The Crime Warp

Available here You know I have a bit of a penchant for Young Adult/New Adult crime fiction and recently I've been indulging myself. One of the books I've devoured over the past few months was This Lie Will Kill You by Chelsea Pitcher. I'd never read a Pitcher novel before but will certainly be doing so now.  For all you Agatha Christie fans out there this one is a must. It's a modern US take on the locked room mystery and it is a great read.  Something very tragic happens at a party a year previously and a boy ends up dead. A year on, and things have never been the same for five young people as they struggle to come to terms with what happened at the party.  When a mysterious invite arrives each of the five end up at a secluded house to face their demons from the night when their friend died.  This YA story is so full of twists and turns it had me reeling at times. As we're taken into the mind of each of the five guests we learn more about the secrets ...

Today on The Crime Warp we have reviews of not one, but FOUR, Young Adult crime fiction novels. All four of these are fantastic reads and I would highly recommend them. We have: My Whole Truth by Mischa Thrace, a brilliant story about privilege to rival 13 Reasons Why. The Truth About Keeping Secrets   by Savannah Brown, a coming of age story with a criminal edge to it, exploring manipulation and peer control. Fated by Teri terry, a n all too realistic portrayal of a society gone wrong. Sea Change by Sylvia Hehier, a haunting coming of age of a grieving boy caught up in a murder investigation.   My Whole Truth by Mischa Thrace Blurb  Available here Seventeen-year-old Seelie Stanton never wanted to kill someone. She never wanted to be invisible in her own family, she never wanted to crush on her best friend Alyssa, and she definitely never wanted to know how effectively a mallet could destroy someone's head.  But the universe doesn't car...

I love reading Young Adult books and not only because I'm doing doctoral research on the 'teen voice'. I love them because I find them though provoking and informative. They never fail to take me into the teen psyche and when I'm in there I never cease to be astounded by the variety and range of issues affecting teens. The messages from the three I have chosen to review  today will stay with me for a long time to come. 

I love my Young Adult crime fiction, especially as for my Ph.D in Creative Writing, I'm looking into the 'teen voice' in adult crime fiction.  I think adult crime fiction has a lot to learn from YA fiction.  Here's my review of a couple of YA crime fiction books I've read recently.  The first is Genuine Fraud by E Lockhart, author of We Were Liars, a serial killer novel. The second is Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkampe, best selling author of This Is Where it Ends.   This   is a tense psychological thriller.

Young Adult crime fiction is a particular delight of mine.  Whether it's a psychological thriller, a mystery, a police procedural or an all out fast- paced race against time.  Here are just a few of the offerings in the YA market at the moment.

  Not everyone who goes into the woods comes out… It was supposed to be a short hike, a way for Fletcher and Adam to kill time one boring afternoon. But when day turns into night and neither boy returns home, their town is thrown into turmoil. Search teams comb through the forest. Then Avery, the police chief’s daughter, stumbles on a body. It’s Fletcher- disoriented, beaten, and covered in blood. He has no memory of the incident, and worse yet, he has no idea what happened to the still missing Adam… As danger and suspicion grow, one thing becomes very clear. No one can escape the truth.