Halloween books for teens and young adults

Horror enthusiast Charley is determined to keep a low profile at her new school, until someone starts killing off her senior class - and the ghosts of her former classmates are adamant that she solves their murders.

Despite being constantly overlooked in the elite and cut-throat world of the Parisian ballet, Laure will do anything to prove that a Black girl can take centre stage. To level the playing field, Laure ventures deep into the depths of the Catacombs and strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood. The primordial power Laure gains promises influence and adoration, everything she's dreamed of and worked toward. With retribution on her mind, she leaves a trail of broken bodies on her climb to stardom. But even as undeniable as she is, Laure is not the only monster around. And her vicious desires make her a perfect target for slaughter.

All monsters and heroes have beginnings. This is mine. Sixteen-year-old Manisha is no stranger to monsters - she's been running from them for years. Seventeen-year-old Pratyush is a famed slayer of monsters, one of the King's most prized warriors and a frequent visitor to the floating temples. When Pratyush and Manisha meet, each sees in the other the possibility to chart a new path. Alternating between Manisha's and Pratyush's perspectives, Sajni Patel weaves together lush language, high stakes, and page-turning suspense, demanding an answer to the question 'what does it truly mean to be a monster?'

Regent Academy is known for molding teens into leaders, but its history is far more nefarious. Seventeen-year-old Douglas Jones wants nothing to do with Regent's king-making; he's just trying to survive. But then a student is murdered and, for some reason, by the next day no one remembers him having ever existed, except for Douglas and the groundskeeper's son, Everett Everley. In his determination to uncover the truth, Douglas awakens a horror hidden within the forest, unearthing secrets that have been buried for centuries. A vengeful creature wants blood as payment for a debt more than 300 years in the making - or it will swallow all of Winslow in darkness. And for the first time in his life, Douglas might have a chance to grasp the one thing he's always felt was missing: power. But if he's not careful, he will find out that power has a tendency to corrupt absolutely everything.

In Adam Cesare's terrifying young adult debut, Quinn Maybrook finds herself caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress - that just may cost her life. Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don't know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can. Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It's a fight that looks like it will destroy the town.

Face your fear - or become your nightmare. Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, nineteen-year-old Ness has been terrified - terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of ending up like her sister. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear. Whether that means becoming a Nightmare that's monstrous only in appearance, or transforming into a twisted, unrecognisable creature that terrorises the city, no one is safe. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among the Friends of the Restful Soul, a questionable organisation that may or may not be a cult. But being a member of this maybe-cult has a price.

A small town in the middle of Ireland, a string of unexplained deaths and a monster on the loose. Better call in the experts. When Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain drive into Termoncara, they discover a town with a dark past and a people haunted by their own secrets. There is a creature stalking the streets - a creature who delights in cruelty, who feeds off the little hatreds, who grows stronger with every drop of blood spilled.

A heartwarming story of friendship and demonic possession. The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since 4th grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act different. She's moody. She's irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she's nearby. Abby's investigation leads her to some startling discoveries - and by the time their story reaches its terrifying conclusion, the fate of Abby and Gretchen will be determined by a single question: Is their friendship powerful enough to beat the devil?

Devon is always being left behind by her genius twin sister, Drew. At this point, it's a fact of life. But Devon has one last plan before Drew leaves for college a whole year early - The Best Summer Ever. After committing to the bit a little too much, the twins and their chaotic circle of friends learn why you don't ever mess with a Ouija board if you want to actually survive the Best Summer Ever, and soon find themselves being hunted down by - a demon? But while there's no mistaking the creeping, venomous figure is not from around here, their method doesn't feel very demonic at all. In fact, it's downright human - going after them in typical slasher movie kill order. And that means Devon, the blonde, is up first and her decade-long crush, Yaya, is the Final Girl who must kill or be killed to end the cycle.

You've heard of Frankenstein's monster, you've heard of Dracula, but have you heard of the Villa Diodati? Eve, Griffin, Hal and Ren embark on a summer they'll never forget at the birthplace of all things Gothic. The summer is beset by mysterious happenings, as the monsters they create begin to clamber out of their minds. Events rise to a horrible climax when, on a dark and stormy night, one of the villa's guests is found dead and each of our foursome becomes a suspect in a gruesome murder. It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime. But when the stuff of nightmares becomes their reality, will they make it out alive?