Lately, I’ve been requesting a lot of horror novels to review. I like horror. I enjoy getting spooked.

Most of the books I’ve gotten for review have been properly scary in the horror filled sections but one thing they all seem to have in common is this strange ability to jump to conclusions without evidence.

Now, I’m an adult. I’m not the target audience. Fine. I’ve only been reading YA exclusively for 10+ years and have a few degrees in writing, one of which is a graduate degree in writing for children and YA audiences. What do I know?

I won’t drop titles here because the books will come out soon enough and you’ll be able to read my individual ire in those reviews.

BUT!

In each of the YA horror novels that I’ve read recently, characters either pick up on things immediately or they get to a huge conclusion all on their own without any sort of clues.

For example: in the book I’m currently reading, the MC sees his best friend/love interest on the first day back at school with blood on his sleeve, then the police show up.

The MC immediately wondered what his friend had done even though:

A: that’s his best friend, a relationship which should have the largest possible benefit of the doubt. And…

B: The police hadn’t even asked to speak to his friend.

That’s a big jump from, “Hey, great to see you. How was break?” to “Did you murder your parents?”

In another that I just scheduled a review for, the MC and friends get trapped on an island by a mysterious, acid-like fog. The MC has a sleep paralysis demon and eventually explains to her friends how she feels the whole situation is her fault because she fell asleep before performing her usual ritual.

And all of her friends then blame her.

Not one person attempts to calm her down, they just instantly believe that yes, your sleep paralysis demon (in this everyday universe where we don’t normally believe in or see actual demons) is the reason we are trapped here.

Later they find a picture in a history book they just happened to have picked up in town, with unfettered symbolism for each of the main characters.

If I had taken these stories to a workshop, these things would have been pointed out. They are huge jumps in logic and disrupt the very delicate suspension of disbelief required to read any sort of genre fiction.

My hope is that this isn’t a trend to get the story rolling. Part of the allure of horror, thriller, and suspense is not only the fear but the lore that gets created. Are there creatures in the wood? Could your best friend kill their parents? Are we actually in a simulation run by robot overlords? Am I in danger when I walk alone at night? Will this main character survive? What happened 50 years ago? What aren’t the adults talking about?

It all builds tension. And we can’t build up to something being a surprise or a twist without painting a clear picture of what is normal.

So–were these stories trying to tell me that everyone has a sleep paralysis demon that they control with ukelele song and that my best friend is capable of murdering their parents?

Because that’s what it feels like.

I hope for future titles that there is an appropriate focus on the how as well as what and why.