Books like Absent by Katie Williams

Alicia Berenson, a celebrated painter, shoots her husband Gabriel and then falls silent, becoming a media sensation. In North London’s Grove secure unit, psychotherapist Theo Faber devotes himself to uncovering why she became the Silent Patient and his own true motives.

A middle‑aged man returns to his childhood home, where memories of a magical girl and a mysterious farm haunt him, revealing a dark, supernatural mystery from his youth.

When Clay Jenkins discovers 13 tapes left by his classmate Hannah Baker, who recently committed suicide, he must confront the 13 reasons that drove her to end her life—one of which is him.

After being murdered at fourteen, Susie Salmon watches from heaven as her family, friends, and killer grapple with grief and justice, revealing how love and forgiveness shape a family's future.

High school junior Kristina’s life spirals when an illicit drug called crank enters her world, forcing her to confront addiction, family turmoil, and the threat of pregnancy in a harsh teenage reality.

Twin African American sisters flee their hometown after their father's murder—one chooses to pass as white while the other stays true to her identity, exploring race, family, and the complexities of self through generations.

A novel about a man who gives his daughter with Down syndrome to a nurse, sparking controversy and gaining widespread attention in the media.

Teenager Suze faces a haunting dilemma when a ghostly love entangles her with a living admirer, forcing her to choose between the dead and the living.

Jay’s Journal follows a bright high‑school student whose life spirals into drug use, occult practices, and dark romance, forcing him to confront the dangerous world he once thought he could master.

Two college friends discover that love can span continents and a decade when they reunite after life‑changing choices thrust them apart.

A teenage girl named Alexis confronts a powerful ghost whose destiny is unexpectedly linked to her own.

Seventeen‑year‑old Troy, weighing nearly 300 pounds and coping with depression and suicidal thoughts, finds a new outlook when a homeless guitarist invites him to join a rock band as drummer.

After choking on a gummy bear, Charlotte Usher dies and becomes invisible, yet she continues to chase popularity in high school with deadpan wit and a fresh, satirical tone.

At Bridgewater High, junior Jordan's attempt to join the popular crowd turns into a frightening mystery when her pranks trigger a restless spirit. Together with friend Charlie, she must uncover the truth behind a decades‑old tragedy.

289 pages ; 21 cm

Suze, a teenage mediator who has grown accustomed to ghosts, finds love with deceased Jesse, a 19th‑century figure, and must decide whether to use her powers to change history and save him from death.

Pip, a high‑school student struggling with drug use and a troubled family life, faces expulsion unless he attends classes and sees a counselor—and he fears the school will bring his isolated father to the table.

Sixteen‑year‑old Rinn, whose bipolar disorder complicates life, moves with her mother to their Ohio hometown. Their new home, the former house of a woman who hung herself, holds dark family secrets and a vengeful school ghost.

A high-school senior's attempt to help a friend facing weight loss and self-perception issues.

Vanished Echoes: A haunting tale confronting division through a child’s disappearance in London When a 10-year-old girl goes missing on her walk home from school, it sparks a rapidly escalating crisis told through the lens of an urgent primetime breaking news broadcast. This gripping page-turner places you directly inside a marathon live telecast tracking each new development as it happens. Told in real-time through on-scene reports, profiling experts and official statements, this present-tense account builds nonstop suspense surrounding the girl’s unknown fate over several frantic nights. More than just a crime drama, Vanished Echoes weaves incisive social commentary on prejudice, mental health neglect and media power into the unfolding mystery. An inventive book that achieves what few works have dared – putting the reader at the heart of the story as virtual viewer.

When Jade transfers to a new high school, she inherits a haunted house where the ghost of a former popular girl stalks her. Together with her friends, Jade must solve a lingering murder mystery that links past and present school tensions.

"I very much need to be dead." These are the chilling last words left by a man who had everything to live for but took his own life. In the void that remains stands his widow, FBI agent Jane Hawk, surrounded by questions destined to go unanswered unless she does what all the grief and fury inside her demand: Find the truth, no matter what. People of talent and accomplishment, people seemingly happy and sound of mind, have recently been committing suicide in surprising numbers. A disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge. Jane is determined to give up everything to find out why. And if that means going rogue and becoming America's Most Wanted, then so be it. Those arrayed against her are legion, and devoted to protecting something profoundly important-or terrifying-enough to exterminate any and all in their way. But Jane is as clever as these enemies are cold-blooded, as relentless as they are ruthless. And she is driven by a righteous rage they can never comprehend. Because it is born of love.

A supernatural romance that explores a bond transcending death, set against the backdrop of a New York town linked to the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

When reclusive novelist Vida Winter’s health wanes, she tasks biographer Margaret Lea with revealing the truth of her life, though Margaret must sift through Winter’s penchant for exaggeration to arrive at facts.

At Rotten School, a bullying showdown unfolds when the fearless bully Joe Sweety faces a ghostly prank from his classmates, threatening to turn his harsh ways into a lesson in kindness.

After his mother dies, 12‑year‑old David escapes into the stories that once comforted him, only for myth and war to collide in a world where a Crooked Man and a faded king rule over wolves and hidden secrets.

In the third book of the Burn for Burn trilogy, Lillia, Kat, and Mary confront the consequences of their New Year's Eve encounter, navigating friendship, grief, and supernatural challenges on a school island.