Age appropriate books for advanced reader 13yr old boy

[Frozentoo]

Son is (almost) 13 and an advanced reader. Struggling to find books that are interesting for him that are age appropriate and don't contain sex/go on about relationships/too graphic in violent scenes as lots of young adult books seem to.
He loves crime, spy, thriller types that are more realistic, though did really enjoy the northern lights series and power of 5.
As an idea has recently read all the Theodore Boone series by John Grisham and enjoyed it but read it so quickly - over Easter hols he read at least a book a day! Any ideas?

At that age, my dc was allowed to read whatever they wanted.

Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch books are pretty suitable. They’re detective novels which aren’t too violent and there’s over 20 of them. Ben Macintyre writes spy and historical non-fiction which reads as fiction - he’s a fantastic writer.

Has he read all the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz?
The adult Anthony Horowitz murder mystery books are pretty good (he's done 2 different series at the same time - the Magpie Murder series and the Hawthorn (?) series.
Adult John Grishams aren't particularly violent. He might enjoy those as he's read Theodore Boone.

If he's secondary age and an advanced reader I'd honestly let him choose whatever he wanted. Theodore Boone, Power of Five etc are exactly the type of age that those series are designed for. I would have said an advanced 13 year old reader would be looking beyond that sort of thing, more towards adult genres, some of the classics. I enjoyed some Dickens at that age, has he tried any? A Tale of Two Cities might be a good start.

Brilliant - will try those suggestions - thank you!
Yes, he avidly read all the Alex Riders when he was 9 - that's what got him into reading and he's not stopped since!!

What about some gothic horror type stuff?

Some Stephen King?

I second Stephen King. DD loves all of his books

One of my DS's liked the Robert Muchamore series Cherub and another series he did.

It depends on what themes and authors he likes. But any adult literature should be suitable for a confident reader of 13. He doesn't need censorship of content in written fiction form I don't think.

Yes. How “advanced” a reader can you actually be at thirteen? It’s kind of expected they they can all read fluently long before 13…

Its more that he finds sex/relationships a bit embarrassing - he is still 12! It's fair enough! and I'm struggling to find books that avoid that whilst being challenging and not too babyish if that makes sense - wasn't trying to make it sound like I was showing off - more that he is a very capable reader so doesn't need to be restricted by children's books!
Stephen King a good shout!

I really liked Cherub and the prequel series Henderson's Boys - but they are very violent and have plots with drugs, bad language etc.
Henderson's Boys is set in the second world war and was a bit tough going in some parts (for me a grown up adult reader 🙂).

The usual fantasy stuff like Terry Pratchett's Discworld, or maybe the Chronicles of Prydain by LLoyd Alexander? Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

I find a lot of the modern teen fiction a bit....woke. Or they might be a fun read but perhaps they're formulaic and not very challenging.

He should read a wide variety of genres if possible. Some of the classics would be very challenging to today's 13 year olds but are worth a go. He'll probably find the language very archaic at first.

If he likes mystery stuff how about historical fiction? CJ Sansoms Shardlake series isn't very relationship heavy.

I may have been an outlier but I was about that age when I got hold of a Sherlock Holmes omnibus edition and never looked back.

Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co series, Scarlett and Browne series, and his Bartmaieus series.
Garth Nix’s Sabriel series.
John Christopher’s Tripods trilogy.
Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines series, Railhead series and Here Lies Arthur.
John Wyndham
Isaac Asimov
Rosemary Sutcliff
Douglas Adams
Terry Pratchett
Diana Wynne Jones
Agatha Christie

Ours started on the Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell at about that age, he's read about ten of them by now. He also really loved Dracula.

I'd be happy for him to read almost anything he wanted but I'd draw the line at anything deliberately subversive - plenty of time for the Naked Lunch or His Dark Materials later, no need for that sort of thing while they're still settling down imo.

Good call, I was going to suggest those.

You want to avoid sex/want age appropriate and you’re going with Stephen King?!

Older books as in written in the 20th century… the writing style is more in depth, even with “children’s” books like animals of farthing wood or Watership down- meatier writing with words he might have to look up to understand etc.

Sci fi? Classics like Hitchikers Guide or Contact? Or Dune?

Another vote for Cherub.
I love the Charlie Higson zombie series books if he doesn’t mind a bit of gore
The more boyish classics - Ivanhoe/Robinson Crusoe/Wilkie Collins/some Dickens

He might try the Hatful of Sky/Tiffany books by Pratchett? Some reference to relationships in a couple of them, I recall, but not too much.

Has he read all the stuff you just read for pure enjoyment at that age? eg Percy Jackson series, Artemis Fowl?

My DS14 (year 9) is an advanced reader too, and to be honest, after a period of only wanting to read scientific non fiction like Ben Goldacre I was pleased he wanted to balance it with some fiction and I let him read what he wants.

I spoke to his English teacher about the sort of authors he was wanting to read and she was all for it, the only note of caution was that he might not get the most out of some of the more challenging reads and would probably want to read them again in a few years.

He‘s enjoyed Dickens, Austen, etc, but also Orwell, Camus and Kafka. I bought him the guide to Penguin modern classics and he’s enjoyed going through that deciding which authors appeal to him.

Being such a wide reader does open him up to adult themes and we talk about these together. He read the Handmaid’s Tale recently and had a great conversation about personal freedoms, especially in the context of the current political situation in America. This past year his teachers have all remarked on how much he’s developed academically and they have put it down in part to his wide reading.

Stephen King may have some very occasional sex stuff in it in a very small way. But a lot would go over his head, as it did mine at that age. He is just a very good writer. It's not Jackie Collins.

And think what is easily found on the internet these days, even by chance..... Stephen King is not a problem.