| |
Flop down and Flip the pages!
The Eyes Have
It?
Mystery, Suspense & Thrillers
|
Student recommended
titles. |
|
Staff recommended titles. |
|
Award winner |
Featured Title
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009
 |
 |
Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine |
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults 2009 - School Library Journal Review: /* Starred Review */ Gr 8-11Sixteen-year-old Lucas idealizes his father, Pete, who disappeared when the boy was six. Mum says they were abandoned, although Lucas makes excuses for his dad. On entering a minicab office one day, he finds himself drawn to an urn containing the ashes of a woman named Violet, which someone left in a cab years before. Part mystery, part magical realism, part story of personal growth, and in large part simply about a funny teenager making light of his and his family's pain, this short novel is engaging from start to finish. It feels like Frank Cottrell Boyce's Framed (2006) or Millions (2004, both HarperCollins) for a slightly older crowd—especially in the all-too-human quirky family members and their willingness to employ creative methods to secure their ends as well as in the contemporary middle-class London setting. Throughout, Lucas's tongue-in-cheek lists (e.g., "good reasons to make friends with a dead lady in an urn") relieve the seriousness of his family's situation and his relatively mature revelations about them and himself. Lucas steadily unravels the two mysteries--the deceased Violet and the missing Pete--and leaves readers with a highly satisfying surprise inside the final knot. Neither too heavy nor too fluffy. Rhona Campbell, Washington, DC Public Library --Julie Roach (Reviewed April 1, 2008) (School Library Journal, vol 54, issue 4, p152) |
*Read
reviews and find more books like this one in NoveList ask your student for the password list.
You can also check amazon for similar reviews.
Back to top
The List
Titles in blue are new to the list. Titles in green are books by Brazilian authors.
 |
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell -
In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, smitten by the handsome young ex-GI who seems to have a secret hold on Joe, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life and that of her family forever. |
Open
Season - the
first it this series,by C. J Box - "In advance reviews, Open Season has been pronounced "something special," ( Booklist ), and it
lives up to the billing. It is not C.J. Box's skill at plotting (the story
of greedy business interests and local corruption is fine, but familiar),
but rather the character of hero Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden, that
makes this a series kickoff to remember" (Penzler Pick). |
 |
Nathan Fox: Dangerous Times by Lynn Brittney School Library Journal Review: Gr 6–9— Nathan Fox, orphaned gypsy and actor extraordinaire is recruited by England's spymaster general, Sir Francis Walsingham, to enter the service of Queen Elizabeth I. The 13-year-old is to accompany seasoned agent and ladies' man John Pearce on a mission to Venice in order to form an alliance with Italy against Spain. Nathan soon learns that his older sister, Marie, is a spy, as is his friend Will Shakespeare. Set in 1587, this novel covers a largely undocumented period in Shakespeare's life, allowing Brittney plenty of leeway to develop a story that places the boy in the position of intelligence gatherer for the playwright as well. Nathan is first sent for training in the art of defense. This portion of the plot, though necessary, drags a bit and may have readers jumping ahead to the "real action." Then John, Marie, and Nathan, under assumed identities, set off to Venice to meet, among others, general Othello and Desdemona. Through the interplay of the characters, readers are treated to a rich telling of the story of Othello. The author masterfully creates and sustains a mood of suspense and intrigue through the use of action and dialogue and builds strong characters. Nathan grows from a boy actor into a man as he witnesses firsthand the horrors of war and becomes embroiled in betrayal and murder plots. Brittney also brings to the surface relevant issues of gang violence, religious persecution, and discrimination. As the subtitle foretells, this is Nathan Fox's first mission, so readers can look forward to further adventures.—Wendy Scalfaro, G. Ray Bodley High School Library, Fulton, NY --Wendy Scalfaro (Reviewed November 1, 2008) (School Library Journal, vol 54, issue 11, p116) |
 |
 |
The
Da Vinci Code: A Novel by Dan Brown- Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and
French cryptologist Sophie Neveu work to solve the murder of an elderly
curator of the Louvre, a case which leads to clues hidden in the works
of Da Vinci and a centuries-old secret society. |
| To
Shield the Queen by Fiona Buckley - "A lively mystery series kickoff set
in 1560...In her first mystery, former journalist and editor Buckley shows
a deft hand with strong characterization and creates a plot that spins
merrily and wickedly through palace, manor house and intensely beautiful
countryside....A promising series debut" (Publishers Weekly). |
 |
Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy 2007 - "Cassidy masterfully builds tension and jolts readers with plot
twists. She evokes sympathy for a troubled child who becomes a teenager
with a grim future and raises questions about who is responsible when
a ten-year-old commits a violent crime. Compelling, thought-provoking
crime fiction" (Kirkus). |
| Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - The story brings together a remarkable set of characters, each
a secretive soul, for a journey on the fabled Orient Express train as
it travels from Istanbul to Paris. On hand to resolve the murder of an
American passenger is Hercule Poirot, the dapper Belgian detective. |
| Curiousity
Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement - "On
Siesta Key, near Sarasota, Florida, the story features Dixie Hemingway,
whose family tragedy drove her from the police force and into the bars.
Still healing, Dixie is clean and working again, only this time as a pet
sitter. When a dead man is found inside one of her client's homes, Dixie
must get involved with police work again, this time as an outsider"
(Booklist). |
| The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession by Paulo Coelho - The narrator
is searching for his missing wife, Esther, a journalist who fled Iraq
in the runup to the present war, only to disappear from Paris. |
Diamonds
in the Shadow by Caroline Cooney,
2007 - "Crackling language and nailbiting cliffhangers provide an
easy way in to the novel's big ideas, transforming topics that can often
seem distant and abstract into a grippingly immediate reading experience"
(
Publishers Weekly). |
| After the First Death by Robert Cormier - They've hijacked a school
bus, taken the children and the son of a general. Who will be the next
to die? |
| The
Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis- "If you want to start at the beginning of Davis's ingenious detective
series set in ancient Rome, this is your chance. In his first case, Marcus
Didius Falco investigates a murder, becomes a slave in a British silver
mine, and rescues a senator's feisty daughter, Helena Justina. Christian
Rodska's performance keeps the pace at breakneck speed and the dialogue
sharp and snappy" (AudioFile). |
 |
 |
Bog Child by
Siobhan Dowd - In 1981, the height of Ireland's "Troubles," eighteen-year-old Fergus is distracted from his upcoming A-level exams by his imprisoned brother's hunger strike, the stress of being a courier for Sinn Fein, and dreams of a murdered girl whose body he discovered in a bog. (Novelist) |
 |
London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd-
Ted and Kat lose their cousin Salim at the London Eye sightseeing attraction, "the largest observation wheel ever built." Given a free ticket by a stranger, Salim enters the ride, but he never emerges. Guilty about their part in the bungled outing, the siblings trace scraps of information that illuminate the boy's disappearance. (School Library Journal) |
| The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - Choose a few of his most famous stories: "The Hound of the
Baskervilles", "A Study in Scarlet", "The Adventure
of the Speckled Band", "The Final Problem." |
| I Know What You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan - Four teenagers who have desperately tried to conceal their responsibility
for a hit-and-run accident are pursued by a mystery person seeking revenge. |
| Drawing
a Blank by Daniel Ehrenhaft - "Once
again, Ehrenhaft has created a sympathetic and hapless teen antihero who
manages to retain his sense of humor even when the chips are way, way
down. In this outing, the plotline zigzags from a posh New England boarding
school to the site of Carlton Dunne's father's kidnapping in Manhattan
to a rescue mission undertaken in rural Scotland" (School Library
Journal). |
|
The
Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides - Set in the author's native Michigan in the early 1970s, the plot
revolves around a backward-looking quest as the male narrator and his
pals try to understand the Lisbon family and the five bizarre deaths of
the teenage daughters. |
|
The
Last Shot by John Feinstein - "A
brisk novel set in the madness of the NCAA's Final Four. Exceptionally
knowledgeable about the college basketball world, Feinstein has a fine
time lampooning broadcaster Dick Vitale and the bureaucrats who populate
the NCAA itself. The blackmailing plot that unfolds over the course of
Final Four weekend threatens a student-athlete who isn't a student, implicates
an ethics professor with no ethics, and otherwise introduces to young
readers the sleaze beneath the glitter of college basketball's biggest
show. |
The
Angel of Death: A Forensic Mystery. by Alane Ferguson - "Cameryn
Mahoney, the teenaged forensic detective from The Christopher Killer (Viking, 2006), continues her adventures as assistant to her father,
the county coroner of Silverton, CO. Her latest case involves the death
of a favorite teacher, whose body is found by her classmate Kyle"
(School Library Journal). |
| Fade
to Black by Alex Finn - Finn
takes aim at bullying once again, "This time HIV-positive Alejandro
Crusan, a Florida high-school junior, is the target. After being attacked
in his car by a baseball bat-wielding teenager, Alex is hospitalized while
recovering from his injuries" (Booklist). |
| Pursuit: An Inspector Espinoza Mystery by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza - When his daughter disappears and a patient emerges as the prime
suspect, a troubled psychiatrist comes to Espinosa for help, in the fifth
novel in the beguiling Brazilian crime series. |
| and |
A Window in Copacabana
Espinosa, chief of the 12th Precinct, doesn't have much to go
on when he investigates the murders of policeemen. And when the body of
a woman connected to one of the dead cops is found on the sidewalk below
her apartment window, things get even more complicated, as a reputed "witness"-the
wife of a high-ranking government official--becomes obsessed with the
case, and with Espinosa. |
 |
Something Rotten: A Horatio Wilkes Mystery by Alan Gratz -
Gratz is cornering the niche market of novels containing dissimilar topics. Here he combines Hamlet and hardboiled detective pulp. During a vacation from their academy, Horatio Wilkes accompanies his buddy Hamilton Prince to Denmark, Tenn. Just two months after his father passed away under suspicious circumstances, Hamilton's Uncle Claude has married Hamilton's mother. Claude now controls the Elsinore Paper Plant, a multibillion dollar company blatantly polluting the Copenhagen River. Horatio, with a knack for investigating, is determined to expose Claude's corruption while Hamilton, dismayed by what he believes is his mother's betrayal, drowns himself in alcohol. (Kirkus) |
|
The
Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet - Private eye Sam Spade tracks down a statuette
that is worth a fortune. |
 |
Blood
Brothers by S. A. Harazin,
2007 - " In an act of self-defense, Clay pushes Joey, causing him to hit
his head hard on the cement floor. Joey recovers, yet the next day slips
into a coma, and now Clay is the police's prime suspect. This compelling
story, told in diary entries that cover hours and days, never loses the
pace as Clay races to discover what happened during Joey's last day. The
anti-drug message is never didactic, and the story will grab readers from
the first sentence" (Kirkus). |
| Snatched:
The Bloodwater Mysteries by Hautman, Pete & Mary Logue c2006 - "Two award-winning authors team up in this first entry in
the Bloodwater Mysteries series. Set in Bloodwater, Minnesota, the story
stars another team--twohigh-school students, a boy science nerd and a
gril investigator for the school paper. Together, they have the right
skills to question authority and pry into odd events" (Booklist) |
 |
Shock Point by April Henry -
The wicked stepmother motif is altered to wicked stepfather in this contemporary chiller. Cassie, 16, has suffered a year of upheavals: her parents divorce, her mothers remarriage and new pregnancy, and the discovery that her stepfather's psychiatric practice revolves around an experimental drug that may have led to the suicides of several of his teen patients. |
| Holmes
on the Range by Steve Hockensmith -
How about a western and mystery, "The Amlingmeyer brothers--Big Red,
our narrator, and Old Red--grabbed a job at the mysterious Bar-VR Ranch
to avoid a winter without food or money. One of the hands at the ranch
is found with a bullet in his brain and another ends up seemingly trampled,
but no one can recall a stampede" (Booklist). |
| The
Falconer's Knot by Mary Hoffman - "Sixteen-year-old
Silvano, a handsome nobleman, admires Angelica, a local merchant's wife,
from afar. Then Angelica's husband is murdered, and Silvano becomes the
prime suspect. Until his innocence is proven, Silvano takes refuge in
a ranciscan friary, where he enjoys making pigments for local artists
and finds himself attracted to a lovely novice at the adjoining abbey"
(Booklist) |
|
Spirits
That walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - "College
freshman Kim suffers from dark bouts of depression that are caused by
a viri. Fortunately, her new roommate, Jaimie, belongs to a secret clan
of magicians and is determined to help. Joined by a spirit guide in the
shape of a lizard and Jaimie's three cousins, the young women set out
to discover the identity of the elusive viri" (School Library Journal). |
| Still
River by Harry Hunsicker - "In
a Dallas so desolate, hot, and gritty it's a wonder anyone chooses to
live there, low-rent, highly skilled PI Lee Henry swald investigates the
disappearance of an old high-school classmate. Oswald's partner, dying
of cancer, asks him to watch over his beautiful, intelligent niece, a
cop-turned-process-server with a knack for psychology and feng shui"
(Booklist). |
| Sent
to Her Grave: A bath and body mystery by India Ink - "The
pseudonymous Ink's first bath and body mystery introduces an appealing,
credible heroine. In the wake of a failed marriage, 31-year-old Persia
Rose Vanderbilt returns home to scenic Gull Harbor, Wash., where she helps
out at her independent aunt Florence's bath and beauty shop, Venus Envy"
(Publishers Weekly). |
| Bad
Kitty by Michele Jaffe c2006 - Meet Jasmine, forensic supersleuth, aspiring Model Daughter,
and friend to animals. One second she's trying to enjoy her Vegas Vacation,
the next she's tangled up in an outrageous adventure and has to outwit
a crazed killer before he ends ten lives, one of them her own. (Book
Jacket description) |
|
Cold
Dish by Craig Johnson - "A
multilayered whodunit mystery, stands out in its genre. Shades of racism,
mysticism, and revenge give the novel nuance; dead-on dialogue, good-natured
humor, and flesh-and-blood characters, including the foul-mouthed deputy
Victorian "Vic" Moretti, give it life" (Bookmarks Mag.). |
| The Beekeeper's Apprentice, or, on the Segregation of the Queen by Laurie King - Retired Sherlock Holmes meets his intellectual match in 15-year-old
Mary Russell, who challenges him to investigate yet another case. |
|
Carrie by Stephen King - Story of a shy high school girl who discovers she has telekenetic
powers and takes revenge on her tormentors. |
| The Green
Mile by Stephen King - The story of a convicted killer on death row and one of
the prison guards assigned there. |
| When
Dad Killed Mom by Julius Lester - "The
title sums up precisely the plot: the chief psychologist at a small New
England college publicly shoots his wife. The ensuing emotional, social,
academic, and legal events are presented as they are experienced by the
shy, artistic son and his slightly older sister, who is deep in the throes
of a tumultuous adolescence" (School Library Journal). |
 |
Spellman
Files by Lisa Lutz,
2007 - This first title in a new series about the eccentric Spellman family
will be a welcome addition to mystery collections of all sizes, and sure
to be enjoyed by fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum and Meg Cabot's
Heather Wells. |
| Buried by Robin MacCready - "MacCready spins a tantalizingly creepy web of Claudine's disintegration,
told through letters to her absent mother, dream sequences, and flashbacks.
The shocking but wholly believable climax is a moving ending to this cautionary,
empathetic story of codependency. For another book about a teen raising
herself, suggest Ron Koertge's Margaux with an X " (Booklist). |
| Lulu
Dark and the Summer of the Fox by Bennett Madison - "Once
again Lulu Dark, reluctant girl detective, finds herself in the middle
of an increasingly complicated Halo City mystery. Age discrimination is
at the root of a number of kidnappings as a group of out-of-work actresses
joins in a plot to get them movie roles" (School Library Journal). |
| Acceleration by McNamee, Graham - c2003 Edgar Allen Poe Award - "Seventeen-year-old
Duncan is haunted by the fact that he is unable to save a drowning girl
just a few yards away one fateful afternoon the previous September. This
summer he has a job at the Toronto subway working underground at the lost
and found where he uncovers, amid the piles of forgotten junk, an opportunity
to exorcise his own quility demons" (School
Library Journal) |
 |
Bonechiller by Graham McNamee -
In this supernatural thriller set in a remote Canadian town in the dead of winter, four friends encounter a cannibalistic creature that is hunting and killing teens. Out late at night, Danny, the narrator, is stung by the terrible monster and it begins to stalk his nightmares. As he becomes increasingly and mysteriously ill, he realizes that his life is in danger. (Booklist) |
| Payback by Andy McNab c2006 - As teenage suicide bombers terrorize England,
seventeen-year-old Danny tries to help his grandfather, an ex-SAS explosives
expert falsely accused of being a traitorous spy by the government's intelligence
agencies. (Novelist) |
|
Labyrinth by Kate Moss
- "Labyrinth is a "women's" adventure
story because, presumably, it showcases a strong female cast or, rather,
a cast of strong females: two heroines, separated by 800 years, who find
themselves pitted against a pair of glamorous, green-eyed female villains"
(Washington Post). |
| Pale
As the Dead by Fiona Mountain - "Karen
Cass brings just the right tone to this pleasant English mystery about
a modern-day photographer's model whose disappearance may, or may not,
be linked the death of nineteenth-century painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti's
wife. Genealogical detective Natasha Blake is determined to solve the
conundrum, and Cass gives her a likable style and spirited energy that
make us certain she will succeed" (AudioFile). |
| Are You in the House Alone? by Richard Peck -
A sixteen-year-old girl with a steady boyfriend suddenly begins receiving
threatening phone calls while she is babysitting and anonymous notes in
her high school locker. |
| The
Queen's Man: A medieval mystery by Sharon Penman - "Who killed the goldsmith on the Winchester road? And why? Justin
deQuincy, bastard son of a bishop who refuses to acknowledge him, finds
a letter to the queen on the dead man's body and takes it to Eleanor of
Aquitaine, who is holding the English throne for her son Richard Lionheart.
The letter brings the news that Richard is alive, but imprisoned by the
Holy Roman Emperor" (School Library Journal). |
|
|
The
Night My Sister Went Missing by Carol Plum-Ucci - c2006 - "A
shot rings out at a beach party. A girl falls backward--or dives forward--into
the water and disappears. Her older brother, Kurt, remains in the police
station all night anxious for word and spying on those who come to give
their statements" (Booklist). |
| Blood
Hunt: A novel by Ian Rankin . - "This
globe-trotting tale delivers more traditional thrills than his previous
novels. Gordon Reeve is an ex-SAS soldier who now makes his living training
weekend warriors in rural Scotland. Told that his brother has committed
suicide in California, Reeve goes to the funeral and quickly decides that
the investigative reporter was murdered" (Booklist). |
| The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin -
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely
assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before
they can claim their inheritance. |
| Seven
Deadly Wonders by Matthew Rielly - "a
small international team of commandos, plus a scientist and a 10-year-old
girl, dash around the world in a retrofitted Boeing 747. Their objective:
to navigate through ancient traps set by an Egyptian architect and find
the far-flung, long-lost Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and, with
them, the seven pieces of the golden capstone of the Great Pyramid of
Cheops" (Booklist). |
|
Spellbound by Nora Roberts -
Leave it to number-one bestselling author Nora Roberts to spin a tale
that blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy, modern-day mishaps
and ancient curses, obsession and undying passion. |
| Hell
Phone by William Sleator c2006 - Seventeen-year-old Nick buys a used cell phone only to call his
girlfriend, but strange and desperate people keep calling--one of them
a denizen of Hell --begging for or demanding his help. Novelist |
| The
Ruins by Scott Smith - "Two
American couples just out of college head to Mexico for a sun- and tequila-filled
vacation. They befriend some like-minded Greek tourists and a German man
whose brother has followed an archaeologist to the site of her dig"
(School Library Journal). |
|
Fake
ID by Walter Sorrells - "Sorrells, Edgar Award-winning
author of legal thrillers for adults, brings his expertise to a compelling
suspense story for teens. Chastity Pureheart, newly settled in High Hopes,
Alabama, is absolutely in the dark about her name and why she and her
mother keep packed suitcases by the front door wherever they live, as
if they may need to move in an instant" (Booklist). |
|
Spy
Goddess: Book One, Live and Let Shop by Michael Spradin - "Rachel
Buchanan, 15, is Blackthorn Academy's newest student. Arrested in California
for grand theft auto, the wealthy teen is sent to this Pennsylvania boarding
school to avoid a sentence in juvenile detention. It is here that Rachel's
life changes forever. Blackthorn Academy is no ordinary boarding school,
and Jonathon Kim is no ordinary headmaster" (School Library Journal). |
| Dracula by Bram Stoker -
The infamous Transylvanian count makes his way to London to find new victims
to satisfy his need for human blood. |
|
Blue is for Nightmare by Laurie Faria Stolarz - It started with emails and phone calls
but when someone leaves white lillies for Stacey she remembers that she
has nightmares about the flowers that precede a murder. |
| Some
Danger Involved: A novel by Will Thomas - "Modeled
after the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but with a verve all its own,
this debut mystery introduces a likable pair of sleuths and explores the
Jewish quarter of Victorian London. Fresh, self-effacing Thomas Llewelyn
is a plucky lad down on his luck (he was booted out of Oxford and served
eight months in prison for petty theft) when he becomes the unlikely assistant
to idiosyncratic Cyrus Barker, a patently Holmesian private detective
with an enigmatic background in China" (Publishers Weekly). |
| Thief
in Retreat: A Sister Agatha Mystery by Aimee Thurlo & David Thrurlo - "A
former investigative reporter, Sister Agatha has more than her fair share
of spiritual challenges as an extern, a nun responsible for her cloistered
order's dealings with the outside world. Still, she's instantly intrigued
when the archbishop requests she discreetly investigate the odd disappearances
of valuable religious folk art from The Retreat, a former New Mexico monastery-turned-upscale-inn"
(Amazon). |
 |
Remembering
Raquel by Vivian Vande Velde c2007 - (Edgar Award Wininning Author) - "The book is perfect for reluctant
readers; its short chapters and dramatic premise will appeal to both boys
and girls, while the surprises revealed through the thoughts of those
who knew (or merely knew of) Raquel will make students think about the
coincidental possibilities that propel their lives forward???and have
the potential to bring them to an end" (School
Library Journal). |
|
The
Invisisble by Mats Wahl - "This
taut police procedural, full of foreshadowing and suspense, opens as Hilmer,
a 15-year-old boy in a small Swedish town, realizes that he has become
invisible and is believed missing. The focus soon shifts to Fors, a policeman
brought in to investigate the case" (Booklist). |
|
 |
Such
a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess, 2007"Wiess has created a spunky heroine?tough, darkly humorous, yet achingly
vulnerable. Considering herself "damaged goods," Meredith still refuses
to be a victim, and her ultimate transformation into a kind of avenging
angel makes for a nail-biter of an ending" (Kirkus). "Though
disturbing in what Meredith had to endure, it was intriguing and a page-turner." Ms. Morgan |
| Maisie
Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear - "Maisie is 14 when her mother dies, and she must go into service
to help her father make ends meet. Her prodigious intellect and the fact
that she is sneaking into the manor library at night to read Hume, Kierkegaard,
and Jung alert Lady Rowan to the fact that she has an unusual maid. She
arranges for Maisie to be tutored, and the girl ultimately qualifies for
Cambridge" (School Library Journal). |
| The Mark Twain Murders by Lawrence Yep -
In the summer of 1864, a teen-age boy meets reporter Mark Twain in San
Francisco after a murder, and agrees to help him get the story. |
Back to top
|
