The Best YA Friend Group Thrillers

 

I just published a list of Adult Friend Group Thrillers on Jen Ryland Reviews, but teen friend group thrillers are also a staple in YA fiction.

What is a Friend Group Thriller?

• At least three friends tied together by at least one dark secret
• Someone or something threatens to reveal the secret(s)
• Thrills and chills ensue

The Best YA Friend Group Thrillers

This first section of books I have personally read and reviewed. I will also include some titles I have yet to try!

Friends Like These by Jennifer Alvarez (2022)

• Deadly love triangle
• Lots of twists and turns

Tegan Sheffield's annual end-of-summer beach party is the only way to start their senior year. At least that's what Jake Healy tells his girlfriend Jessica Sanchez.

But when a video prank from the party goes viral and a body is discovered at the beach, Jake and Jessica find themselves at the centre of a national media storm and a police investigation.

It's a race to uncover the truth before the killer strikes again.

We Were Liars by e. lockhart (2014)

• Possibly unreliable narrator
• Rich people behaving badly
• "Piece it together" narrative
• Shocking twist

This book was a huge hit in the 2010s. 

A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

Five Survive by Holly Jackson (2022)

• Road trip thriller
• Friends trapped by a killer
• Someone is hiding something big

Red Kenny is on a road trip for spring break with five friends: Her best friend - the older brother - his perfect girlfriend - a secret crush - a classmate - and a killer. 

When their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, they soon realize this is no accident. They have been trapped by someone out there in the dark, someone who clearly wants one of them dead.

With eight hours until dawn, the six friends must escape, or figure out which of them is the target. But is there a liar among them? Buried secrets will be forced to light and tensions inside the RV will reach deadly levels. Not all of them will survive the night...

That Weekend  by Kara Thomas (2021)

• Amnesia story
• Toxic love triangle
• Big twist

Three best friends, a lake house, a secret trip - what could go wrong?

It was supposed to be the perfect prom weekend getaway. But it's clear something terrible happened when Claire wakes up alone and bloodied on a hiking trail with no memory of the past forty-eight hours.

Three went up the mountain, but only one came back.

Now everyone wants answers - most of all, Claire. She remembers Friday night, but after that... nothing. And now Kat and Jesse - her best friends - are missing.

That weekend changes everything.

What happened on the mountain? And where are Kat and Jesse? Claire knows the answers are buried somewhere in her memory, but as she's learning, everyone has secrets - even her best friends. And she's pretty sure she's not going to like what she remembers.

One of Us is Lying series by Karen M. Mc Manus (2017)

• Locked room mystery
• New friends trauma bonded by being murder suspects
• One of them is lying? Maybe all of them!

Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, never breaks a rule.

Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.

Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.

Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.

Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

But Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or is the killer still on the loose?

Here's my review of book three, One of Us is Back.

For a review of the entire series, check out my post here. 

Liar’s Beach by Katie Cotugno (2023)

• Rich friend, poor friend
• Secrets and lies
• Amateur detective

Michael Linden—or Linden to his preppy boarding school pals—doesn’t belong in wealthy, storied Martha’s Vineyard. But when his roommate Jasper invites him to spend the end of summer at his massive beachfront home, August House, Linden tries his best to fit in. Linden wouldn’t call it lying, exactly. Though it turns out August House is full of liars.

Then someone is found unconscious in Jasper’s pool, and everyone has something to hide—Jasper, his beautiful sister Eliza, their older brother Wells, and their friends. The accident is written off as just that—an accident—but Linden begins to wonder...

Holiday Proctor. Linden’s childhood friend, and the one person on the island who knows the truth about Linden. There’s nothing Holiday loves more than a good old-fashioned mystery and she’s convinced there's a potential killer on the Vineyard. The only question is…who?

Teen Thrillers With Friend Groups I Want to Try

The Counselors by Jessica Goodman (2022)

I read and reviewed her most recent book, The Legacies but have not yet tried this one!

Camp Alpine Lake is the only place where Goldie Easton feels safe.

Alpine Lake provides jobs, money and prestige to the region. Few Roxwood locals, though, get to reap the rewards of living so close to the glam summer that camp. 

Even with her "townie" background, Goldie has never felt more at home at camp and now she's back as a counselor, desperate for summer to start and her best friends, Ava and Imogen, to arrive. Because Goldie has a terrible dark secret she's been keeping and she is more in need of the comfort than ever.

But Goldie's not the only person at camp who has been lying. When a teen turns up dead in the lake late one night, she knows that the death couldn't have been an accident. She also knows that Ava was at the lake that same night. What did Ava do?

Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti (2022)

It was all her idea. They would get away from their parents and spend the weekend camping. Down by Salvation Creek, the five of them would make smores, steal kisses, share secrets.

But sometime around midnight, she vanished.

Now the four friends who came back are under suspicion―and they each have a very different story to tell about what happened in the woods.

The clock is ticking. What are they hiding? Who is lying? Dark truths must come to light if their friend is to be found...

Someone is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong (2023)

Blythe and her three friends Gabrielle, Tanya and Tucker have always been a tight group, attending a local high school and falling in and out of love with each other. Then an act of violence caused a rift between Blythe and Tucker.

Strange happenings culminate in a shocking event at school: Gabrielle is found covered in blood in front of their deceased principal, with no memory of what happened. 

Cracks in their friendship, as well as in their own memories, start appearing, threatening to expose long-forgotten secrets which could change the group’s lives forever.

The Last One to Fall by Gabriella Lepore (2023)

Savana and Jesse have known each other since they were kids, so when Jesse texts Savana in the middle of the night and asks her to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse, she doesn’t hesitate. 

But before Savana can find Jesse, she bears witness to a horrifying murder, standing helpless on the ground as a mysterious figure is pushed out of the fourth floor of the warehouse.

Six friends were there that night, and five of them are now potential suspects. With the police circling, Savana knows what will happen if the wrong person is charged, particularly once she starts getting threatening anonymous text messages.

As she attempts to uncover the truth, Savana learns that everyone is keeping secrets—and someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep those secrets from coming to light.

Girls from Hush Cabin by Marie Hoy-Kenny (2023)

Calista, Zoe, Holly, and Denise were inseparable when they spent their summers together at sleepaway camp. But after an unexplained tragedy forced the camp to close, the girls drifted apart.

Years later, reunited at their camp counselor Violet's funeral, the four former best friends quickly realize how much they've changed over the years. But despite their differences, they agree on one thing--Violet's so-called accidental death was actually murder.

Unwilling to leave the case unsolved, they set off to uncover the truth--even if it means revealing the dark secrets of their pasts.

But someone wants them to stop investigating, and the anonymous threats keep coming, leaving them suspicious of everyone.

What are your other favorite young adult friend group thrillers? Tell me in the comments and I will add them to my list!