The best teen suspense novels about suffering through bad relationships or tragedy

Dolly Parton and James Patterson partnered to write this suspenseful story about a runaway girl who arrives in Nashville with dreams of making it big, but who is shadowed by the constant fear of being found by her abuser. After begging for stage time at bars, she is discovered by a retired celebrity who pulls her into the spotlight—which in turn draws the attention of the man who wants to kill her.

I have a special fondness for Dolly Parton because she endorsed my novel, which is also about a teenage girl getting mixed up with a guy who, like Dolly’s character, has murderous intent. In a beautiful handwritten note, Dolly Parton declared, “I’m proud my song "Joshua" inspired the character Beard.”

Christian Schwarz deftly creates a rising tension between two sisters who are torn apart by secrets. Ruth gradually pieces together memories from her childhood, bringing the story to a climax when her secrets are revealed and the consequences come to pass. This story was one I read and studied multiple times during my journey to publication.

I love books that revolve around the desperate emotions of life, of the very decisions we make over living or dying, and how one cherishes or fritters away the short time we have on Earth. The Lovely Bones focuses on family, but in this case, it’s the disappearance of a child. Emotionally driven and captivating, Alice Sebold’s deft writing style enveloped me in the time and place she created—an art I have done my best to apply to my own stories. 

This edgy saga centers on secrets and emotional undercurrents in families. When Lydia, the family’s pride and joy, is found dead in a lake, the family unravels. While the mother sets out to solve the crime, it’s Hannah, the youngest child, who holds the secret to what really happened. A great story wrapped around the intricacies of family ties, which is what inspires my own writing. 

I loved The Waltons, the closeness of the family, and how they solved typical family squabbles. As an adult, I watched every episode again with my kids, so I was thrilled when I actually met The Homecoming author Earl Hamner, Jr. (the real John-Boy Walton/Clay-Boy Spencer) in an online writers’ group way back when the internet was first invented. We became great online friends. His John-Boy character inspired the character in my book, a good-hearted teen who, despite living in modern times, traverses his small southern town on a horse, just as John-Boy rode Blue, his mule.