We love a good thriller on a normal day but since self-isolating, we can’t get enough! What better way to spend another day at home than reading a fast-paced mystery? We’ve rounded up some thrillers that are to die for.
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
By Holly Jackson
ISBN 9781984896360 | Delacorte Press
Hardcover | 400 pages | Ages 14+
Everyone in Fairview knows the story. Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town. But she can’t shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer? Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.
Aftermath
By Kelley Armstrong
ISBN 9780385686471 | Penguin Teen Canada
Paperback | 384 pages | Ages 12+
Three years ago, Skye’s brother Luka died in a mass shooting at the local high school. But there’s no sympathy for Skye and her family because Luka wasn’t a victim — he was a shooter. Now, Skye returns to the small town she had fled to start anew. But the scars of the past don’t heal easily. And there’s one person Skye dreads seeing most: Jesse Matin. Her childhood crush and former best friend until the massacre tore them apart. Told in alternating points of view, Skye and Jesse wade into the mystery of what took place that fateful day. But someone clearly doesn’t want Skye back in town, and when she and Jesse uncover new evidence that could clear Luka’s name, it becomes obvious that someone wants the past to stay buried. In the aftermath of violence, someone has to pay. Blood for blood.
Blood Will Out
By Jo Treggiari
ISBN 9780735262973 | Penguin Teen Canada
Paperback | 256 pages | Ages 14+
Ari Sullivan is alive–for now. She wakes at the bottom of a cistern, confused, injured and alone, with only the shadowy recollection of a low-pitched voice and a gloved hand. No one can hear her screams. And the person who put her there is coming back. The killer is planning a gruesome masterpiece, a fairytale tableau of innocence and blood, meticulously designed. Until now, Ari was happy to spend her days pining for handsome, recent-arrival Stroud Bellows, fantasizing about their two-point-four-kids-future together. Safe in her small hometown of Dempsey Hollow. But now her community has turned very dangerous — and Ari may not be the only intended victim.
Fight Like a Girl
By Sheena Kamal
ISBN 9780735265554 | Penguin Teen Canada
Hardcover | 272 pages | Ages 14+
Love and violence. In some families they’re bound up together, dysfunctional and poisonous, passed from generation to generation like eye color or a quirk of smile. Trisha’s trying to break the chain, channeling her violent impulses into Muay Thai kickboxing, an unlikely sport for a slightly built girl of Trinidadian descent. Her father comes and goes as he pleases, his presence adding a layer of tension to the Toronto east-end townhouse that Trisha and her mom call home, every punch he lands on her mother carving itself indelibly into Trisha’s mind. Until the night he wanders out drunk in front of the car Trisha is driving, practicing on her learner’s permit, her mother in the passenger seat. Her father is killed, and her mother seems strangely at peace. Lighter, somehow. Trisha doesn’t know exactly what happened that night, but she’s afraid it’s going to happen again. Her mom has a new man in her life and the patterns, they are repeating.
One of Us is Lying
By Karen M. McManus
ISBN 9781524714680 | Delacorte Press
Hardcover | 416 pages | Ages 14+
Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Only four of them walk out of that classroom alive. According to investigators, the death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, Simon died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.
One of Us is Next
By Karen M. McManus
ISBN 9780525707967 | Delacorte Press
Hardcover | 384 pages | Ages 14+
A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts. Until now. This time it’s not an app, though-it’s a game. Truth or Dare. Soon, the dares become deadly, and if Maeve learned anything from her sister, Bronwyn, last year, it’s that they can’t count on the police for help. Or protection. Simon’s gone, but someone’s determined to keep his legacy at Bayview High alive. And this time, there’s a whole new set of rules.
The Grey Sisters
By Jo Treggiari
ISBN 9780735262980 | Penguin Teen Canada
Hardcover | 288 pages | Ages 12+
D and Spider have always been close friends, and they are further united in their shared heartbreak: they both lost siblings in a horrific plane crash two years earlier. A chance sighting of a beloved cuddly toy in a photograph of the only survivor spurs D to finally seek closure. She and Spider and their friend, Min, set off on a road trip to the mountainside site of that terrible crash. Ariel has lived on the mountain all her life. She and her extended family are looked down upon by neighboring townsfolk and she has learned to live by her wits, trusting few people outside of her isolated, survivalist community. A terrifying attack sends her down the mountain for help; on her way, she comes upon the three girls — a chance encounter that will have far-reaching consequences for them all.
The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly
By Meredith Tate
ISBN 9781984813497 | Putnam BFYR
Hardcover | 368 pages | Ages 14+
When band-geek Ivy and her friends get together, things start with a rousing board game and end with arguments about Star Wars. Her older sister Autumn is a different story. Enigmatic, aloof, and tough as nails, Autumn hasn’t had real friends–or trusted anyone–in years. Even Ivy. But Autumn might not be tough enough. After a drug deal gone wrong, Autumn is beaten, bound, and held hostage. Now, trapped between life and death, she leaves her body, seeking help. No one can sense her presence–except her sister. Autumn needs Ivy to find her before time runs out. But soon, both sisters realize that finding her also means untangling the secrets that lead to the truth–about where they’re hiding Autumn, and what Autumn has been hiding.
Like what you see? Our friends at Indigo have an even bigger list of YA thrillers to choose from, make sure you check them out.
Last night we were saddened to hear of the death of Jean Little, a beloved and distinguished member of the Canadian children’s literary community. Born in Taiwan in 1932 to Canadian doctors who were serving as missionaries, Jean was legally blind from birth. After obtaining a B.A. in English Language & Literature from the University of Toronto, she taught briefly before her first novel, Mine for Keeps, was published in 1962 and she went on to publish over fifty works including picture books, novels, memoir, short fiction, and poetry.
