For political thriller : James Patterson's "Maximum Ride" might count? It's got sf/f elements and dystopia elements (basically it's wingfic) but it's ya by someone who writes that genre and it mostly fits? I have not read but it's been pretty popular for awhile.
Maybe also Alex Rider but I see you have that covered elsewhere.
I wonder if you could get away with "The Princess Diaries".
Maybe the Young Prince Black Panther novels? He's a prince, everything he does is political, even if that's not really the main genre.
And there's been a spate of great books for younger readers that directly address Black Lives Matter activism lately. IDK if that counts as a political thriller but it should. "A Good Kind Of Trouble" is the first one I would rec leaning younger because them main character doesn't have any loved one violently murdered; The Hate U Give is the rec if you are ok with that. The March graphic novels by John Lewis are also really good and full of thrilling, tense political stuff, if she liked the Takei. So is "Boxers" and "Saints".
If you want something a hell of a lot lighter, sillier, and aimed younger (which let's be real is probably closer in spirit to the adult genre) "the capitol mysteries" by Rob Roy is about the kids of someone high up in the DC establishment solving political mysteries.
(Searching the tagmash on LT is getting me a lot of classic YA dystopias and fantasy, Cory Doctorow as mentioned above, and also 'Leia, princess of Alderaan' by Claudia Gray. So I think you've got a lot of scope .)
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Maybe also Alex Rider but I see you have that covered elsewhere.
I wonder if you could get away with "The Princess Diaries".
Maybe the Young Prince Black Panther novels? He's a prince, everything he does is political, even if that's not really the main genre.
And there's been a spate of great books for younger readers that directly address Black Lives Matter activism lately. IDK if that counts as a political thriller but it should. "A Good Kind Of Trouble" is the first one I would rec leaning younger because them main character doesn't have any loved one violently murdered; The Hate U Give is the rec if you are ok with that. The March graphic novels by John Lewis are also really good and full of thrilling, tense political stuff, if she liked the Takei. So is "Boxers" and "Saints".
If you want something a hell of a lot lighter, sillier, and aimed younger (which let's be real is probably closer in spirit to the adult genre) "the capitol mysteries" by Rob Roy is about the kids of someone high up in the DC establishment solving political mysteries.
(Searching the tagmash on LT is getting me a lot of classic YA dystopias and fantasy, Cory Doctorow as mentioned above, and also 'Leia, princess of Alderaan' by Claudia Gray. So I think you've got a lot of scope .)