YA Thriller and Horror Books Summer 2026

From the New York Times bestselling author of the School for Good and Evil series comes a renegade thriller, about a teenager elected President of the United States, sparking a global revolution of young leaders—until one of them is murdered and he’s the prime suspect.

For fans of The Last Bookstore on Earth and Compound Fracture, a heart-pounding rural horror following a genderqueer teen who survives a near-apocalypse, only to be hunted by a mysterious monster whose very existence is entwined with their own.

A native Hawaiian teen travels to a luxury island resort in search of her missing twin and uncovers the dark side of paradise, in this YA supernatural thriller that’s Mexican Gothic meets She is a Haunting.

The media believes they have uncovered all the royal scandals about the “killer princess,” but there is one game-changing secret remaining that will take the crown in the final book of the Royal Blood series, which Jennifer Lynn Barnes calls “a darker Princess Diaries.”

Two best friends set out to find a missing socialite in the hopes of claiming a hefty reward–but what happens when their investigation forces them to question both their morals and their friendship in this twisty mystery?

In a small town haunted by unsolved disappearances, a teen with a secret ability must unravel a deadly mystery — before she becomes the next victim.

The highly anticipated young adult thriller about a serial killer’s daughter and her race to solve the crimes of her family’s twisted past before it’s too late—from E. Kennedy, aka New York Times bestselling romance author Elle Kennedy!

Three girls bond in unsettling ways when a grizzly starts picking off known abusers in their secluded mountain town in this darkly funny, deeply feminist novel for fans of books like The Honeys and Wilder Girls.

Willa has no memory of anything before arriving at Dorsey House, and when she meets two sinister girls who seem to already know her, she slowly begins to lose her grip on what is real . . . and what is a lie. A haunting contemporary speculative thriller for fans of Kill Creatures and We Were Liars.

From the author of Escape Room comes a thrilling whodunnit. Three people all confess to murdering the same person, they all have motives, but only one is the true killer.

Guess who?

A working-class young woman would kill to become assistant to Paris’s top modiste, but she must first seek vengeance against those responsible for the death of her family, in this thrilling historical horror from New York Times bestselling author Erica Ridley!

Last year, Nan’s three best friends ventured into the canyons near their small town and never returned. Now one of them is back, and Nan can’t believe it…because she’s the one who killed them. From the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls comes another dark thriller about friendship, jealousy, desire, and revenge, with a twist ending that needs to be talked about.

From the author of The Revenge Game comes a twisty YA thriller about the underbelly of Manhattan’s high society, where nothing is off-limits—not even murder.

For fans of the sports backdrop and queer cast of Heated Rivalry comes a fresh and darkly funny 90s murder mystery about one high school’s net of lies that begin to unravel when a star lacrosse player winds up dead.

A teen girl’s attempt at social reinvention takes a deadly turn when a co-worker disappears—and she learns she may have been the last person to see the missing girl—in this razor-sharp, murderously funny thriller debut.