Tony Jones delivers his latest YA horror and middle grade horror roundup, showcasing seven books that push the genre into thrilling new territory. This month’s selection proves that young adult horror and middle grade horror are thriving, with authors blending traditional scares with thriller twists, dystopian worldbuilding and science fiction elements.
Dan Smith’s The Night House Files leads the pack as essential reading for reluctant readers and school libraries, while Carlyn Greenwald and Dana Mele serve up twisty YA thrillers that will leave jaws hanging. From zombie-infused competition novels to environmental sci-fi thrillers and complex mystery epics, this YA horror roundup offers something for every young reader who craves darkness with their storytelling.
YA & Middle Grade Horror Roundup | May-June 2026
My latest Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grades roundup features seven books which cross horror into other related genres. The first two Middle Grade Barrington Stokes Dan Smith novels his Night House Files are definitely worth checking out, I’ve already had a few reluctant reader boys devour both The Deadsoul Project and The Wintermoor Lights in my school library.
If you like your horror blended with thrillers and twisty as hell then both Carlyn Greenwald’s What Happened to those Girls?and Dana Mele’s The Beast You Let In have much to offer. These are perfect summer reads for teens to get lost in, both with heavy twists.
The next two mix dystopia with science fiction and some horror. Melissa Welliver tries to revive the zombie subgenre in To the Death with a Hunger Games style twist, whilst Kenechi Udogu’s Augmented blends in an environmental angle in a science fiction thriller where resources are scare and controlled.
Finally, Jamie Costello returns with her third novel The Mystery of Hinxford Court, I am a big fan of this author and if you do not have her first two YA novels I highly recommend her. Her latest is a complex thriller drama about a mysterious house, its inhabitants and those who lived there in the war. It’s a chunky read but worth the challenge.
Jamie Costello – The Mystery of Hinxford Court
Publisher : Atom
Having reviewed and being a big fan of Jamie Costello’s two previous novels Monochrome (2022) and The Midnight Clock (2024) I read The Mystery of Hinxford Court with some interest. Monochrome was also included in my own YA Horror 400 almanac with the author writing a thoughtful piece about going blind in her left eye, which was partial influence for the dystopian themed Monochrome.
Her latest has much more in common with The Midnight Clock, involving a dark mystery which heads back to the Second World War era. The blurb bills the novel as “Stranger Things meets The Picture of Dorian Grey” and readers expecting the bang and special powers of the former might be disappointed as this is a significantly more complicated and subtler read.
Yes, it does involve dodgy and unethical scientists, but the story is more build around a cross generational mystery with science and experiments playing a minimal part. At 450 pages this is a chunky and substantial read and although it contains little to offend I would recommend it for stronger, older readers as the plot is both complicated and involved.
The story opens with seventeen-year-old Amy and her mother running away from an abusive stepfather and ending up at a rural property her mother has recently inherited, the stepfather is unaware of. In a story which is much more mystery than horror Amy becomes intrigued by a boy she sees in the window of a local stately home, as she is certain he vanishes into thin air.
Their new home is also the location of where her mother’s sister vanished forty years earlier, with her shadow overhanging the plot, also flicking back into an intriguing eighties set narrative. Making new friends along the way, The Mystery of Hinxford Court quickly fans out into a very complicated mystery with a number of strands to it, also handling abuse and trauma sensitively. Although the ending makes perfect sense within the context of the story it takes a fair bit of unravelling and unless you follow the book closely it will be easy to lose the thread. AGE RANGE 13+
Carlyn Greenwald – What Happened to those Girls?
Publisher : Sourcebooks Fire
Last year I reviewed Carlyn Greenwald’s previous effort, Murder Land, which I thought was okay, but am much more impressed by What Happened to those Girls? This novel is seriously twisty and I will give a huge gold star to anybody who sees the ending coming! As I just said, this is seriously twisty, and then some.
Even before we get to the twisty stuff I was intrigued by the toxic friendship which dominates the early part of the book. The story is narrated by Emma, who is the outsider of a four way friendship group, always trying to fit in, seeming needy, but not quite good enough for her more glamorous friends who enjoy putting her down. The story cleverly revolves around a camping trip which Emma is secretly not invited to.
What Happened to those Girls?Throws a banger into the plot very quickly. Whilst Emma is still moping over being dumped by her friends, it is revealed that two bodies have been found in the forest and it is presumed all three are dead. Even if the second half of the story spends a bit too much time in the forest this is a superior thriller, with terrific revelations, LGBTQIA+ developments and every character with their own secrets. I like to think I can read YA storylines pretty well, but this one left my jaw hanging wide open! Perfect for both thriller and horror fans. Lots of swearing and some violence and no sex. AGE RANGE 13/14+
Dana Mele – The Beast You Let In
Publisher : Sourcebooks Fire
Dana Mele’s The Beast You Let In is a clever twisty horror thriller which should appeal to teens who enjoy both genres. The story revolves around two very different teenage twins (Hazel and Beth) who were once close and have now drifted dangerously apart, to the point they fight more than talk. Most of the first half of the novel is narrated by Hazel, before Beth makes an appearance and it was particularly fascinating how they saw each other.
Set in a small town where names, appearance and money mean everything, everybody has secrets, which also plays a big part in the story, along with gender identity. Hazel usually avoids the wild school parties Beth attends and against her better judgement attends one and gets sucked into a Ouija board party game which kicks off the supernatural part of the story.
After the game gets out of hand Beth storms out and doesn’t come home that night, and Hazel’s anger morphs into anxiety. It only sharpens when Beth reappears a day later, disoriented and claiming to be Veronica Green, a teen who was murdered in their small town years before.
If it isn’t a possession, Beth is really good at faking it. Did they accidentally release a vengeful horror during the party? The Beast You Let In morphs into a clever psychological horror novel where the reader is never quite sure whether the wool is being pulled over their eyes, by one of both girls. Cleverly backtracking into the life of Veronica Green, there are skeletons in closets everywhere, some very close to home. AGE RANGE 13/14+
Dan Smith – The Night House Files book 1: The Deadsoul Project
Publisher : Barrington Stoke
I am a huge fan of Dan Smith, but have lost touch with his recent fiction, so was very happy to read the first two books in The Nighthouse Files. In my school library I regularly recommended Big Game (2015), Boy X (2016) and Below Zero (2018) extensively as they are perfect adventure thrillers for reluctant readers. They are particularly popular with boys and in a literary landscape where female characters dominate we need more of this.
Smith is back to his best with this new Barrington Stoke series, with books three and four coming later in 2026, with the stories leaning heavily into X-Files style horror, blended perfectly with science fiction. Barrington Stoke specialise in ‘high low’ fiction, books with high interest stories, but aimed at those with lower reading ages or have dyslexia. Both these novels are pitched perfectly at kids who struggle finishing big books, have short chapters and lots of short breaks in the text where they dip into interviews, diary entries or newspaper clippings. The creepy illustrations add nicely to the flow of the text.
The Deadsoul Project is set in a 1977 housing estate where Kyle and Lauren Dempsey believe their soldier stepdad has been killed in Northern Ireland. Instead, they are shocked to find him sitting in their living room, acting strange and eating raw meat. The story moves incredibly fast, circling back to the Night House Files, which is very similar to the X-Files, with some top secret dude carrying out investigations into weird phenomenon which have been hushed up. Things escalate very quickly and I enjoyed the jumps into the future and the use of the clock which keeps events ticking along. AGE RANGE 9/10+
Dan Smith – The Night House Files book 2: The Wintermoor Lights
Publisher : Barrington Stoke
Dan Smith returns with his second Night House Files mystery for Barrington Stoke and this was every bit as good as the first, or possibly even better. Everything I said above applies to this book also, with another mystery which is not connected to the first and can be read as a standalone story.
There was an interesting piece in The Times recently which championed Dan Smith and this fast paced brand of fiction calling him “The Stephen King for children”.
This second story is a riff on alien invasion or a spin on the body snatcher story but makes it so engaging is the broken friendships at the centre of the story. After seeing a bright light in the sky Zoe abandons her best friend Tara and gets downright nasty. The story is narrated by Tara and also jumps into future interviews, looking back at what happens when a wider group of teenagers disappear. Creepy, atmospheric and a terrific speedread. AGE RANGE 9/10+
Melissa Welliver – To the Death
Publisher : Hodder Children’s Books
I have enjoyed and reviewed three of Melissa Welliver’s previous novels, My Love Life and the Apocalypse (2023), Soulmates and Other Ways to Die (2024) and The Undying Tower (2021). She does not write traditional horror and blends dystopian and apocalyptic scenarios, often with a quirky sense of humour. Her latest, To the Death is the closest she has come to writing a horror, but it leans more towards dystopian thriller, borrowing heavy from The Hunger Games and that type of action driven thriller. Although bloodthirsty it is just not as good as the novels it is inspired by.
It features zombie type creatures called ‘Pyres’ who just ended up as window dressing. Even though they are supposed to be deadly the characters buzz through them like margarine and it quickly becomes repetitive. If you are looking for a full throttle zombie epic then check out Jonathan Maberry’s Rot and Ruin series.
To the Death is a solid read, my problem is I read stuff like this all the time and I immediately thought “Battle Royale but with zombies” whilst your average teen will not know what Battle Royale is. Both are set on islands and in To the Death the island hosts a Hunger Games style competition where the contestants have to compete a series of challenges whilst the zombies/pyres lurk in the background looking for a meal.
The prize will allow a local to leave Blood Island, as the inhabitants are quarantined there. The main character Astrid is local to the island and has to pair up with somebody from the mainland and whilst they compete, similar to Ben Oliver’s The Killer Factor (2024) also develop a social media following. This was a fun, gory read with a spikey main character and is not a deep read, nor is it a patch on Stephen King’s The Long Walk which it also has similarities to. A sequel, Hunting Season, will be with us in 2027. AGE RANGE 13+
Kenechi Udogu – Augmented
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Augmented has had some hype after being shortlisted for the prestigious Branford Boase Award, which can only be won by a first time novelist and its editor. I was surprised Augmented was nominated for this award as I found disjointed and lacking the flow to tell a really good story (surely the editor has a role here?) Nevertheless it was a decent read and is more science fiction, with dystopian elements and a strong environmental theme than horror.
The core concept is really cool; a teenage girl has the ability to accelerate plant growth when she sings. There was a similar concept in Wren James’s Green Rising which was better developed than in this book, where teens develop ‘green fingers’ and the ability to heal environmental problems. The countdown in the novel to ‘Augmentation Day’ is also much too long, starting at 133 days and taking most of the novel to get to the big day.
I do enjoy novels set in area I recognise (south London here) and mix near future science fiction with environmental messages and then add some extra spice. Sarah Govett did this with her terrific Territory series and Kenechi Udogu does something similar with Augmented. This story follows Akaego, people can boost their abilities with cutting edge tech but not everyone gets to choose if they want it or not and it is connected to human traits.
The backdrop to this is an oxygen starved world, people living in domes and a tiered system of rich and poor. As you can no longer go outside suits are required the power lies with the corrupt government which leads to the novel heading into familiar territory railing against the man. A solid read for science fiction fans but it fails to truly catch the imagination. AGE RANGE 12/13+
Tony Jones
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