It makes my dark little heart happy to see how the young adult horror genre has evolved. It was far more limited when I was younger, which is one of the reasons I got into Stephen King so early (and when people ask me “Jill, why are you the way that you are?” I often cite the fact that I practically went straight from The Baby-Sitters Club to Pet Sematary). Modern YA horror is relentless, robust, and wonderfully diverse. We live in a dark world, after all, and equally dark literature can speak to teenage readers in a way nothing else can—especially when those readers can see aspects of themselves reflected in the characters they read about and root for. Here are some of my favorite YA horror novels that feature queer characters and diverse casts.
This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham
Such a violently fun take on zombie-type horror! A few years after a pathogen turned a portion of the population into ghouls who crave human flesh, scientists have come to the rescue with a synthetic alternative, allowing ghouls and humans to coexist peacefully. With things back to normal—sort of—Zoe and her friends (all ghouls) pack a cooler full of synthetic snacks and head to a Coachella-style music festival. When one of them mysteriously goes feral, it’s up to the rest to figure out what’s really behind their friend’s deadly behavior. This one hits just right in a post-Covid world.
She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
There’s something classically, dreadfully satisfying about slow-burn haunted house horror, and this book shakes up some favorite tropes by viewing them through the lens of colonialism. When Jade needs tuition money, her only option is to play nice with her estranged father, helping him with the house he’s restoring in Vietnam. The longer she spends on the property, though, the creepier things get, forcing her to wrestle with the house’s true history and its connections to her family. With its nuanced take on the complexities of familial connections and the hollow feeling of never quite belonging, this ominous story is a reminder that those who live an experience and those who record its history are often not the same.
The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters
I can’t get enough female rage, and this one delivers plenty. When her sister vanishes and the usual missing-persons procedures prove to be frustratingly inadequate, Natasha turns to Della, a member of the mysteriously witchy Lloyd family, for help. But Della’s hiding a desperate secret of her own, and the truth about her mother’s fate and that of Natasha’s sister might intertwine in the worst possible way. Lushly atmospheric and haunting.
Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass
This one blends a bleak scenario with an incredible amount of heart. When Connor is sent to Nightlight, a religious conversion camp on a remote island, he’s determined to uncover the camp’s secrets, free its inmates, and take the entire horrific place down. Sass’s skill with pacing keeps the story tight, and his ability to write protagonists who are easy to root for makes this one an absolute gut punch.
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
As someone who used to live for the slasher marathons that ran on cable TV around Halloween, I was instantly captivated by this book’s concept—and its face-paced execution pays off. Charity works at Camp Mirror Lake, an immersive horror game that lets players feel like they’re in a summer camp slasher movie —but when her coworkers start dying, Charity’s role as the game’s “final girl” gets a little too real. Charity’s relationship with her girlfriend Bezi offers readers a comforting respite amid the chaos. Reading this one made me nostalgic for the campiness of 80s and 90s horror.
Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin
Something wicked this way comes in a satisfying revenge fantasy retelling of Macbeth. After Elle is assaulted by a pack of prep school boys, she reinvents herself as Jade and infiltrates their world, stopping at nothing to get vengeance. These golden boys are used to taking what they want, but this time they’ve chosen the wrong target. Raw and bloodthirsty, this ruthless-girl-gang story is reminiscent of cult-classic high school favorites like Heathers.
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
In Sutherland’s hands, gore can be absolutely poetic. When Iris Hollow was a little girl, she and her older sisters Vivi and Grey went missing for a month. They came back changed, with no idea where they’d been, and that mystery has followed them ever since. When Grey disappears again, she leaves behind clues that Iris and Vivi must use to follow her and learn the life-changing truth behind what happened to them as children. Brooding and brutal, this one’s imagery stayed with me long after I finished reading.
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