YA Thrillers That’ll Get Your Heart Racing

Posted on 27 September 2023

These top YA thrillers are guaranteed to raise your pulse, keep you on the edge of your seat, and have you guessing until the final page…

Win Lose Kill Die

Win Lose Kill Die by Cynthia Murphy

The students at Morton Academy are high-achievers, selected based on academic excellence. So when a series of murders target the school’s brightest and best, the pressure is on. Someone is determined to stop at nothing to clear their path to the top.

This high-school slasher is truly unputdownable, and will keep you glued to the page until you uncover the chilling mystery of Morton Academy.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure…

The bestseller that took the world by storm – a devious mystery with a twisting plot that will captivate you till the very last page.

I Must Betray You

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

Cristian has lived his entire life in the grip of a repressive dictatorship. When the secret police blackmail him, Cristian has an impossible choice. Save the life of his sick grandfather by informing on his family, or risk his life – and all of theirs – by resisting?

Based on the real events of the Romanian Revolution of 1989, this thriller asks haunting questions about how much we can trust the ones we love.

The Girl Who Broke the Sea

The Girl Who Broke the Sea by A. Connors

After she gets kicked out of school for her destructive behaviour, Lily agrees to an unusual fresh start: going with her mum to live at Deephaven, an experimental deep-sea mining rig and research station located at the bottom of the ocean. Lily instantly regrets her decision: claustrophobic and isolated, it’s hardly her idea of home. Turns out, Deephaven has problems of its own…

This mind-expanding thriller set in the ocean’s depths showcases a terrifying struggle for survival – as well as a thoughtful exploration of self-acceptance.

The Inheritance Games

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Avery must move into the mansion she’s inherited from an eccentric billionaire. It’s filled with secrets and codes, and the old man’s surviving relatives – a family hell-bent on discovering why Avery got ‘their’ money. Soon she is caught in a deadly game that everyone in this strange family is playing. But just how far will they go to keep their fortune?

The Inheritance Games is the heartpounding first book in the bestselling series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – don’t miss out on this addictive thriller!

Getting Away with Murder

Getting Away with Murder by Kathryn Foxfield

While working at a brand new, high tech escape room complex, Saffron poses a question to the resident AI: which high school stereotype would survive the longest in a real life version of her favourite video game?Unbeknown to her, the AI decides to determine the answer to her question by testing it out for real. The rebel, the know-it-all, the princess, the jock, the geek, the weirdo, the star, the artist and the criminal. Only one can survive the night…

Dark and unsettling, this high-octane thriller is packed with knife-edge tension and twists you won’t see coming.

Browse more thrillers you won’t be able to put down:

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