If you like your chillers set in bastions of privilege, deceit, and treachery--elite private schools; if you want the suspense high and the stakes higher, after you read my two latest recommendations you'll be putting me on your bestie list.
Sinclair Prep, the setting of Katie Zhao's How We Fall Apart, can claim to be number one on a number of fronts: debate championships, standardized test scores, university acceptance rates. They accept a very competitive or driven by parental pressure student body.
Jamie was the top student, a ruthless single minded competitor. The few times someone bested her something happened to them, leaving her triumphant. She was the girl everyone feared and envied...until at a school function the program is interrupted by a rogue slide: "I will end you. Jamie Ruan. Mark my words." And Jamie disappears.
Jamie had four best friends: Akil, Krystal, Alexander, and Nancy, the narrator. They are quite alarmed when an entity called
The Proctor makes the following post on the school's gossip app:
"Jamie has four former friends. Each friend has a secret. One day, Jamie goes missing. Which friend is guilty and deserves punishment?
a) the one who sunk the lowest to get highest
b) the one who ruined a girl three years ago
c) the one hiding a criminal
d) the one who traded conscience for grades
The clock is ticking. The Proctor is going to reveal their secrets one by one, potentially destroying their lives, unless the friends can stop them.
Chelsea Ichaso's They're Watching You is only for the hard core chiller affecianado. Unless you can deal with gruesome ancient rites, human sacrifice, and an underground labyrinth of deadly chambers I wouldn't open the book. But if you can...
...I've found you a new favorite.
Maren's roommate, Polly, has gone missing. The police have stopped looking for her, convinced that she's run away, needing a respite from academic pressures. Polly's parents, too, believe that. But Maren refuses to. A junior, she'd roomed with Polly since year one. And right before her disappearance she'd noticed some alarming changes in her behavior. So she's trying to solve the mystery of Polly's disappearance.
Going through Polly's possessions in an attempt to find clues, Maren finds an invitation to the top secret Gamemaster's Society. She decides to try to get in. Someone in the group might know where her friend is.
But when Maren is initiated into the society she discovers a hidden realm of privilege, power, cruelty, and evil. She'd better find Polly before the ritual that will require a human sacrifice.
Either of these high suspense narratives would make a purrrfect 🎁 for a YA chiller lover.
On a purrrsonal note, I'm done with homework for this semester. Last night was Academic Showcase (which I aced) and my program's lovely Christmas 🎄 party.
A great big shout out goes out to all who participated.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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