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Page Turning Mystery & Thriller Young Adult Novels

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at GCU chapter.

Looking for a good read? Here are some page-turning, nail-biting young adult mystery & thriller novels with some unpredictable twists.

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

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Anna, her best friend Elise, and their group of friends decided to spend their Spring Break of Senior Year in Aruba. What was supposed to be a promising trip filled with adventurous and fun nights takes an abrupt turn when Elise is suddenly found murdered. Now Anna must find out who killed her best friend while also struggling to prove her own innocence. Dangerous Girls is a story that shows the struggles of handling unlikely friendships, uncovering harsh truths, experiencing young love and the twistful reality of Anna’s fate.                               

Killer Instinct by S.E. Green

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One could say that Lane is like many other girls. She is a good student, has a nice family and even has a job at her town’s animal hospital. But not all is what it seems, especially not with Lane and her unusual secret obsession: studying serial killers. There’s something about them that captivates Lane and perhaps it has to do with the fact that she understands them and why they do what they do. But when Lane becomes too involved in a murder case that just so happens to occur in her town, she must face not only the killer but her dark side as well.

Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

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Something is cooking inside of the ever so charming Jar Island: three girls secretly plotting revenge. Kat is fed up being bullied by the girl who just so happens to be her ex-best friend. Lillia on the other hand, just found out that one of her guy friends has been hooking up with her little sister behind her back and decides she must put an end to it. While Mary is still haunted by a traumatic event from her past, and wants the boy who is responsible for it to get what he deserves. When the three girls team up to get their revenge, there will be nothing left to stop them.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

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Five students at Bayview High walk into detention on Monday afternoon, but only four of them leave alive. Bronwyn “the brain” is Yale-bound and has never broken a rule. Addy “the beauty” is exactly who you would imagine as the homecoming princess. Nate “the criminal” is currently on probation for dealing. Cooper “the athlete” is the school’s star baseball pitcher. And Simon “the outcast” is creator of their school’s infamous gossip app. Once investigators reveal that Simon’s death was no accident, all four of them become possible suspects. And to make things worse, the following day a post on Simon’s app exposes juicy secrets about all four of them. Which one of them is the killer? Or could they all be possibly framed by someone else?

People Like Us by Dana Mele

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All Kay Donovan wants is to reinvent herself, especially after all that’s happened in her past. When she gets the opportunity to attend Bates Academy, home for the elite, through an athletic scholarship, she gets the chance to do just that. Once she becomes the star soccer player, she also becomes a part of the schools most popular clique who are feared from the rest of the students. One night a girl who no one has ever heard of is found dead in a lake. When the girls become the prime suspects for the murder, Kay’s life begins to take an abrupt turn. Especially when the dead girl has left Kay a computer-coded scavenger hunt that reveals all sorts of secrets and forces Kay to expose her very own friends.

My name is Teresa Gamez but I have gone by Terri for as long as I can remember. I am 20 years old and will be graduating with a B.A. in English with an Emphasis in Professional Writing at the end of this semester. I have loved writing since I was very young and even have a few novels tucked deep inside my laptop. I hope to publish my stories one day along with becoming a book editor. A fun fact about me is that I am left handed.