3 of the Best New Hard-Hitting YA Thrillers

Did I drop everything to read Megan Abbott’s upcoming suspense novel? Yes, of course! The thing I love–there are many but here’s one–about Abbott’s books is that she envelopes readers in feelings. While many mysteries start with a crime, Abbott just starts by plunging you into the lives of characters and slowly this feeling of dread sets in because you don’t know what but you know something is certainly coming, and it’s never good.

It’s always fascinating to watch. There’s also usually an “extreme” element as the backdrop–this time dance. A ballet studio, to be exact, left to two sisters when their parents died in a car accident. They teach and live together with one of their husbands. Until one sister moves out of the house and into the dance studio. There’s a fire. A contractor. And suddenly things are unraveling… If I close my eyes and tell you the feelings: breathless, chaotic, loneliness, restless, reckless, pressure cooker, intensity, desire, regret, passion, obsession, visceral, longing… Abbott manages to make her characters’ lives so vivid and real I can smell and taste their world, all while making me uncomfortable and unable to stop turning the page. It’s a train wreck I always know is coming and can never look away from (don’t want to!) that always ends up living with me afterwards as she explores how we get to these wrecks and how we can continue after. She has an extensive backlist and here is me raving about them all. (TW disordered eating and eating disorders/ past alcoholism/ sexual abuse of teen/ suicide scene, detail/ past domestic abuse)

I got my hands on an early copy of this upcoming cozy mystery and it’s my weekend read. Look at that cover! I am already salivating, so must prepare proper snacks for reading.

And my current audiobooks which I’m really enjoying! Late to the Party by Kelly Quindlen, which is all about when you’ve had the same limited social group of friends and find yourself branching out. And Alone in the Wild by Kelley Armstrong, which is one of my favorite thriller series with an interesting setting: in a remote place where victims and predators have all been given a new chance in this community. If you need thrills, it’s an awesome series.

This is a character driven crime novel that follows the fallout from a hit-and-run as the family grieves and an investigator looks into the crime. It’s fantastic and $1.99! (Review)

This is a great breaks-the-mold thriller that is smart and deliciously wicked about a woman who is tired of cleaning up her sister’s messes (literally) and may get pushed too far when her sister sets eyes on her crush. It’s $1.99! (TW child and domestic abuse/ rape–I want to say past briefly recounted)

A great read for historical fiction fans with a murder mystery that unravels amongst the upper class while the city deals with anarchists and terrible working conditions for the lower class. It’s $2.99! (Review)

If you’re looking to start a new PI series, here’s one of my recent favorite pairings (a bounty hunter and PI) which is $4.99! (Review)