6 Campus Mysteries & Thrillers For Readers Who Love the ‘Dark’ in Dark Academia
One of the most popular sub-genres of mystery and suspense books over the last several years is dark academia. In dark academia novels, mysteries and crimes take place on campus, usually either a high school or a college. They often involve faculty and students who are wealthy or elitist in some way, and many have a revenge plot. While there has been a recent surge in popularity, dark academia books have been around for many years. For example, there was Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie in 1959, Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan in 1978, and The Secret History by Donna Tartt, the legendary 1992 novel by which all other campus novels are measured.
Why are dark academia books so popular? Is it the idea that a supposedly safe place, such as a school campus, is dangerous? Is it the allure of the wealthy and revered behaving badly?Is it the thrill of young characters away from home for the first time getting into so much trouble? Whatever the reason, the sub-genre continues to grow, with more incredible suspense novels set at schools being added each month. So put down your pencils and silence your cellphones, because here are six great campus thrillers to add to your TBR.
But first she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that upends everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a diabolical plot for revenge.
Cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. Only Beth, unsettled by the new regime, remains outside Coach’s golden circle, waging a subtle but vicious campaign to regain her position as “top girl”—both with the team and with Addy herself.
Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. After the first wave of shock and grief, Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death—and learns that the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain.
The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. Award-winning novelist Megan Abbott, writing with what Tom Perrotta has hailed as “total authority and an almost desperate intensity,” provides a harrowing glimpse into the dark heart of the all-American girl.
On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it.
A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras.
But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent.
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