SLO County author has new YA book out. What to know about ‘twisty thriller’
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- Wendelin Van Draanen released her latest YA thriller, 'The Steps,' on Sept. 2.
- The story follows a teen chess player suspecting murder within her new step-family.
- Van Draanen will host local bookstore signings in SLO County on Sept. 6 and 7.
One of San Luis Obispo County’s most renowned authors has a new novel aimed at young adults.
Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than 30 books for young readers and teens.
She described her latest novel, “The Steps,” as a “twisty thriller” surrounding a “deliciously dysfunctional family” with shifting alliances and more than a few dark secrets.
Van Draanen, a longtime Pismo Beach resident, is set to host signing events soon at two SLO County bookstores.
Here’s what to know:
Who is SLO County author Wendelin Van Draanen?
Wendelin Van Draanen has a storied history on the Central Coast.
She moved to Lompoc as a teenager and spent several summers working at Solvang restaurants to save up for tuition at UC Santa Barbara.
As a college student, Van Draanen said she started writing as a way to process grief and trauma after her father died and an arsonist burned down her family’s business.
Putting pen to paper was a form of therapy, she said.
“I started writing a fictionalized version of the outcome of things — like catching the bad guy and all that stuff — and that kind of got me hooked on the wonderful world of fiction,” she said.
Van Draanen said she never received a formal education in creative writing, but slowly taught herself how to write children’s books over the course of a decade. At the same time, she was teaching at St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria and raising two boys.
Each day, she would carve out time in the early morning to write. She’d then drop off her kids off at school and day care before heading to her job at the high school.
“I went to the school of hard knocks and writing for 10 years, and then I finally got my first book deal,” Van Draanen recalled.
Pismo Beach writer’s books made into movies
Van Draanen has written three dozen books for children and young adults over the past 28 years, according to the author’s website.
Her most acclaimed books, the 18-part Sammy Keyes series, follows a seventh grader’s adventures as an amateur sleuth. Van Draanen won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery for the first book in the series in 1998.
Some of her works have also been adapted for the big screen.
Her teen romance novel “Flipped” was made into a Warner Brothers movie directed by “Princess Bride” director Rob Reiner in 2010.
Her four-book “Shredderman” book series, about a fifth-grader who takes revenge on a school bully, inspired a television movie that aired on Nickelodeon in 2007.
Van Draanen said she would love for more of her books to be adapted as movies or streaming series, but she’s also grateful to have already achieved that twice in her career.
“I feel like it’s greedy to want more, but I can totally see ‘The Steps’ as a Netflix series,” she exclaimed.
What’s new YA thriller ‘The Steps’ about?
Van Draanen’s most recent book, “The Steps,” came out in stores and online on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
The thriller, which is aimed at readers ages 12 to 17, follows Ruby Vossen, a talented high school chess player. While grieving the loss of her mother, Vossen begins to suspect her new step-family may be plotting to murder her and inherit her family’s fortune.
“There are a lot of secrets and lies and lethal threats,” Van Draanen said. “It’s a page turner, but it also has a theme — the importance of family and friendship over greed and money.”
The book’s publisher, Penguin Random House, described “The Steps” as “The Queen’s Gambit” meets “Riverdale.”
Online book reviewer Shelf Awareness called Van Draanen’s new book “one humdinger of a mystery” that’s “full of heart.”
Van Draanen said she drew upon a few of her own life experiences to shape the book, which took her a year to write.
“What authors do is they take things that have affected them emotionally, and they amplify them into a character,” she said. “There have been real-life influences that have shown me firsthand the importance of valuing family over finance.”
You can purchase “The Steps” anywhere books are sold, though Van Draanen urged readers to support local independent booksellers and brick-and-mortar stores.
When are SLO County book signing events for ‘The Steps’?
Van Draanen is hosting book launch events for “The Steps” at two local bookstores.
She will be available to chat and sign books from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6, at Monarch Books, 201 East Branch St., Arroyo Grande.
Her second signing event will be from 1 to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 7, at Barnes & Noble, 894 Marsh St. in San Luis Obispo.
This story was originally published September 5, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
