FICTIONAL BOOKS FULL OF SUSPENSE
This list will be updated every now and then so keep an eye out!
The Circle: Book I (The Engelsfors Trilogy) by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg
✮✮✮✮½
On a night after the apparent suicide of high school student Elias Malmgren, a blood-red moon fills the night sky.
Minoo wakes up outside her house, still in her pajamas, and is drawn by an invisible force to an abandoned theme park on the outskirts of town. Soon five of her classmates―Vanessa, Linnéa, Anna-Karin, Rebecka, and Ida―arrive, compelled by the same force. A mystical being takes over Ida’s body and tells them they are fated to fight an ancient evil that is hunting them. As the weeks pass, each girl discovers she has a unique magical ability. They begin exploring their powers. The six are wildly different and definitely not friends . . . but they are the Chosen Ones.
-> The first book out of three so far, is about six teenagers who barely know each other, but are forced together, right after a boy in their class has died, meet in the middle of the night and not knowing how they got there. Then the moon turns blood red but nobody but them (and a few "other" people) can see it. That night the teenagers feel a weird bond to each other, almost like a magical bond....The particulars of Elfgren and Strandberg's built mythology for this series is fascinating. The girls each have a power based in one of six elements. They also have a book called The Book of Patterns, which holds the key to just about any question they may have... but only if they can learn to read it.
I would highly recommend this book to almost anyone because it can be such a thrill-ride, I was sometimes dreading to turn the page and the suspense is at times unbearable - It is so unpredictable and intriguing. The character development is excellent, it is not solely a horror story but also a story about teenagers struggling with social pressures, appearance, insecurity, family trouble, and guy trouble. All of those six characters couldn't be any more different from another, yet they are forced together. What a great book! Swedish writers definitely know how to write thrillers. The book has been made into a movie and is expected to come out this year - watch the Swedish trailer, the adaption seems very true to the book. I already bought the second book Fire and am planning on reading it soon.
Numbers by Rachel Ward
✮✮✮✮
Since the day her mother died, Jem has known about the numbers. When she looks in someone's eyes, she can see the date they will die. Knowing that nothing lasts forever, she shuts out relationships - until another outsider, Spider, manages to penetrate her spiky shell. Suddenly Jem's world seems brighter. But on a trip to London, she foresees a chain of events that will explode their lives forever. In the queue for the London Eye, everyone has the same number in their eyes. Right here, right now, their numbers are up. Something terrible is going to happen...
“How easy to be a bird or an animal, living from day to day, unaware you're alive, unaware that one day you will die.”
-> Excellent book but really sad.. the real kind of sad. Sometimes bad things happens to good people and sometimes certain things are beyond our control. This is one of those books that make you think.. about life and death. It is about living a meaningful life, the fear of death and destiny. Despite some minor flaws, the book is captivating. The concept is strong, it makes you think and that is why it deserves four stars. Read my review here - this was one heavy book but I highly recommend it.
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
✮✮✮
Sixteen-year-old Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her unusual so-called gift. While her confusing feelings for her best friend are new, she has been able to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered—and the imprints that attach to their killers since she was a little girl. Violet has never considered her ability useful, but now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.
Fiercely protective of her, Jay agrees to help Violet search for the murderer. But even as she's falling in love, Violet is getting closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.
“Multihued light radiated up from beneath the water, centered among the reeds, and then diffusing outward as it reached the surface. Violet had never seen anything like it, and she knew that the spectrum of light was defying its very nature by behaving in that way.
It could only be one thing.
There was something dead down there.”
-> First out of four books. I have read the first two books years ago, I might read the last two at some point in the future. My fifteen years old self would have probably given this book 4 stars. What I loved about this book was the concept: Violet's gift. It was fascinating to read about her ability to sense dead bodies and in addition also sense the killer belonging to that crime. I think there could have been more of a character development and Violet could have been a little tougher, there also weren't clues for the reader to feel a part of the investigation but it was nonetheless a creative book - I really felt for Violet dealing with her gift/curse and the whole book was thoughtprovoking. It was a concept I haven't read about before, it was unique which made the book so intriguing and a good read.
Erebos: It's a game. It watches you. by Ursula Poznanski
✮✮✮✮
When 16-year-old Nick gets a package, he wonders if it will explain the behavior of his classmates, who have been secretive lately. The package contains the mysterious computer game Erebos. Players must obey strict rules: always play alone, never talk about the game, and never tell anyone your nickname.
Curious, Nick joins the game and quickly becomes addicted. But Erebos knows a lot about the players and begins to manipulate their lives. When it sends Nick on a deadly assignment, he refuses and is banished from the game.
Now unable to play, Nick turns to a friend for help in finding out who controls the game. The two set off on a dangerous mission in which the border between reality and the virtual world begins to blur.
"A game you can’t buy. A game that talks to you. A game that watches you, that rewards you, threatens you, gives you tasks.
'Sometimes I think it’s alive…’”
-> This is a great YA novel. Since this is about a computer game one might think it is solely for boys but I remember having read it as a 15 years old girl and absolutely loved it. I would even read it again today despite being years older. I was surprised about how much I liked this book and I can still vividly remember how I felt while reading it. The sections that take place in the game are full of action and adventure, and really evoke that sense of getting caught up in a game. The characterization wasn't all that great but everyone in the game Erebos on the other hand felt so real. The artifice felt more real than reality not just for Nick but also for me.
I am not a gamer, but anyone who has played their share of adventure or role-playing games is familiar with the feeling of being so immersed in a game that they start to feel like they are in the game themselves; you really start to identify with your character and feel the frustrations of trying to go up a level or solve a puzzle, even holding your breat when your character is trying to get through a difficult task. It was crazy how much the book pulled me in. I recommend it for younger readers but that shouldn't put off older people who are intersted in computer games or a book full of suspense - give it a try.