Pulse-Pounding Mysteries and Thrillers for 8th Graders

Chloe Chang lives a boring life in Oklahoma — with her busy single mom and her two best friends — where she loves watching K-dramas. But when her best friends gift her a 23-and-me test kit for her birthday, things take a dramatic turn. She finds out that her father was a son of the Noh family, a prestigious family in Seoul, South Korea, and before she knows it, she’s off to meet them for the first time. Unfortunately, she’s thrust into a web of lies as she realizes that the family might have ulterior motives for reaching out to her. The Noh Family is a suspenseful, dramatic, and highly engaging YA book about Korean high society, family drama, and finding your voice.

This book is FANTASTIC — and the audiobook is even better (a top-class full cast audiobook that feels like a movie). When the principal of the Urban Promise Prep school is murdered in his office, three boys are high on the suspect list: J.B., Trey, and Ramon. They were either in the wrong place or have the wrong reputation or affiliation. Now, they must join forces, along with their loved ones, to find the real killer. I’d hand this to readers ages 14 and up, especially if they loved One of Us Is Lying. Heads up for some language in this one.

Emily Walters and 11 other contestants have been selected to compete abroad in a contest that could earn them a full college scholarship. But once they’re aboard the private jet taking them to Europe, it’s clear that Emily and the other contestants all have deep, dark secrets, and one of them is willing to do anything just to win — even killing. Before the flight lands, they must find the culprit before someone else dies. This is the perfect escape room mystery thriller with flawed characters that feel like real teens. Heads up for infrequent profanity.

After popular teen DJ Paris Secord is murdered, two of her friends (who are not on speaking terms) come under public suspicion. Both girls are forced to band together against a group of darkly fanatic supporters, uncooperative police staff, and other hindrances to their efforts. This novel is captivating, and I finished the 10-hour audiobook in two days. It addresses the use of social media, music fandom, and police response to Black homicide.

Aphra Connolly’s father moved with her without explanation to a remote island where they now run a resort, leaving her mother behind. When Seth Mouly and his parents arrive at the resort (reportedly sent by her mother), weird things start happening. First, one of the resort’s workers is murdered, and strange visitors begin to arrive. I enjoyed this more than I expected, and it manages to not be too dated despite being published over 10 years ago. The content is also pretty tame, even as the mystery is engaging.

This YA mystery by Ashley Elston was SO GOOD! Five private school teen boys go target shooting and one of them ends up dead, shot by his own gun with the fingerprints of all four friends on the gun and all the boys claiming they don’t know what happened. The story is told from two perspectives: that of the killer and that of a schoolmate in the public school they transfer to, who happened to be regularly texting the boy who was killed. The girl, Kate also works at the DA’s office where her mom works and is helping the DA with his investigation since he has very poor eyesight. As things progress, nothing is as it seems both with Kate and with the boys in question and Kate gets more involved as the stakes get higher to find the killer. This was so much fun and really engaging on audio. There is one instance of F word usage but otherwise this is pretty clean content wise and I would be fine handing it to a mature 7th grader or an 8th grader.

Cadence Sinclair Easton is back on her family’s island after a traumatic incident some years before. The only problem is that she can’t remember what happened, and no one seems to want to tell her. As readers follow Cadence, we’ll see her piece together the shocking events of that summer when class, youthful impulse, and family disagreements changed four lives forever. I found this mystery intriguing and poignant. I think teens will eat it up.

Najwa Bakri is returning to her first Scrabble tournament world since her best friend Trina Low died, hoping to finally get a chance to win since Trina was always the Queen of the Tiles. But suddenly, someone starts posting on Trina’s Instagram account, and Najwa has to piece together clues to her friend’s murder, all while trying to take the trophy at the contest. This is such an engaging mystery, perfect for fans of word games, and also good for younger teens ages 13 and up.

Cousins Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story suddenly have their summer plans interrupted when their estranged grandmother, who disinherited all her children in the summer of 1997, invites them to work at her resort for the summer. As the cousins get to know each other and dig into their family’s dark history, disturbing secrets unfurl. I loved this one even more than One of Us Is Lying — scandals, mistaken identities, forbidden love! This was peak family drama with a heavy sprinkle of mystery while feeling very teen-appropriate.

When Oli finds a girl buried alive in the same spot where her murdered sister was discovered, she’s convinced that the two disappearances are linked. She and the newly discovered girl start to trace clues, leading them to uncover a sinister serial kidnapper, murky family history, and friends who aren’t what they seem. This one took me on a WILD ride, and I was invested from start to finish, although the ending still left a couple of questions unanswered.

Rebellious teen, Milan, has been pulled out of yet another private boarding school when she’s in a plane crash with her mom. Her dad had died six months earlier in a car crash (with Milan in the car). Before her mom dies, she tells Milan that both crashes were not accidents and that someone is after their family. Forced to survive on her own while fleeing from the assassin on her tail, Milan has to find a way to live while staying off the radar and solving the mystery behind her parents’ death. This survival thriller kept me on the edge of my seat and is exceptional on audio! Heads up for some gun violence.

This young adult thriller for fans of McManus’s One of Us is Lying follows four Native teenagers under suspicion for the murder of a classmate. It integrates the Missing Indigenous Women issue with other challenges of Native Americans, one of the teens is half Native, and another one is raising his sister because his drug-addict father has abandoned them. I loved seeing the way this mystery came together and the culprit was definitely shocking. Although this one has a slower start and picks up around the 20% mark, I think it will appeal to 7th grade readers and older.

Jay Murphy is just trying to do right by his grandmother, who’s been raising him and his older sister Nic since his father’s death and his mother’s imprisonment for a drug-related offense. But then Nic, who’s been hanging with the wrong crowd, goes missing. It’s up to Jay to follow the clues, question the right people, and find law enforcement officers who will listen to a kid like him — all to find Nic. I was hooked from the first word, and I loved Jay’s character, his friendship with Bowie, and the romance that blossoms between him and Alexis.

A powerhouse young adult historical fiction/thriller about a Black boy forced to pass as white in 1950s Pennsylvania. When Calvin and his parents move from Chicago to the Levittown suburbs, he’s torn between leaving his culture and older brother behind in the black neighborhoods and assimilating into the all-white neighborhood. Meeting and falling for the new black girl in his town doesn’t help as he finds himself caught up in organizing to get more Black teens into his school. But things quickly turn dangerous for him and his friends as loyalties are tested across the board. This book is endlessly fascinating and insightful, and I learned so much about Black American history, the dynamics of passing in the 50s, and the dark history of Levittown. It is suspenseful, and I blew through the audiobook in less than a day, just on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. Although segregation features heavily in the plot, it didn’t feel too depressing to read. I also loved the mention and inclusion of historical figures like Emmett Till, Jackie Robinson, Billie Holiday, and Thurgood Marshall, whom Calvin meets in the story.

This is one of the best mysteries I’ve read in a long time! When four kids walk into detention with the school’s gossip monger, the last thing they expect is to witness his murder. Soon, the police are on their heels, convinced that one or all of them murdered their classmate who had many enemies. All four teens must band together to find the real killer before one of them is sent to jail for the crime. This is such a propulsive read, and the audiobook has four narrators that bring the story to life. For ages 14 and up.

This is a deeply unsettling story about the murder of a high school queen bee. Just weeks after new girl Dawn joins the high school cheerleading team, the queen bee, Ella is murdered at a school party, leaving Dawn, the other two minions of the queen bee and her boyfriend as the main suspects. Told in alternating timelines from Dawn’s perspective and that of Hannah’s, a girl bullied by Ella and her minions in the past, as Dawn races to get to the bottom of the murder and find Ella’s killer. This book started off slowly but quickly escalated after a disturbing plot twist. I couldn’t stop listening, even though I think the story is a tad problematic. Hand to teens who like stories with unreliable narrators. 

Two sisters solve a murder in 1930s Chinatown in this absorbing character-driven mystery told from the perspective of both girls. Old Hollywood, Chinese culture, and sisterhood reign supreme in this timeless tale that is better on audio.