Decode your taste →

Books like The cheerleaders

The cheerleaders by Kara Thomas reads as suspenseful, melancholic. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

What The cheerleaders is like to read

A layered small-town mystery that peels back a chain of teen deaths one secret at a time, trading gore for mounting dread and suspicion. Reads fast and dark, with the sister's investigation braided against events from the year the cheerleaders died. Best for: YA thriller readers who want twisty small-town cover-ups and grief-driven amateur sleuthing.

One of Us Is Lying cover
One of Us Is Lying
Karen M. McManus · 2017
A Breakfast-Club-meets-whodunit told in rotating teen POVs with short, cliffhangery chapters that keep the pages flying.
mildly eerieYAcomplete story
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder cover
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder
Holly Jackson · 2019
A propulsive true-crime-flavored YA mystery told partly through Pip's project logs, interview transcripts, and texts — puzzle-forward, twist-stacked, and easy to binge in a sitting.
creepy, not goryYA
The Lying Game cover
The Lying Game
Sara Shepard · 2010
A twin steps into her murdered sister's life and has to fake every relationship while the killer watches — a soapy, secret-heavy YA mystery built on constant close calls and reveals.
creepy, not goryYAcliffhanger
Confessions of a murder suspect cover
Confessions of a murder suspect
James Patterson · 2012
A twisty YA whodunit narrated by a wealthy, emotionally-guarded teen suspect who invites the reader into her investigation of her own family — short chapters and quick cliffhangers keep it moving fast.
mildly eerieYAdeep cut
If You Could See the Sun cover
If You Could See the Sun
Ann Liang · 2022
A sharp, propulsive YA about an anxious overachiever whose literal invisibility becomes a moral trap — the class-anxiety and school-scandal beats hit harder than the magic itself.
mildly eerieYAcomplete story
THE ESCAPE GAME cover
THE ESCAPE GAME
Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss · 2025
A reality-TV escape-room competition curdles into a murder investigation as teen contestants race puzzles and a killer's trail at once.
mildly eerieYAcomplete story
The Final Gambit cover
The Final Gambit
Jennifer Lynn Barnes · 2022
A puzzle-box YA finale where riddles and hidden agendas escalate toward a high-stakes reveal, with the inheritance clock and a lingering romance thread driving the momentum.
mildly eerieYA
The Ice Princess cover
The Ice Princess
Camilla Läckberg · 2008
A slow-building small-town mystery where a writer's obsession with a dead friend's past intertwines with a detective's investigation, unearthing buried secrets.
mildly eeriedeep cut
Icarus cover
Icarus
Kayla Ancrum · 2024
A close ya relative — matched on how it reads, with quick, propulsive pacing.
Genuine fraud cover
Genuine fraud
E. Lockhart · 2017
A backward-unfolding cat-and-mouse story of identity theft and betrayal between two young women, building dread as the reader learns the truth in reverse.
YAdeep cut
Ace of Spades cover
Ace of Spades
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé · 2019
A close ya relative — matched on how it reads, with steady pacing.
Erebos cover
Erebos
Ursula Poznanski · 2010
A tense, escalating descent as a teen boy's obsession with a mysterious game blurs into real-world manipulation and danger, told with quick, addictive momentum mirroring the game's own pull.
intensely scaryYAcomplete story

About The cheerleaders — what the genome says

Is The cheerleaders a complete story or a cliffhanger?

It's a complete, standalone-satisfying story.

How scary is The cheerleaders?

Creepy and atmospheric rather than gory or traumatizing.

Who is The cheerleaders for?

It's young adult — teen protagonists with crossover appeal.

Find your next read by its genome

Tell Novelome one book you love — get recommendations tuned to your taste, including the ones other sites never surface.

Start free →
More readalikes: Books like THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE · Books like THE LET THEM THEORY · Books like EXTREME OWNERSHIP · Books like WINGS OF STARLIGHT · Books like DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK, EXPANDED EDITION · Books like I WILL TEACH YOU TO BE RICH, SECOND EDITION · Books like FAKE SKATING · Books like THE CREATIVE ACT