The Road to Winter by Mark Smith

Since a deadly virus and the violence that followed killed his parents and wiped out most of his community, Finn has lived alone on the rugged coast with only his loyal dog Rowdy for company. He has stayed alive for two winters – hunting and fishing and trading food. He’s managed to stay hidden from the Wilders, an armed and dangerous gang that controls the north, led by a ruthless man named Ramage. But Finn’s isolation is shattered when a girl runs onto the beach. Rose is a Siley (an asylum seeker) and she needs Finn’s help. She’s just escaped from Ramage, together with her younger sister, and Ramage wants the two girls back – at any cost.

Black by Fleur Ferris

Ebony Marshall is in her final year of high school and can’t wait to leave her hometown where she’s known only as ‘Black’. Everyone says she’s cursed. Three of her best friends have died in tragic accidents, and now she’s used to being on her own. It’s easier that way. But when her date for the formal ends up in intensive care, something in quiet little Dainsfield starts to stir. Old secrets are revealed and terrifying new dangers emerge. If only Black could put all the pieces together, she could work out who her real enemies are.

In the Skin of a Monster by Kathryn Barker

Three years ago, Alice’s identical twin sister took a gun to school and killed seven kids; now Alice has to live with the face of a monster. Already struggling to come to terms with her identity, and with life in the small Australian town where everyone was touched by the tragedy – Alice thinks things can’t get much worse. Then she encounters her sister on a deserted highway. But all is not what it seems, and Alice soon discovers that she has stepped into a different reality, a dream world, where she’s trapped with the nightmares of everyone in the community.

Game Theory by Barry Jonsberg

Jamie is a sixteen-year-old maths whiz, his older sister Summerlee is in the grip of a wild phase, and tensions at home are at an all-time high. When Summerlee wins the 7.5 million dollar lottery, she cuts all ties with her family. But money can cause trouble, and when Jamie’s younger sister Phoebe is kidnapped for a ransom, the family faces a crisis almost too painful to bear. Jamie thinks he can use game theory – the strategy of predicting an opponent’s actions – to get Phoebe back. But can he outfox the kidnapper? Or is he putting his own and his sister’s life at risk?

Run by Tim Sinclair

Dee lives for two things: the physical and mental discipline of parkour, and the dystopic scenarios he invents to escape his mundane life. He knows the city better than anyone – the hidden spaces at night, the views that no one else sees, from heights no one else can scale. With parkour, he’s not running away. He’s just free. But when he’s caught up in a frightening conspiracy and the boundaries between fantasy and reality break down, he’ll have to run for his life. Run for real. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

Cry Blue Murder by Kim Kane and Marion Roberts

Celia and Alice share everything – their secrets, hopes, and the increasing horror that a killer is on the loose and abducting schoolgirls just like them. Three bodies have been found, each shrouded in handwoven fabric. From within the depths of a police investigation, clues are starting to emerge. But as Alice and Celia discover the truth, danger is closer than anyone knows.

Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancottiy

These six Californian teens have powers that set them apart, but don’t call them heroes. Ethan (aka Scam) has a voice inside him that’ll say whatever people want to hear, whether it’s true or not. Which is handy, except when it isn’t – like when the voice starts gabbing in the middle of a bank robbery. The only people who can help are the other Zeroes, who aren’t exactly best friends these days. Enter Nate (aka Bellwether). After Scam’s SOS, he pulls the scattered group back together. But when the rescue blows up in their faces, the Zeroes find themselves propelled into whirlwind encounters with ever more dangerous criminals.

My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier

Che’s little sister Rosa is smart, talented, pretty, and so good at deception that Che’s convinced she must be a psychopath. She hasn’t hurt anyone yet, but he’s certain it’s just a matter of time. And when their parents move them to New York City, Che longs to return to Sydney and his three best friends. But his first duty is to his sister Rosa, who is playing increasingly complex and disturbing games.

Sweet Damage by Rebecca James

When Tim Ellison finds a cheap room to rent in the perfect location in Sydney it looks like a huge stroke of luck. In fact the room comes with a condition, and the owner of the house, the mysterious Anna London, is unfriendly and withdrawn. When strange and terrifying things start happening in the house at night, Tim wonders if taking the room was a mistake. But then his feelings for Anna start to change, and when her past comes back with a vengeance, Tim is caught right in the middle of the chaos.

Every series by Ellie Marney

Ellie Marney’s trilogy asks what if Sherlock Holmes was the boy next door? Rachel Watts is an unwilling new arrival to Melbourne from the country. James Mycroft is her neighbour, an intriguingly troubled seventeen-year-old genius with a passion for forensics. Despite her misgivings, Rachel finds herself unable to resist Mycroft when he wants her help investigating a murder. And when Watts and Mycroft follow a trail to the cold-blooded killer, they find themselves in the lion’s den – literally.