Five years ago, Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. Case closed—or so everyone in Fairview believes. But Pip remembers Sal differently. When she reexamines the case for her senior project, she uncovers dark secrets that could prove his innocence. Someone in Fairview wants the truth to stay buried—and the closer Pip gets to uncovering it, the more danger she’s in. Available in deluxe editions!
YA should first and foremost always be written for young adults. That doesn’t mean, however, that adults shouldn’t also read YA—even when they’ve crossed into an age where they would never get into a time machine that went back to being a teenager (IYKYK).
Part of being a teenager is navigating a changing body and world while being expected to act like an adult, as you’re treated like a child and have yet to fully develop your prefrontal cortex. It’s a lot, and every adult has been through their own unique version of it. The latter makes it especially baffling that so many adults look down on teenagers, and YA books, though maybe at least some of that is due in part to wanting to distance themselves from who they once were as teens.
But it’s not distance that adults need, but rather an embracing of their past messy selves. The safety of reading books allows space to explore a changing world, different from their own coming-of-age years, with complicated family dynamics, friendships, difficult topics, and much more. Many adults can benefit from the care that goes into writing important themes in YA and also the reminder of what it was like to navigate the world without the wisdom that only comes from an accumulation of years lived.
Then there is the element of YA that is just fun and entertaining—something genre books like mystery and thrillers provide in spades. The YA mystery and thriller genre has excellent books written for young adults that understand and love the crime genre in a way that adults will deeply appreciate, from revenge plots to a retelling of a Gen X classic.
I suggest carving out some reading time in your schedule, because you’re not going to want to put down these YA mystery and thrillers.
6 of the Best YA Mysteries & Thrillers for Adult Readers
Sadie by Courtney Summers
With the amount of adults who listen to true crime podcasts, seek revenge stories, and want their books to “destroy them,” it has never been a mystery why this book was such a hit almost a decade ago. Especially since Summers brilliantly wrote a book that you’ll white-knuckle your way through while keeping the violence just off the page.
Sadie is a smart-mouthed, stubborn young woman who has no money or friends and a stutter that makes communicating with strangers quite difficult. None of those things is going to keep her from setting off to find her little sister’s killer in order to kill him. Complicating things further is a radio personality who started a podcast about Sadie and her sister’s murder, who is trying to find Sadie.
Bonus: there is an adaptation of Sadie in the works!
This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux
Listen, the ’80s were 20 years ago, and the ’90s were ten years ago—this is a hill I will die on. Fellow Gen X’s understand and will definitely appreciate the late ‘80s setting of this murder mystery. It’s also fun to go back to pre-camera cell phones and have to solve a mystery like the olden days.
Despite the time period, this story is timely: it dives into the panics of the ’80s/’90s, which are making a hell of a comeback as of late, along with loneliness and isolation. Set in an all-girls school, the lead in a cool modern take of Romeo & Juliet is found dead, suicide suspected. But Abby, a new student struggling to fit in, has questions about the death…
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
In 2020, Reese’s Book Club began to also pick YA books—starting with You Should See Me In A Crown—and in the spring of 2021, she selected Angeline Boulley’s debut.
This is a great blend of mystery, thriller, FBI procedural, and coming-of-age that navigates themes of belonging, trauma, finding your voice, and violence toward Native women as readers follow 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine. She loves science and hockey and has just made a huge life decision to go to a local college rather than university to stay near her recently ill GrandMary. Daunis is navigating the feeling of being between two places, her wealthy white family’s town and the Ojibwe reservation, when she witnesses a horrific crime. Wanting to help her Ojibwe community, she decides to go undercover for the FBI…
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson
Two important points: first, this is a horror novel, but with mass appeal for mystery and thriller readers (I’ll explain in a second). Second, I’m gonna be controversial, but I’m sticking with it because I am correct: this is a retelling of Carrie, and with my whole chest, I think it is better than the original.
Back to the mystery and thriller elements, the book is partially written in the format of a true crime podcast that is trying to solve a mystery: how did almost an entire town end up murdered after its first integrated prom? You’re also taken back to 2014 to see how we got to one of the survivors declaring, “Maddy did it.”
Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans
Currently, many adults’ obsession with taking away transgender and nonbinary people’s rights to exist is gross, absurd, and “flames, on the side of my face” rage-inducing. Instead of amplifying their hatred, read great books written by trans and nonbinary authors to see the reality of their lived experiences.
Fans of amateur sleuths and the trope of accidentally witnessing a murder while being a nosy neighbor will be delighted with this fun and funny murder mystery. Bianca Torre is currently dealing with so many anxieties that they’ve made a list of them. They’ve also recently joined a bird-watching group. But maybe they’re doing more spying than birding with binoculars, because they end up watching their neighbor get murdered. Problem? The police label it a suicide, forcing Bianca, with the help of their best friend, to solve the murder mystery!
The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis
If you’re ever worried that YA won’t feel dark enough or will feel like you’re being spoken down to, you can rest assured that Mindy McGinnis’ books are brutal; there’s no hand-holding here.
What this YA duology does have is an exploration of family secrets, class, anger, and revenge. Tress Montor decides to get revenge on her ex-best friend, convinced that Felicity Turnado knows who graffitied her home, fed her dog to an alligator, and what happened to her parents. How exactly will she get this revenge? By forcing a confession out of her by slowly bricking her in à la Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado.” Claustrophobia inducing much?
Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf and see 2026 and 2027 releases! Until next time, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Goodreads, Litsy, and Multitudes Contained.
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