Best Horror Books for Teens

WARNING! If you do not enjoy the feeling of fright, of your palms sweating in terror and your skin crawling with goosebumps, these recommendations are NOT for you. But, if you enjoy reading about horror, mystery, demons and overcoming evil, keep scrolling.

In the list below, we've collated our best and most loved horror and scary book series for readers aged 13 and 14+. Some inspired by video games, others have gone on to become popular TV shows, and then some are debut series and others have had a cult following for years on years. But scroll at your own risk...

Georgina Atwell

Toppsta

2025-10-27

2024-09-18

Best Horror Books for Teens

Blood Texts Series

Colm Field’s The Blood Texts series is perfect for teens who love stories that keep them guessing long after the lights go out. The first book, You’d Better Watch Out, turns a cosy Christmas into something far more sinister, while the second, Uncle Zeedie, takes readers to a crumbling old mansion where secrets fester and fear builds with every page. Field knows exactly how to balance suspense with emotion, making you care about the characters even as you’re bracing for what comes next. These are smart, gripping reads that don’t rely on cheap scares but get under your skin in the best possible way.

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Five Nights at Freddy's Series

Five Nights at Freddy’s is a cult video game with millions of fans across the world, set in the restaurant Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. In the game, players work shifts as the security guard in a pizzeria run by creepy animatronic robots. The trilogy is a must for fans of the game but also for horror lovers. The chilling FNaF animatronics and grisly murders make them a terrifying read, best suited for older teens and adults. You do not need to have played the game to enjoy the FNaF books which are packed full of suspense, but it is best to read the trilogy in order, so go ahead and get started!

FNAF Books

The Vampire Diaries Series

The Vampire Diaries already has a fang-tastic following and it's no wonder why: each book is packed with action and romance, plot twists and turns! The Vampire Diaries cast is wide and varied, but its main characters include Elena, who is torn between two heart-throb love interests: vampire brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore. Set in a small town full of supernatural history, Elena meets Stefan and slowly realises he's not just any seventeen-year-old boy. He's been 17 a VERY long time. And then she meets his brother, Damon. Stefan and Damon are complete opposites and Elena shortly finds herself in a complicated love triangle. And this is just the beginning.

Vampire Diaries Books in Order

Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Series

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a series of books which tell the tale of young Jacob Portman, a normal boy living in Florida. Or at least, that’s what he thought. When his grandfather, Abraham Portman, is killed in a curious circumstances, Jacob is determined to find out what had happened - something that lead him to the discovery of some very peculiar characters. Together, they defeat the enemy, only to find more coming their way. On their desperate journey to safety, Jacob and his newfound friends encounter dangerous monsters, both literally and figuratively; tricksome characters who are not what they seem; and continuously save each other from the brink of death.

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I Feed Her to the Beast Series

I Feed Her to the Beast is an unforgettable YA horror debut series by Jamison Shea about a ballerina who would give up anything to make her dream come true. Laure Mesny is determined to make it in the cut-throat world of ballet. And by anything, we mean even entering into a bargain with a primordial power in the Catacombs beneath Paris. Laure is promised influence and adoration, and she gets it, but at a very costly price. Her climb to stardom leaves broken bodies in her wake, some of which aren't her doing...

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Red Eye Series

The Red Eye series is a collection of bloodcurdling YA horror – from chilling ghost stories to addictive psychological thrillers. Each book in the series is written by a different author and feature completely new characters and settings, so you can pick up whichever title you think you'll like best and get ready to be haunted by these imaginative scary stories. We've got scary dolls, students losing their sanity, the discovery of graves, haunted inns, and so much more in each of these scary stories.

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The Twisted Tree Series

Part ghost story, part murder mystery, this beautifully evocative series is a creepy and magical tale steeped in Norse myth. Main character Martha can tell things about a person just by touching their clothes, as if their emotions and memories have been absorbed into the material. It started the day she fell from the tree at her grandma's Norwegian cabin and became blind in one eye. Determined to understand her strange ability, Martha sets off to visit her grandmother, Mormor, only to discover she is dead and a peculiar boy has broken into her home. As Martha digs further into her grandmother's past, she slowly reaches the truth behind her death... and just what terrifying creature that's caused it is on the loose.

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The Demonata Series

The Demonata is one of the most loved YA horror series, perfect for all fans of the creepy and mysterious to sink their teeth in. Meet Grubbs from the present day, Kernel from the 1970s and Bec from circa 450AD. Told through these three protagonists living in different times in history, we learn all about how together they fight against a demon master called Lord Loss who is set to destroy all of humanity with the help of his demon familiars. In each book, the characters meet new challenges and monstrous demons, and will have to overcome and defeat them if they want to save themselves, their loved ones and all of humankind.

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Horowitz Horror Series

Horowitz Horror is a strange and tangled world where the uncanny and the petrifying are lurking in every shadow, where a bus ride home can turn into your worst fantasy and where your bathtub is sure to be hungry for blood. Horowitz Horror. It's everywhere. Waiting. Read it if you dare. But be warned the everyday and ordinary are not as they seem. Anthony Horowitz is the best selling author of many classic teen-series including his infamously frightening horror series. He is also renowned for the Alex Rider series which has sold 19 million copies worldwide and is much cherished among his loyal readers. In the first instalment, Burnt, Nigel gets more than what he bargains for when he becomes fatally obsessed with his sun-tan and in the second spine-chilling tale in the book Bart buys a magical monkey's ear in a market in Marrakesh, he soon discovers that making wishes is a dangerous game - you might just get what you wish for.

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The Enemy Series

When a plague hits the world contaminating anyone older than fourteen, turning them into blood-thirsty undead horrors children are left to fend for themselves. With intertwining narratives, plenty of likeable(and despicable) characters and most importantly heaps of bloody gore Higson creates a sprawling apocalyptic teen-masterpiece of a horror series. Charlie Higson is the master-mind behind the bestselling Young Bond series of novels for young adults which have made him a household name among teen book lovers, however, what could be argued to be his greater body of work is The Enemy series for its expertly written blend of horror and action. In the series' first instalment we are introduced to the various groups that the series revolves around and to the familiar yet fundamentally different world which children must now learn to survive in. Whether you choose to align yourself with posh-boy David and his Buckingham Palace dwellers, the Morrisons group or the Waitrose group, this is certain to become a personal favourite. The shady morals the children adopt lead asks the question, what would happen if adult supervision desisted? Making the novels fascinating conceptually in addition to being masterful works of teenage-literature.

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ZOM-B Series

Zom-B is a thrilling YA fantasy horror series by bestselling Irish author Darren Shan. Set in a zombie apocalypse, the Zom-B books are narrated in the first person by one of the victims - B Smith. B has always had it hard, living with a racist father and haunted by nightmares of killer babies. But life is about to get a whole lot worse. Welcome to B's dark and twisted world… The books are fast-paced and very grisly, with plenty of twists and cliffhangers, and in Shan’s words “a high body-count is guaranteed!”. Like all Darren Shan books, the Zom-B series explores hard-hitting moral questions about racism, the abuse of power and more.

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MORE TO EXPLORE

Wranglestone by Darren Charlton (Little Tiger)

Fear Street by R.L. Stine (Simon & Schuster)

Fear Street Saga by R.L. Stine (Simon & Schuster)

Georgina Atwell

Toppsta

2025-10-27

2024-09-18

Best Horror Books for Teens

For more book series for readers aged 13 and 14, do take a look at our:

Best Fantasy Books for Teens