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Cover of Killer's Cousin

Killer's Cousin

Nancy Werlin (1998)

SubgenreHigh Fantasy
Age groupYA 12-17
Content ratingPG-13
Pages (Quick Read (<250))
Setting
CSM age14
Goodreads3.63
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Content levels

ViolenceModerate
Sexual contentNone
LanguageMild

Trigger warnings

MurderDeathGriefGaslightingMental ManipulationChild HarmPsychological Trauma

Positive tags

MysterySelf-DiscoveryComing of Age

Hero archetypes

Coming-of-Age HeroTortured HeroOutcast / Loner

Protagonist archetypes

Morally Gray Protagonist

Tropes

Unreliable NarratorFish out of WaterHaunted LocationHidden IdentityDark Secrets

Themes

GuiltRedemptionTruth and LiesFamily SecretsPsychological TraumaIdentityMoral Ambiguity

Synopsis

After being acquitted of murder, seventeen-year-old David goes to stay with relatives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he finds himself forced to face his past as he learns more about his strange young cousin Lily.

Is Killer's Cousin appropriate for my child?

Suitable for most readers 14 and up.

Teen psychological thriller involving murder acquittal and disturbing family dynamics. Contains themes of guilt, manipulation, and possible supernatural elements with a strange young cousin.

What to know going in

This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include child harm, murder, death, and grief (see the full list above).

Who'll love this

Teens will be gripped by the dark mystery of whether David really is innocent and what's wrong with his creepy cousin Lily.

Tags

Psychological ThrillerContemporary FantasyMysteryGothic