and this is miles away from a traditional ghost story) and present themselves as unsettling manifestations such as mould on the walls, objects moving or stuff more akin to poltergeists. 

Wise Creatures is a dark psychological slow burning horror novel and if you are after a “boo!” jump scare style of book this will not be for you. It is a very Irish study of a teenager who has a lot of problems, she is also bisexual but this LGBTQIA+ storyline does not figure too much in the narrative and it was great to see this being normalised. What I found most fascinating is that Daisy was a child medium (which is clearly abuse of some kind) and the manner in which she has been brought up and reads the signs of what is ailing her cousin is beautifully vague. As is much of the narrative, which drifts in and out of a stream of consciousness with Daisy’s character being the great strength of the narrative with the layers of abuse she suffered being revealed almost in a casual manner at the action moves forward. This was an immersive reading experience with Daisy believing she has to use her long dormant supernatural gifts to help her cousin. But, of course, it might not be about this at all and that is the beauty of this book. Vague, read between the lines and exploring the idea that it is people who are haunted rather than houses. AGE RANGE 14+

Rosie Talbot – Twelve Bones

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic

Rosie Talbot follows the excellent Sixteen Souls, which we raved about last year, with the direct sequel Twelve Bones which continues the story of supernatural Seers Charlie and Sam. As this story flows naturally from the original, set in the very haunted city of York, I would strongly recommend reading Sixteen Souls before this for a significantly more immersive reading experience. Talbot vividly brings this ancient city to life, where Charlie is able to see and feel ghosts, being later joined by Sam and by the end of the first book the two boys are a couple and this highly entertaining sequel also documents their developing relationship along with a new supernatural mystery. As with Sixteen Souls, Charlie narrates the action in the first person and he is a sympathetic lead character, as well as dealing with the uncertainties of his relationship with Sam, copes with a serious disability, wearing a prosthetic as he lost the bottom part of one of his legs due to a virus some years earlier. I really enjoyed revisiting Talbot’s version of York which she cleverly adds fresh layers creating an exhilarating supernatural ecosystem with world building which compliments what was laid out in the opening book. I liked seeing recurring characters (and ghosts) pop up and the insecurities felt by Charlie were very touching, such as the strong likelihood that Sam might head off to university leaving home behind. 

As well as answering some of the lingering questions from book one Twelve Bones has a fresh mystery to keep the series jogging on, with a nice balance of supernatural, romantic and funny. The action picks up a couple of months after Sixteen Souls with the pair getting involved in a mystery which centres around ghosts being seemingly able to hurt real people, something they should not be able to do and find themselves going up against a dodgy group of occultists who have their own agenda for the dead. Team Spectre (which includes a quirky range of support characters) find themselves hunting those who are summoning Wraiths, violent spirits that can kill people and devour their souls. Trauma bubbles in the background and because the book never gets truly violent is accessible to most teens and has a great LGBTQIA+ message and believable disability representation also. There were a number of f-bombs dropped, which I did not think were necessarily required and I hope Charlie and Sam return with a third book. AGE RANGE 12+   

An Alternative Young Adult Bram Stoker Award

Teri Terry – Scare Me

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hodder Children’s Books

I have been a huge fan of Teri Terry for a number of years and the fact that I have all thirteen of her YA novels in my school library certainly backs up that point! This author is a master of dark dystopian thrillers, which often have a science or speculative fiction edge to them (Slated 2014-19, Dark Matter 2017-18, and Dark Blue Rising 2018-20), however, her latest Scare Me is her first out-and-out YA horror novel. I hope she decides to spend some time in the supernatural world as this was a highly entertaining page-turner which would be brilliant for young teens looking for a good scare, with a strong plot and convincing characters told through a neat split narrative. Set predominately in the Brighton area, fifteen-year-old Liz has seen the ghost (or something) of her dead twin who died at birth and has spent her entire life keeping this secret from her mother. The relationship of single-parent mother and daughter is a key part of the story, as the mother is flaky, dates younger guys and can pretend Liv is her younger sister rather than her daughter. Early in the novel Liv meets a boy called Echo, who is the second part of the split narrative, but at the same time she has become close with classmate Bowie. The ghostly Molly sees all this and can drift in an out of Liv’s life and even offers relationship advice! This four characters: Liv, Molly, Bowie and the mum built a very entertaining story, with Echo taking the narrative in a different direction.

Echo investigating the death of his mother who drove her car off a cliff the previous year, also almost killing him in the process. Somehow he figures out Liv can see the ghost of her dead sister and believes she can use this strange ability to help him contact his mother from beyond the grave. With friend/potential boyfriend lurking in the background Liv goes slightly off the rails with Echo, who she does not trust but does like, taking the plot into darker supernatural areas. There were some particularly good twists along the way and there was a major subplot development in the last 10% of the book which went beyond the Liv/Echo/dead mum story. As well as being a clever ghost story Scare Me was a terrific teen drama which I am sure could be enjoyed by those who might not normally read horror or ghost stories. AGE RANGE 12/13+  

Melissa Welliver – My Love Life and the Apocalypse

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chicken House

As far as post-apocalyptic teens novels go, Melissa Welliver’s engaging debut My Love Life and the Apocalypse is by far the warm and cuddliness. Sure, because of the setting and subject matter it definitely has its dark moments, and a serious yuck factor concerning one of the big reveals near the end, overall it is light and should be enjoyed by any young teen, not just those who enjoy dark fiction. The ‘rom com’ feel of the book is perfectly pitched, is touchingly innocent, and it is nice to get that feeling everything is (probably) going to be just about okay in the end. The story was top heavy with nineties references and I will be interested to see if genuine teen readers notice many of them. Echo and Pandora are immediately likeable characters and perfect company to an apocalyptic world which is completely empty (they think) and maintained by highly intelligent robots which have continued to function long after the collapse of humanity. 

My Love Life and the Apocalypse has an engaging male/female split first person narrative which jumps between Echo and Pandora. Early in the story we learn that Echo is a highly intelligent and (almost) human android which has broken his programming in some way. So he is virtually human, with some odd quirks. Pandora’s escape pod crash-lands and is discovered by Echo, with the novel then following an android ‘boy meets girl’ story which also explores whether they really are the last humans and the search for the rest of Pandora’s ship and possible survivors. Without ever really feeling derivative of anything in particular, there are moments which will remind you of lots of other post-apocalyptic fiction and on the whole Melissa Welliver’s creation was a pretty cool place to hang out, being a nice blend of quirky and uplifting. AGE RANGE 12+

SJ Wills – Bite Risk

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Children’s UK 

Bite Risk, the entertaining debut of SJ Wills, is a funky modern spin on the werewolf story. Interestingly, the word ‘werewolf’ is virtually never used in the book until near the end and there is a clever reason for this when everything is knitted together. If you are a fan of Stranger Things, The X-Files or anything with dodgy research scientific corporations then you will know where this story is heading. It does not do much new but puts more than enough shiny gloss on a shaggy-dog story which will keep most eleven- to-fourteen-year-old kids amused. It was not too deep; characters were sketchily but nicely drawn and the world building around this take on the werewolf myth was solidly developed. You might wonder what was going on beyond the bounds of the town where the action takes place (I certainly did) and there were plenty of clues to keep young readers entertained. Gore was fairly limited, but it was balanced nicely with a dashing of mystery and engaging teen characters railing against authority and the powerful controlling company watching their every move. 

Sel Archer lives in a normal town with normal residents, except for one night a month almost all the adults turn into creatures. The town has all sorts of complicated systems, traps and safety nets so that all the adults are secured before turning as nobody wants to eat their kid! We are told that this has been going on for over 25 years and that it is seen as a normal part of life. Teens usually turn into werewolves for the first time when they are fourteen or fifteen and early in the novel some of the ‘Turned’ escape with Sel and his friends suspecting foul play. Because the werewolves (called ‘Rippers’) only turn once a month the story is probably more spread out than it should have been, but Bite Risk was great fun and a top-notch blend of horror, adventure and dodgy scientists. The science behind everything was nicely explained in an ending which everything fell together nicely when things might have got much darker. AGE RANGE 11/12+ 

Tony Jones

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