8. I’m going to go with the most unexpectedly dark and nominate the late 90s kids’ series “Animorphs.” It looks like all fun and games and kids turning into animals, but most people don’t realize it’s actually a series about a war between six kids acting as guerrillas and a full force of Invasion of the Body-Snatchers type aliens. It does not go light on the gore, major character death, psychological horror, post-traumatic stress, and it has enough YA 90s humor to have you jumping back and forth between laughing and crying multiple times per chapter.
9. The Lovely Bones.
I remember I couldn’t put the book down at 12 years old. It really got me interested in abductions and true crime in general.
10. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. Carny folks decide to create their own sideshow by using drugs to mutate their children. One of the kids then starts his own religion. It’s the only that’s ever given me nightmares and I refuse to re-read it.
