Books like 'The Strangers'
Readers who enjoyed The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy mystery action / adventure urban fantasy horror children family dystopia suspense
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Dark Days by Derek Landy
26 ratingsMeet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, sorcerer, warrior.Oh yes. And dead.Skulduggery Pleasant is gone, sucked into a parallel dimension overrun by the Faceless Ones. If his bones haven’t already been turned to dust, chances are he’s insane, driven out of his mind by the horror of the ancient gods. There is no official, Sanctuary-approved rescue mission. There is no official plan to save him...Categorized as:
children friendship law-enforcement low-fantasy magic action-adventure audiobook book -
The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy
26 ratingsThe third bone-breaking, belly-busting adventure in the series that puts the “funny” back in, um, funny series...Categorized as:
children friendship law-enforcement low-fantasy magic action-adventure audiobook book -
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
34 ratingsYadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free...Categorized as:
family friendship low-fantasy magic magical-realism spooky action-adventure audiobook -
The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud
28 ratingsIn the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood & Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations... -
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The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud
26 ratingsAs a massive outbreak of supernatural Visitors baffles Scotland Yard and causes protests throughout London, Lockwood & Co. continue to demonstrate their effectiveness in exterminating spirits. Anthony Lockwood is dashing, George insightful, and Lucy dynamic, while the skull in the jar utters sardonic advice from the sidelines... -
Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater
28 ratingsThe dreamers walk among us . . . and so do the dreamed. Those who dream cannot stop dreaming – they can only try to control it. Those who are dreamed cannot have their own lives – they will sleep forever if their dreamers die.And then there are those who are drawn to the dreamers. To use them. To trap them. To kill them before their dreams destroy us all.Ronan Lynch is a dreamer... -
Resurrection by Derek Landy
18 ratingsThe skeleton detective is coming back to life...again! It's the tenth, triumphant novel in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, and it will rearrange your world.Skulduggery and Valkyrie are back in the tenth instalment in the best-selling Skulduggery Pleasant series - an incredible and unexpected treat for the legions of fans around the world...Categorized as:
children friendship law-enforcement low-fantasy magic action-adventure audiobook book -
Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts
28 ratingsThe #1 New York Times bestselling author of the epic Year One returns with a new tale of terror and magic in a brand new world.They look like an everyday family living an ordinary life. But beyond the edges of this peaceful farm, unimaginable forces of light and dark have been unleashed...Categorized as:
dystopia family magic magical-realism survival suspense action-adventure apocalyptic -
The Witches by Roald Dahl
44 ratingsThis is not a fairy-tale. This is about real witches. Real witches don't ride around on broomsticks. They don't even wear black cloaks and hats. They are vile, cunning, detestable creatures who disguise themselves as nice, ordinary ladies... -
Blue Moon by James Ponti
12 ratingsMolly is ready for more nonstop, undead action in this follow-up to Dead City, which Kirkus Reviews described as “a fast-paced read for those who like their zombies with just a little fright.”When Molly Bigelow discovered that zombies shared New York with humans, she didn’t think life could get more shocking...Categorized as:
children dystopia family friendship action-adventure book children-books contemporary -
The Unbound by Victoria Schwab
24 ratingsEach body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she’s struggling to get her life back... -
Lord of the Shadows by Darren Shan
26 ratingsBook 11 of The Saga Of Darren Shan. Darren's going home. Back to where everything started. The town's changed a lot in the years that he's been away -- but then, so has Darren...Categorized as:
children dystopia friendship low-fantasy magic magical-realism suspense 21st-century -
This Book Is Full of Spiders by David Wong, Jason Pargin
26 ratingsOriginally released as an online serial where itreceivedmore than 70,000 downloads,John Dies at the End has been described as a"Horrortacular", an epic of "spectacular" horror that combines the laugh out loud humor of the best R-rated comedy, with the darkest terror of H.P. Lovecraft. The book went on to sell an additional60,000 copies in all formats... -
Frenzy by Robert Liparulo
14 ratingsTheir destiny is to fix history. Their dream is to get home.When you live in a house that's really a gateway between past and present, you have to be ready for "anything." It's a painful fact the Kings have faced since moving to Pinedale eight days ago... -
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Deep and Dark and Dangerous (A Ghost Story) by Mary Downing Hahn
24 ratingsJust before summer begins, 13-year-old Ali finds an odd photograph in the attic. She knows the two children in it are her mother, Claire, and her aunt Dulcie...Categorized as:
children family friendship law-enforcement realistic spooky suspense action-adventure -
When by Victoria Laurie, Whitney Dykhouse
25 ratingsPretty Little Liars meets Medium in this fast-paced thriller and fantastic YA debut from a New York Times bestselling author.Maddie Fynn is a shy high school junior, cursed with an eerie intuitive ability: she sees a series of unique digits hovering above the foreheads of each person she encounters...Categorized as:
family friendship magical-realism realistic suspense action-adventure audiobook book -
Dark Days by James Ponti
10 ratingsMolly’s up against the undead—and the fate of Manhattan is in her hands—in the third and final book of the Dead City trilogy, which Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins says “breathes new life into the zombie genre.”Molly and the Omegas fight to contain the storm unleashed by Operation Blue Moon... -
The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
14 ratingsI am a dark spirit, the ghost announced grandly. I am your inheritance, your grandmother’s legacy. I am yours to command.Suraya is delighted when her witch grandmother gifts her a pelesit. She names her ghostly companion Pink, and the two quickly become inseparable... -
Deadly Little Lessons by Laurie Faria Stolarz
16 ratingsCamelia Hammond's trying junior year of high school is finally over...but her troubles aren't. After she discovers a painful truth about her family, she escapes to a summer arts program in Rhode Island. Determined to put family - and boyfriend - drama behind her, she throws herself into her artwork.At the arts school, she gets caught up in the case of Sasha Beckerman, a local girl who is missing...Categorized as:
family friendship law-enforcement magic suspense action-adventure book coming-of-age -
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
32 ratingsA missing God.A library with the secrets to the universe. A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts... -
Betrayals by Kelley Armstrong
18 ratingsWhen Olivia's life exploded--after she found out she was not the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers--she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois...Categorized as:
family friendship law-enforcement magic magical-realism suspense action-adventure adult -
The Black Reckoning by John Stephens
18 ratingsThe final book in the bestselling Books of Beginning trilogy that began with "The Emerald Atlas," which the "New York Times" called "a new Narnia for the tween set... -
The Broken Clock by P.T. Hylton
6 ratingsFrank Hinkle and his friends must stop Zed from achieving his ultimate goal: saving the world. In King's Crossing, Wisconsin, lives a nine-year-old girl who can pull on time. Residents of the town know odd details about the future, and there's a twisting tree growing in a park near the center of town... -
Guardians of the Haunted Moor by Harper Fox
11 ratingsBook 5 in the Tyack & Frayne Mystery seriesThe wedding is just the beginning…Gideon and Lee have spent a year in chaotic married bliss, with all the trimmings – a dog, tricky in-laws, and a baby girl they both adore. But even the best of lives can be fragile, and a shocking family loss hits their new world like a demolition ball... -
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Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
29 ratingsNew York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in this standalone fantasy.Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.Meet Dodger, his twin... -
The Girl Who Could Not Dream by Sarah Beth Durst
14 ratingsSophie loves the hidden shop below her parents' bookstore, where dreams are secretly bought and sold. When the dream shop is robbed and her parents go missing, Sophie must unravel the truth to save them. Together with her best friend—a wisecracking and fanatically loyal monster named Monster—she must decide whom to trust with her family’s carefully guarded secrets...Categorized as:
children friendship low-fantasy magic magical-realism action-adventure animals audiobook -
Long Lost by Jacqueline West
14 ratingsEleven-year-old Fiona has just read a book that doesn’t exist. When Fiona’s family moves to be closer to her older sister’s figure skating club—and far from Fiona’s close-knit group of friends—nobody seems to notice Fiona’s unhappiness. Alone and out of place, Fiona ventures to the town’s library, a rambling mansion donated to the town by the long-dead heiress...Categorized as:
magical-realism children spooky family suspense realistic law-enforcement low-fantasy -
Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire
19 ratingsWelcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you've already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company.There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again. It isn't as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. And it isn't as safe...Categorized as:
children friendship low-fantasy magic magical-realism suspense action-adventure audiobook -
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
54 ratingsNobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a perfectly normal boy. Well, he would be perfectly normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the world of the dead... -
Necropolis by Anthony Horowitz
24 ratingsHong Kong has been taken over by the Old Ones and has become Necropolis, City of the Dead. Once in, there is no way out… Evil has been unleashed on the world and only five children – with special powers – can save it... -
Nightrise by Anthony Horowitz
25 ratingsThe third heart-pounding book in #1 NYT bestselling author Anthony Horowitz's spellbinding The Gatekeepers series A gate has been opened. The Old Ones have been released. And now the third and fourth of The Five -- twins with a mysterious psychic bond -- are joining the fight... -
Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab
26 ratingsTrouble is haunting Cassidy Blake . . . even more than usual.She (plus her ghost best friend, Jacob, of course) are in Paris, where Cass's parents are filming their TV show about the world's most haunted cities. Sure, it's fun eating croissants and seeing the Eiffel Tower, but there's true ghostly danger lurking beneath Paris, in the creepy underground Catacombs...Categorized as:
children family friendship low-fantasy magical-realism spooky suspense action-adventure -
Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier
28 ratingsMysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv's dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she's in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream... -
Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis
10 ratingsFor fans of Us and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comes a witchy story full of black girl magic as one girl’s dark ability to summon the dead offers her a chance at a new life, while revealing to her an even darker future.Katrell doesn’t mind talking to the dead; she just wishes it made more money... -
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The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas
10 ratingsA Cuban American boy must use his secret ability to communicate with animals to save the inhabitants of his town.All Nestor Lopez wants is to live in one place for more than a few months and have dinner with his dad.When he and his mother move to a new town to live with his grandmother after his dad’s latest deployment, Nestor plans to lay low... -
The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand
12 ratingsOlivia wants a new life—and her wish might be granted by the unlikeliest allies. A heartfelt, gently Gothic novel from Claire Legrand that School Library Journal calls a “not-too-scary ghost story.”Olivia Stellatella is having a rough year... -
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Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection by Ben Aaronovitch
18 ratingsReturn to the world of Rivers of London in this first short story collection from #1 Sunday Times bestselling author, Ben Aaronovitch. Tales from the Folly is a carefully curated collection that gathers together previously published stories and brand new tales in the same place for the first time...Categorized as:
law-enforcement low-fantasy magic magical-realism suspense action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Scorch by Gina Damico
18 ratingsSixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home.To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse... -
Dead Voices by Katherine Arden, Катрин Арден
18 ratingsBestselling author Katherine Arden returns with another creepy, spine-tingling adventure in this follow-up to the critically acclaimed Small Spaces.Having survived sinister scarecrows and the malevolent smiling man in Small Spaces, newly minted best friends Ollie, Coco, and Brian are ready to spend a relaxing winter break skiing together with their parents at Mount Hemlock Resort... -
Canyons of Night by Jayne Castle, Jayne Ann Krentz
18 ratingsThere are as many mysteries aboveground on the world of Harmony as there are underground. The island of Rainshadow is the setting for one of the greatest of those secrets: the privately owned woods known only as the Preserve.. -
Bridge of Souls by Victoria Schwab
24 ratingsWhere there are ghosts, Cassidy Blake follows ... unless it's the other way around?Cass thinks she might have this ghost-hunting thing down. After all, she and her ghost best friend, Jacob, have survived two haunted cities while travelling for her parents' TV show.But nothing can prepare Cass for New Orleans, which wears all of its hauntings on its sleeve... -
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
53 ratingsSussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother...Categorized as:
children family friendship magic magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure audiobook -
Omens by Kelley Armstrong
25 ratingsTwenty-four-year-old Olivia Taylor Jones has the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted...Categorized as:
family law-enforcement magic magical-realism suspense action-adventure audiobook book -
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The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova
25 ratingsThe Montoyas are used to a life without explanations. They know better than to ask why the pantry never seems to run low or empty, or why their matriarch won’t ever leave their home in Four Rivers—even for graduations, weddings, or baptisms... -
Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
25 ratingsNew York Times bestselling adult author of The Bear and the Nightingale makes her middle grade debut with a creepy, spellbinding ghost story destined to become a classicAfter suffering a tragic loss, eleven-year-old Ollie only finds solace in books... -
Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz
25 ratingsMatt thought his troubles were over when he closed Raven's Gate . . . but in fact they were just beginning. His fate -- and the fate of the world -- is tied to four other kids across the globe. The second is a street kid in Peru. He and Matt have never met; they don't even speak the same language. But destiny is going to throw them together as the evil threat of the Old Ones grows . . -
The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts
20 ratingsKatie, who has supernatural powers, attempts to start a new life in another town with her mother. The attempt succeeds until Mr. Cooper asks Katie too many questions... -
Took: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
20 ratings“Folks say Old Auntie takes a girl and keeps her fifty years—then lets her go and takes another one.” Thirteen-year-old Daniel Anderson doesn’t believe Brody Mason’s crazy stories about the ghost witch who lives up on Brewster’s Hill with Bloody Bones, her man-eating razorback hog. He figures Brody’s probably just trying to scare him since he’s the new kid . . -
Deadly Little Games by Laurie Faria Stolarz
20 ratingsHigh school juniors Camelia and Ben have discovered a powerful bond: They both possess the power of psychometry, the ability to see the future through touch. For Ben, the gift is a frightening liability. When he senses a strong threat or betrayal, he risks losing control. Camelia's gift is more mysterious. When she works with clay, her hands sculpt messages her mind doesn't yet comprehend...
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