Books like THE ESCAPE GAME

THE ESCAPE GAME by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss reads as suspenseful, playful. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

What THE ESCAPE GAME is like to read

A reality-TV escape-room competition curdles into a murder investigation as teen contestants race puzzles and a killer's trail at once. Propulsive, puzzle-driven suspense built for quick page-turning with a revenge undertow. Best for: YA readers who love competition-thriller whodunits with escape-room puzzles and a hidden-killer hunt.

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

Truly Devious

Maureen Johnson · 2018

A boarding-school mystery braided with a cold-case kidnapping from the 1930s — puzzle-forward with academy atmosphere and a teen sleuth chasing a nearly century-old riddle.

mildly eerieYAcliffhanger

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

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder The Collection

Holly Jackson · 2021

A multi-book investigation-driven mystery series following an earnest teenage detective uncovering interconnected murders and disappearances in her small town through immersive, breathless narration.

YAdeep cut

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

Icarus

Kayla Ancrum · 2024

A close ya relative — matched on how it reads, with quick, propulsive pacing.

Ace of Spades

Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé · 2019

A close ya relative — matched on how it reads, with steady pacing.

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

My Lovely Wife

Samantha Downing · 2019

A suburban-noir confessional narrated from inside a marriage where murder is the shared hobby — propulsive, twisty, and gleefully amoral rather than emotionally harrowing.

creepy, not gorycomplete storydeep cut

Someone We Know

Shari Lapena · 2019

A taut suburban mystery in which a teenager's hacking unearths buried secrets tied to a woman's disappearance, unraveling community trust and personal culpability through interlocking POVs and mounting dread.

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