Book list
Horror stories
Some stories just set out to be a horror story, for the sole purpose of frightening you (see 'The Man Who Was Hate'), while others are really intended for other lists but also, incidentally, will frighten you to death and so find themselves in the horror list also (see The Scavenger's Tale).
All books
Demon Road by Derek Landy
If Amber's parents can catch her they're going to eat her. That's because they're demons...but so is Amber and she may be just a teeny bit smarter than they are.
Contagion by Teri Terry
Missing person hunt bumps into much bigger, sinister, deadly epidemic, end-of-the-world scenario. Seriously disturbing.
The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley
Haunted house. Or is it Michael himself who is being haunted?
Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley
Short stories of terror collected within a long story of terror. And quite surprisingly horrid.
The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud
Lockwood & Co prove themselves to be the best psychic investigations agency in London...eventually, maybe.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Can Katniss survive the appalling Hunger Games and unite the Districts against the Capitol?
Gone by Michael Grant
A world with no adults...just children, some with superpowers. How long will they last?
Gone by Michael Grant
A world with no adults...just children, some with superpowers. How long will they last?
Genesis by Bernard Beckett
Anaximander learns that there is nothing more human than to commit a sin.
Blood Hunters by Steve Voake
Ravening monsters predate mankind. Two boys save the situation.
Midwinter Lucie by Alan Porter
Martin Lewis, next in line of a long line of Martin Lewis's, who have all perished in the bell tower of the church at Midwinter Lucie. Can our Martin find out why...and prevent his own death?
Barnaby Grimes: Return of the Emerald Skull by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
More adventures with Barnaby Grimes as he runs errands across the city, through the alleys and over the rooftops. But there are dark forces to match himself against.
Barnaby Grimes: Curse of the Night Wolf by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Quick-witted tick-tock boy meets wolf on rooftops. Disposes of same. Solves wicked mystery. Unsung hero.
Fearless by Tim Lott
Locked away for no reason. Stripped of name, shaved of hair, dressed in grey. Little Fearless fights against the injustice for herself and all the other girls who aren't so brave.
The Death Collector by Justin Richards
Frankenstein-flavour murder mystery in Victorian smog-bound London, with a touch of the mad scientist thrown in.
Worm in the Blood by Thomas Bloor
A transformation tale of separation, isolation and despair. Bit more than your average teenage angst.
The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney
To be an apprenticespook Thomas Ward has to leave his old life behind him. And he has to sharpen up his wits too. But he's already well-equipped, being the seventh son of a seventh son...
Apocalypse by Tim Bowler
Shipwrecked and alone amongst savages, Kit learns that the opposite of despair is hope.
Underworld by Catherine MacPhail
Work as a team with your own worst enemy? Would you? Could you? If your life depended on it?
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Gothic horror fantasy. Coraline's got a job on, saving her parents, and herself, from the witch.
Going For Stone by Philip Gross
Star-struck, young, on the streets: they're all desperate to get to the Academy. But who, exactly, runs the Academy? And why?
The Dungeon by Lynne Reid Banks
'I am with you 'til you die'. Peony, the wretched slave girl, etches it into the dungeon wall, and finally, into McLennan's heart.
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding
Wych-hunter Thaniel Fox is not sure what to make of the beautiful Alaizabel Cray when he finds her lost among the ghouls and ghasts of the Old Quarter.
The Killer's Cousin by Nancy Werlin
David's a killer, by accident. He's nervous now. Nervous of ghosts, nervous of his strange cousin and the limits that she might push him to. But most of all, he's nervous of himself. A terrifying read.
The Angel Factory by Terence Blacker
Normal young boy finds he is surrounded by aliens intent on saving mankind from its own worst excesses. But is the cure worse than the disease?
Harpies by David Belbin
On holiday on a Greek island, Cassie becomes pre-occupied by the mythical harpies. Have they really come back to seduce the boys away, including her own brother, or is she just feeling left out of the action? And where is Ben anyway?
The Ghost Behind the Wall by Melvin Burgess
David roots around in the old service shafts of the flats where he lives, and disturbs something that would have been much better left alone.
The Beguilers by Kate Thompson
Rilka sets out on a quest to catch a beguiler and to understand its nature. And in doing so she learns a lot about her own nature too.
The Dogs by Mark Morris
What could be worse than losing your dogs somewhere out on the moor? Finding them again nine years later . . .
The Wolf-Sisters by Susan Price
Kenelm is sent on a quest for help from the Wood-People and when he meets the terrifying and beautiful Wolf-Sisters he is faced with the choice between obedience to his King and the liberty that he yearns for.
Clockwork or All Wound Up by Philip Pullman
Do you think you can sell your soul to the Devil, and get away with it?
The Man Who Was Hate by Paul Shipton
Hope and Danny, locked in a block of flats, with a monster who only has to breathe on you to paralyze you. Destiny awaits . . .
The Scavenger's Tale by Rachel Anderson
It's not enough that these fostered children are low-caste, abnormal, dysfunctional, living in unapproved temporary dwelling places and scavenge in skips for a living - someone wants their body parts too.
Boy in Darkness by Mervyn Peake
Most bizarre story of the lot. Compelling description of an evil lamb. How does he do that?