The best horror books for teens are treats for anyone who loves a good spooky story. While here on Broke by Books we’ve previously featured the 30 must-read horror short story books, today we’re going to highlight the best YA horror books.
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And now for an epic list of the 20 best horror books for teens!
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Kicking off this list of the best horror books for teens is Anna Dressed in Blood, definitely one of the best YA horror books of all time. In this bone-chilling novel, the first in a series of two books, Cas Lowood has inherited his father’s powers to kill the dead. After his dad died when a ghost turned on him, Cas, his witch mother, and their cat with supernatural powers travel the country, eliminating spirits. But he’s not prepared for Anna, a ghost still dressed in the white dress she wore when she was killed as a teen. Only now her dress is stained red with blood. Anna tests Cas’ moral compass while stirring his heart in a romantic way.
How to read it: Purchase Anna Dressed in Blood on Amazon
Asylum by Madeline Roux
This disturbing novel for teens is the first in a three-book YA horror series. Like the infamous and innovative picture-novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, another great YA horror novel, Asylum incorporates real photographs of closed mental institutions. Sixteen-year-old Dan is excited for the summer camp he’s going to, New Hampshire College Prep. Dan soon makes friends, Abby and Jordan, who are also intrigued by the campus’ dark past as an asylum for the untreatable criminally insane. But the digger they get into the history of their new home, the more it’s clear they were meant to be there for a reason. The photographs in this book are disturbing and effective in this engrossing novel that kicks off a YA horror series you’ll want to add to your TBR.
How to read it: Purchase Asylum on Amazon
As I Descended by Robin Talley
Robin Talley’s horror novel As I Descended is actually a retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In this queer version, Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are a power couple at elite prep school Acheron Academy. With their sights on the competitive Cawdor Kingsley Prize, Maria and Lily will do anything to stop popular Delilah Dufrey from winning the award, and that means summoning and scheming with the ghosts that still haunt Archeron, the site of a former plantation. As I Descended is a treat for paranormal fans.
How to read it: Purchase As I Descended on Amazon
Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis
This witchtastic (I think I coined a new term there!) horror novel, Katrell uses her powers to talk to the dead to earn some extra cash on the side. But it’s not nearly enough money to support her and her mother (and her mother’s latest no-good boyfriend), so Katrell tries to get out of the game. Instead, she raises a body from the dead. And then things get even more complicated as Katrell tries to outrun sinister forces out to get her.
How to read it: Purchase Bad Witch Burning on Amazon
Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett
Ash follows her mother to quaint small town of Quivira, Kansas, a tiny community in flyover country surrounded by fields of corn. And dark secrets. Ash succumbs to the lingering power of her ancestor, Katia, who is tied to Quivira’s bloody past, and falls for Dane, a trouble yet swoonworthy boy. As murders ripple through Quivira, Ash and Dane look to their town’s ghostly past that’s about to be reactivated in order to find a future that leaves them together—and alive. Blood and Salt is the first twisty book in a YA horror series.
How to read it: Purchase Blood and Salt on Amazon
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
Even the title of this horror book has me hooked! In The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, legendary YA fantasy writer Holly Black spins a spooky story. Tana lives in a world among Coldtowns, walled cities where monsters and humans are quarantined. Once you enter a Coldtown, you can never leave. Then, one morning, Tana wakes up and sees corpses everywhere. To save two victims of the massacre, her ex-boyfriend and another boy, Tana has to venture right into the very heart of Coldtown. This original story is one of the best YA horror novels of all time.
How to read it: Purchase The Coldest Girl in Coldtown on Amazon
Five Midnights by Ann Dávila Cardinal
Vermonter Lupe Dávila is visiting family in Puetro Rico when her police chief uncle gets called to the scene of a gory murder. Then more killings happen, each one part of a group of five tight-knit friends. Lupe joins forces with her new friend, Javier, who is one of the group being targeted to solve the case even as it’s clear the murderer may not be of this world… this novel draws on the Puerto Rican legend of El Cuco, a bogeyman and monster who preys on young people and makes them “disappear.”
How to read it: Purchase Five Midnights on Amazon
The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco
Definitely one of the best YA horror books of all time, The Girl from the Well is a retelling of a Japanese folk lore, the Okiku story. In Rin Chupeco’s book, the first part of a two-installment YA horror series, Okiku stalks the streets, killing child murderers like the one who took her life. But when she meets a boy named Tark, who is under the spell of a demon that has imprisoned Tark within his own body, Okiku finds a new purpose: saving him. Okiku teams up with him in a series of exorcisms and rituals that take them from American suburbia to Japan.
How to read it: Purchase The Girl from the Well on Amazon
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
It’s no surprise to any regular reader of this blog that I’m a huge Neil Gaiman fan. I have recommended his books on this blog before and wrote a review of his exquisitely empowering Art Matters. In The Graveyard Book, Gaiman has delivered another five-star read. With its premise an homage to Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, The Graveyard Book stars Nobody “Bod” Owens, who evaded a murderer as an infant by escaping through a window and finding his way to a graveyard. It’s there that he’s protected by an eclectic set of ghosts who raise him as their own. But Bod’s idyllic innocence doesn’t last forever, and his life is threatened again when the killer of his parents returns to finish the job he’s started. To defeat him, Bod will need to harness the living and the dead to aid him in his quest. This is a no-brainer: The Graveyard Book is among the best YA horror books of all time,
If you like this one, you’ll definitely want to check out the two-part graphic novel adaptation.
How to read it: Purchase The Graveyard Book on Amazon
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
Rick Yancey’s YA horror novel The Monstrumologist was a Printz Award nominee, a prestigious award given to the best young adult books of the year. And it’s no surprise why The Monstrumologist secured a spot on the short list; this blood-curdling and engaging story is fantastically told and ranks among the very best horror books for teens. It’s no joke; this is one of the best YA horror books. In this novel, orphan Will Henry is the assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, am aloof scientist, or more accurate, “monstrumologist,” who studies monsters. Set in Victorian England, this novel follows Will as he and Dr. Warthop try to stop the vicious Anthropophagi monsters from taking over the world. With scenes in the lab, at the graveyard, and in the insane asylum, The Monstrumologist takes you on a gory trip through Victorian London.
How to read it: Purchase The Monstrumologist on Amazon
Phantom Heart by Kelly Creagh
Kelly Creagh’s The Phantom Heart is a neo-Gothic retelling of Gaston Leroux’s beloved classic, The Phantom of the Opera, making it one of the most creative best YA horror books. In this novel, seventeen-year-old Stephanie Armand doesn’t believe in ghosts or paranormal spirits, even if her little sister claims a masked man is hiding out in her closet and the crumbling Victorian house her contractor dad is renovating is known to be haunted. When Lucas, a junkie for all things paranormal, enters Stephanie’s life, the romance and the supernatural amp up in her life, especially when she keeps having dreams about eighteen-year-old Erik, who haunts her dreams and might have ties to her sister’s masked man. If you’re craving a spicy romance with a brooding hero and Gothic touches, this one is for you.
How to read it: Purchase The Phantom Heart on Amazon
Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand
This creepy novel is easily one of the best horror books for teens. On the island of Sawkill Rock, three girls—Marion, Zoey, and Val—are just trying to stay alive. Their enemy? A menacing force, whom some claim is a monster named “The Collector,” has been stealing girls for decades. Helpless residents have looked the other way. Not this time. As their stories interweave, these three heroines team up to try to confront and stop the force plaguing their community for good. Even if that means coming face-to-face with evil itself. A feminist read with teeth, Sawkill Girls is a top choice for any list of the best psychological horror books for young adults.
How to read it: Purchase Sawkill Girls on Amazon
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
It’s hard for Jake Livingston to fit in, being one of just a few Black kids at St. Clair Prep and constantly in the shadow of his popular older brother. What makes him even more unique is his ability to see and talk to ghosts, most of whom are peaceful and nonthreatening. Until Jake meets Sawyer, a troubled teen ghost who killed six of his classmates at a nearby high school and then took his own life. Sawyer haunts Jake, making his life a living hell. Can Jake put Sawyer to rest forever? You’ll race through this book to find out and see why it’s a top pick for the best YA horror books.
How to read it: Purchase The Taking of Jake Livingston on Amazon
There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
This YA romance/horror slasher novel stars Makani Young, who left her past darkness behind in Hawaii to move into her grandmother’s house in Nebraska. Makani gets a chance to start over, and her new beau Ollie offers her a fresh start to have a healthy relationship. Then students at her high school keep getting picked off one by one by a murderer. As Makani, Ollie, and friends try to find the truth behind the killings, evil circles closer and closer. If you like this book, continue on to the companion read, The Woods Are Always Watching, for a YA horror series you’ll definitely want to check out.
How to read it: Purchase There’s Someone Inside Your House on Amazon
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
Love YA horror graphic novels? Try Through the Woods. This graphic novel from Emily Carroll puts fresh twists on five familiar tales. Each of which is detailed in gory, creepy, and vivid detail.
Here’s an excerpt:
(c) Emily Carroll, 2014
Through the Woods is the among the best horror books for teens and the kind of book to give you nightmares as the ghoulish, eerie images linger long after you’ve closed the book.
How to read it: Purchase Through the Woods on Amazon
Shutter by Courtney Alameda
In this terrifying tale, one of the best psychological horror books for young adults, Micheline Helsing has the unique abilities of a tetrachromat, someone who sees the auras of the dead. And as one of the last Van Helsings (in real life, the heroic Dr. Van Helsing was a character in Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Micheline specializes in exorcising monsters both corporeal and supernatural by capturing them on film. Micheline carries on her quest with the help of a few friends, including her crush, Ryder. But one day, things go awry, and Micheline and her buddies get infected with a curse that goes by the name “soulchain.” Now Micheline has seven days to exorcise herself and her colleagues or else risk death. Things get even more dire when her monster hunter father, Leonard Helsing, steps in, complicating the race to break the curse and live free.
How to read it: Purchase Shutter on Amazon
Slasher Girls & Monster Boys edited by April Genevieve Tucholke
I highlighted this short story anthology, certainly among the best YA horror books, in my list of the “30 Best Horror Short Story Books,” and it belongs here, too. The short stories in this scary anthology will make you sleep with the lights on, with contributions from YA powerhouse writers like Nova Ren Suma, Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, and Kendare Blake (whose Anna Dressed in Blood appeared earlier in this list of the best horror books for teens). If you want a quick hit of horror, this is the book for you.
How to read it: Purchase Slasher Girls & Monster Boys on Amazon
Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Lisa Sterle
Fans of YA horror graphic novels and comics will fall for Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall with illustrations by Lisa Sterle. New girl Becca bypasses bullying and is instantly welcomed into the most popular clique at the high school she’s recently transferred to. But then Becca realizes her new friends, Arianna, Marley, and Mandy have a secret… they’re werewolves, and they hunt boys who prey on innocent girls. Becca asks to be turned into a werewolf, too, and so begins her journey. When the crew kills Arianna’s evil boyfriend, the cops start looking for a serial killer on the loose. You’ll breeze through this one to find out what happens next.
How to read it: Purchase Squad on Amazon
Undead Girl Gang by Lilly Anderson
In this exciting read, Lily Anderson’s written a fun and funny horror story for the ages. Teen Wiccan Mila Floris is comfortable in her own skin as long as her bestie Riley is by her side. When three girls, including Riley, are killed, Mila suspects foul play. Harnessing her powers and the words of an ancient grimoire, Mila brings all three of her classmates back to life. While they have no memory of their murder, the new friends have seven days to find their killer before the spell wears off and they’re forced to go back to the grave. Riveting and heartfelt, Undead Girl Gang is one the best smart and sassy horror book for teens.
How to read it: Purchase Undead Girl Gang on Amazon
What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo
Our last entry in this list of the best horror books for teens is What Big Teeth, a creature feature you’ll want on your TBR. After being estranged from her family for years, Eleanor Zarrin flees boarding school after a horrific incident and returns home seeking comfort and healing. But once again Eleanor is reminded of her strange family, who are monsters that prowl the forest that surrounds the family estate and divine fortunes in the guts of killed birds. In order to survive, Eleanor has to accept her wild family…and the darkness within her.
