Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dissidents | 1989 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 2 | Chasing Forgiveness / What Daddy Did | 1991 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 3 | The Eyes of Kid Midas | 1992 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 4 | Speeding Bullet | 1992 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 5 | The Dark Side of Nowhere | 1996 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 6 | Downsiders | 1999 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 7 | Full Tilt | 2003 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 8 | Bruiser | 2010 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 9 | Challenger Deep | 2015 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 10 | Chasing Forgiveness | 2015 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 11 | Dry | 2018 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 12 | Game Changer | 2021 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 13 | Roxy | 2021 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 14 | Break to You | 2024 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
| 15 | All Better Now | 2025 | Neal Shusterman | Buy |
Neal Shusterman’s standalone novels cover an enormous range. His earliest, Dissidents (1989), appeared at the start of his career, while All Better Now (2025) is among his most recent. In between, Challenger Deep (2015) won the National Book Award for its portrayal of a teenager’s experience with schizophrenia, drawing on Shusterman’s own son’s mental health journey.
Other standalones include Full Tilt (2003), a surreal thriller set in a nightmarish amusement park; Bruiser (2010), about a boy who absorbs others’ pain; Dry (2018), a survival thriller co-written with his son Jarrod about California’s water running out; and Game Changer (2021), which plays with alternate realities. The breadth of these books — realistic, fantastical, comedic, devastating — shows why Shusterman is considered one of the most versatile voices in YA fiction.