Related Reads: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey, Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, Revolver by Marcus SedgwickĮasily one of the most harrowing books I’ve ever read, Living Dead Girl is not for the faint of heart.

Fans of suspense will find much to enjoy in this 450 page opus. When he discovers his father’s predilection for grave robbing, Joey assumes the role of apprentice as he works to uncover the secrets of his mother’s former life. Upon the death of his mother, sixteen-year-old Joey is thrust into the life of his oddball father, a gruff man he barely knows. With gruesome imagery that advances the complexity of the story, Rotters is an exceptionally well crafted tale of family loyalty and those things we keep hidden for fear of judgment. Here’s my list for the crème de la crème of YA tackling all things macabre! From carefully constructed character studies to goretastic forays into dystopian universes, YA books offer cinematic horror fans an opportunity to enjoy the genre in a new way. But a recent groundswell of YA titles exploring generational fears, both real and imagined, highlight the complexity and the subversive value of the genre. One of the criticisms against young adult books (YA) is that they are too formulaic to ever have any real stakes.

His latest novel, Through Dead Eyes, was published by Bloomsbury this year.In another life, I used to be a Youth Services librarian which means I have read more than my fair share of books aimed at 12-17 year olds. Chris’ novel The Dead of Winter is also a Gothic thriller with a meta-fictional twist, which recalls the fictional worlds of Jane Eyre and The Woman in Black. Mister Creecher is an inspired rewriting of Shelley’s classic Frankenstein, by way of Charles Dickens.

Chris’ work has also attracted a number of children’s fiction award nominations, with Mister Creecher recently long-listed for the UKLA children’s fiction award. Lovecraft and Hammer Horror, to name a few. You go into that dark space willingly.'Ĭhris Priestley’s unsettling and macabre ghost story collections – The Tales of Terror – are a series of uncanny portmanteau narratives, an uncanny concoction of all things Gothic from M.R. It also acknowledges the transgressive attraction the evil can have. The Gothic is an acknowledgment of that blurred line between the fear of death and the thrill of fear. I don’t think this is always the dismal exercise it seems. 'I think that some people – maybe most people – do not want to look into the shadows.

The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley