Horror & Supernatural Thrillers
Want to be scared? Get chills from the books on this list. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Remember, your librarian can help you find other horror titles by these and other authors. |
Armstrong, Kelley. Darkest Powers series. YA F Arm After fifteen-year-old Chloe starts seeing ghosts and is sent to Lyle House, a mysterious group home for mentally disturbed teenagers, she soon discovers that neither Lyle House nor its inhabitants are exactly what they seem, and that she and her new friends are in danger. Book One: The Summoning Book Two: The Awakening Book Three: The Reckoning |
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Brooks, Kevin. Road of the Dead. YA F Bro Two brothers, sons of an incarcerated gypsy, leave London traveling to an isolated and desolate village, in search of the brutal killer of their sister. |
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Clare, Cassandra. The Mortal Instruments series. YA F Cla Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster. Book One: City of Bones Book Two: City of Ashes Book Three: City of Glass |
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Cole, Stephen. The Wereling trilogy. YA F Col Sixteen-year-old Tom Anderson and seventeen-year-old Kate Folan try to escape Kate's werewolf family—and fight becoming werewolves themselves—by making a cross-country journey in search of a mysterious man who might have a cure. Book One: Wounded Book Two: Resurrection Book Three: Prey |
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Cormier, Robert. The Rag and Bone Shop. YA F Cor AB/CD Cor Trent, an ace interrogator from Vermont, works to procure a confession from an introverted twelve-year-old accused of murdering his seven-year-old friend in Monument, Massachusetts. Other chilling titles from Robert Cormier include Tenderness and We All Fall Down. |
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Holt, Simon. The Devouring (series). YA F Hol The existence of Vours, supernatural creatures who feast on fear and attack on the eve of the winter solstice, becomes a terrifying reality for fifteen-year-old Reggie when she begins to suspect that her timid younger brother might be one of their victims. Book One: The Devouring Book Two: Soulstice |
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Horowitz, Anthony. Gatekeepers (series). YA F Hor Sent to live in a foster home in a remote Yorkshire village, Matt, a troubled fourteen-year-old English boy, uncovers an evil plot involving witchcraft and the site of an ancient stone circle. #1: Raven's Gate #2: Evil Star #3: Nightrise #4: Necropolis |
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Huntington, Geoffrey. Ravenscliff (series). YA F Hun Every kid fears the monsters in the closet—but for Devon March, the monsters are all too real. Horrible things come slithering out across his floor, determined to drag him with them back down their Hellhole. But Devon is no ordinary young man. He can move objects with his mind, summon incredible strength, disappear at will—and that’s only what he has discovered he’s capable of so far. Yet his powers—and the demons in his closet—remain for him unexplained mysteries. At fourteen, Devon is sent to live at Ravenscliff, a dark seaside mansion, where he learns the first part of the secret of his powers: he is a sorcerer of the Order of the Nightwing, a three-thousand-year-old tradition of mysticism and magic that fascinates Devon with its fabled history. But Devon’s new family, the Muirs, forbids him from discovering any more about his heritage, inexplicably terrified of what that knowledge might bring. #1: Sorcerers of the Nightwing #2: Demon Witch |
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Jones, Carrie. Need. YA F Jon Depressed after the death of her stepfather, high school junior Zara goes to live with her grandmother in a small Maine town, where new friends tell Zara the strange man she keeps seeing may be a pixie king, and that only “were” creatures can stop him from taking souls. The story continues in Captivate. |
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Klause, Annette Curtis. Blood and Chocolate. YA F Kla Having fallen for a human boy, a beautiful teenage werewolf must battle both her packmates and the fear of the townspeople to decide where she belongs and with whom. |
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McMann, Lisa. Wake. YA F McM For 17-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people’s dreams is getting old. Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else’s twisted psyche – she is a participant. The story continues in Fade and Gone. |
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Noyes, Deborah. Gothic!: 10 original dark tales. YA F Got Drawing on dark fantasy and the fairy tale as well as horror and wild humor, ten acclaimed authors pay homage to the gothic tale in wide-ranging stories of the supernatural and surreal. If that's not enough for you, try The Restless Dead: 10 original stories of the supernatural. |
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Plum-Ucci, Carol. The Body of Christopher Creed. YA F Plu Torey Adams, a high school junior with a seemingly perfect life, struggles with doubts and questions surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the class outcast. |
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Ryan, Carrie. The Forest of Hands and Teeth. YA F Rya Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead. The saga continues in The Dead-Tossed Waves. |
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Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. YA F She Mary Shelley’s gothic tale is the world’s most famous work of horror fiction. The story concerns Victor Frankenstein, whose obsession with fashioning a new being leads him to create a pathetic, but monstrous creature—an act that has terrifying consequences. |
 | Shusterman, Neil. Full Tilt. YA F Shu When sixteen-year-old Blake goes to a mysterious, by-invitation-only carnival he somehow knows that it could save his comatose brother, but soon learns that much more is at stake if he fails to meet the challenge presented there by the beautiful Cassandra. |
 | Stolarz, Laurie Faria. Blue Is for Nightmares (series). YA F Sto Sixteen-year-old hereditary witch Stacey Brown has nightmares of her roommate being murdered and hopes that her magick will be enough to protect Drea—unlike the last person whose death Stacey dreamed. Other books in the series include: White Is for Magic, Red Is for Remembrance, and Silver Is for Secrets. |
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Whitcomb, Laura. A Certain Slant of Light. YA F Whi After benignly haunting a series of people for 130 years, Helen meets a teenage boy who can see her and together they unlock the mysteries of their pasts. |
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Wooding, Chris. The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray. YA F Woo As Thaniel, a wych-hunter, and Cathaline, his friend and mentor, try to rid the alleys of London's Old Quarter of the terrible creatures that infest them, their lives become entwined with that of a woman who may be either mad or possessed. |