Whether you are a timid twelve-year-old, a sixteen-year-old trying to fit in, or a parent, teenagers are terrifying. They love and hate with intensity and often at the same time. Surging hormones, irrational logic, and desire for connection leads to overwrought secrets, volatile relationships, and bad decisions. When I started working on my novel, Sinkhole, I thought a lot about the dangerous emotional lives of teenagers. Ironically, as I worked on the final edits of my book, my son would get involved with someone who was even more dangerous than my antagonist, which is saying something. Sometimes evil appears wearing pink Crocs.
In many cases, truth is often more shocking than fiction. For example, in 1954, Honora Parker was murdered by her 16-year-old daughter Pauline and Pauline’s 15-year-old best friend. The reason? Pauline’s mother wanted to keep them apart. The story was the basis for Peter Jackson’s 1994 film, Heavenly Creatures. There is also the famous case of Leopold and Loeb, two wealthy Chicago teenagers who murdered a 14-year-old boy for fun.
But those were isolated incidents, right? Hardly. In 2019, two 14-year-olds devised a plot to murder and kidnap nine people. In 2021, three Florida teenagers were arrested for murdering a classmate with a knife and sword. Then there was the teenage love triangle turned murder plot in Washington state. As well as five teens in Tucson who plotted to kill a classmate. Sixteen-year-old Skylar Neese was murdered by her two “best friends.” And let’s not forget Michelle Carter, the 17-year-old who convinced her boyfriend to kill himself. As I said, teenagers are terrifying.
Fictionally, you have Carrie White who was bullied by everyone, even her mother, and that ends badly for all concerned. Heathers also features bullying and the murderous consequences of high school popularity and there are few innocents. Yellowjackets is nothing but the treacherous intensity of teenage interpersonal dynamics. How did any of us survive our teen years?
Here are a few examples of teens behaving badly:
A Secret Place by Tana French
Set at St. Kilda’s School, a girls’ boarding school in Dublin, Tana French brings readers inside the clandestine underworld of teenage girls. A Secret Place refers to a physical message board where students leave anonymous posts that range from the mundane to the cruel to cries for help. French has said she was inspired by the site PostSecret. A message is left with a photo of a boy who was found murdered on school grounds a year ago with the caption, “I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM.”
The murdered boy, Chris Harper, was handsome and popular and the investigation into his death has been at a standstill. The Dublin Murder squad, in this installment Detective Stephen Moran and Detective Antoinette Conway, are called in to investigate. They are faced with the daunting task of penetrating tight cliques of teenage girls to discover the truth.
The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
The Lying Game opens with the narrator, Isa, being called back to the coastal village of Salten, where she attended boarding school with her best friends, Fatima, Thea, and Kate. They were the kind of inseparable clique that excluded everyone else, going so far as to create a “lying game” where they earned points by getting others to believe preposterous lies. There were rules to the game and one of the rules was that they couldn’t lie to one another.
This one also moves back and forth between the main characters as teenagers and as adults. They’ve been called back to Salten by Kate because a bone has been found along the coastline. They know who the bone likely belongs to. Friendship has never been more claustrophobic.
The Rumor Game by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra
What is it with prep schools and boarding schools bringing out the worst in people? Did Bryn mean to cause a car accident that hurt several of her classmates? Did Cora’s boyfriend cheat on her? Does it even matter what really happened when everyone is convinced the rumors are all true? In The Rumor Game the weapons are words and murder might be less brutal than teens with access to a keyboard and social media.
Friend Request by Laura Marshall
I find just about any friend request that relates to high school scary, but in Louise Williams’ case, she should be terrified. The request is from her old friend Maria Weston—only Maria has been missing and presumed dead for twenty-five years. While in high school, Louise’s desire to be accepted by a more popular girl caused her to reject Maria. Maria’s subsequent disappearance is a life-long source of guilt. “Maria” begins sending Louise messages and predictably, there is a class reunion looming.
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
My Sister, the Serial Killer opens with blood, bleach, and a body. Big sister Korede has once again received a call that her little sister, Ayoola, needs help. While it isn’t explicit how old Ayoola is, we can assume that with three dead bodies under her belt, she got started fairly young. Set in Lagos, Nigeria, the atmosphere is as different as the two sisters, showing both the richness of culture and the corrupt undercurrent. The chapters are short, bloody, and satirically funny. Family can be murder.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Ten-year-old Natalie Keene and nine-year-old Ann Kash are murdered and journalist Camille Preaker returns to her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri, to cover their deaths. Camille brings a lot of baggage with her, including the death of her own sister and a history of self-harm. Camille’s half-sister, Anna, is thirteen and presents as an ideal child to adults while terrorizing her peers. Camille’s mother is a wealthy businesswoman who shows little interest in her children. We watch as Camille pieces together her teenage years with the present-day case of the two dead girls. The complexity of the family dynamic and dysfunction take center stage in this riveting novel.
She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge
Seven teenagers go into the woods, but only six come out. For thirty years, the fate of fourteen-year-old Aurora Jackson is unknown. Aurora’s skeleton is finally found…in a hiding place known to the other teens. DCI Jonah Sheens was a junior office when Aurora first went missing while camping with her older sister and her sister’s friends. For thirty years, events of that night have been kept secret. DCI Sheens is determined to find out what happened. The mystery unfolds, moving between 1983 and present day.
The Survivors by Jane Harper
Teenagers and their secrets! Kieran Elliott returns to his hometown of Evelyn Bay, Tasmania with his partner and young baby to help with his ailing father. Kieran is plagued by the guilt of causing his older brother’s death in a boating accident during a storm. Kieran also carries the guilt of another seemingly accidental death on his conscious, so it is no wonder he goes to the mainland and stays there until his ill-fated trip home. We learn more about the storm and duplicitous teenagers of Evelyn Bay after Bronte, a young waitress and art student from Canberra is found drowned on the beach.
This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf
Again, we have adults reckoning with their deadly lies as teenagers. Twenty-five years ago, sixteen-year-old Eve Knox was found murdered in her hometown of Grotto, Iowa. Discovered by her best friend, Maggie, and Eve’s peculiar sister Eve, there were multiple suspects, but the case was never closed. Maggie father was Chief of Police, so it’s no surprise that Maggie also goes into law enforcement. Now, twenty-five years later, Maggie is faced with a new piece of evidence and begins unearthing secrets, including her own.
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