About the Book
-
Author:
- Kalynn Bayron
- Genres:
- Contemporary
- Horror
- Magical Realism
- Suspense
Cover Story: Run (the World)
BFF Charm: Meh
Talky Talk: Short and Suspenseful
Bonus Factors: Summer Camp, Twist
Anti-Bonus Factor: Awful Grown-Ups
Relationship Status: I’ll Be … Over Here
Cover Story: Run (the World)
There is definite fear in this young woman’s eyes, and that red on her shirt might not be corn syrup and dye. And yet, she still looks great? I love this for her.
The Deal:
After working at Camp Mirror Lake for multiple summers, this year Charity is the Final Girl. As part of the terror simulation held at the camp—a “game” in which players are put into a serial killer/horror movie-style situation—this means Charity will be the sole “survivor” of a masked man’s killing spree, save for the occasional player who makes it through the night. Charity loves the game, and horror movies in general, but this year’s different from the rest.
When a strange woman shows up at the gates brandishing a shotgun and mumbling about what “really goes on” in the woods around Mirror Lake, Charity and her friends start looking into the past. But when people start going missing, Charity fears that her status as Final Girl might not be accurate to real life.
BFF Charm: Meh
Charity’s a nice, level-headed young woman who’s overcome a crappy home situation and proven herself a leader. She’s great, in theory, but I never really connected with her on more than a surface level. Or perhaps we just felt too-similar? I’d never work at a terror simulation, since I am still afraid of the dark, but we certainly share “no one else is gonna do it so I will” personality traits.
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Charity and her girlfriend Bezi are very sweet together, and I felt like they really were endgame. But there’s little time for swoon when you’re fighting for your life.
Talky Talk: Short and Suspenseful
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight reads more like a novella than a full-fledged novel, and that’s good and bad in equal measure. Good because the suspense ramps up quickly and doesn’t let us, and bad because there’s a lot of world-building/backstory left out that I would have liked to know more about. That said, I love Bayron’s writing, and it’s clear that she’s done a lot of research (i.e., watching slasher films) in order to create a book that honors the genre.
Bonus Factor: Summer Camp
I’m not sure that I’d ever be able to attend a summer camp, not having read as many creepy novels about sinister things that lurk in the woods as I have—and certainly not one like Camp Mirror Lake, where the scares are thisclose to being real and then people start actually dying. But sleepaway camp (the nice kind) has always sounded like a lot of fun. I’ll just have to live vicariously through books, as I do with a lot of things.
Bonus Factor: Twist
I was not prepared for that ending.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Awful Grown-Ups
Charity has a lot of crappy adults in her life, from her mother’s boyfriend who does everything he can to get her out of the house, to the owner of Camp Mirror Lake who is more than happy to leave everything up to Charity (even when he’s legally required not to), to the town sherriff who eyes the teens at the camp like they’re suspects, regardless of what they’ve actually done. And I won’t go into detail about the additional people that she runs across, because spoilers, but suffice it to say that she has zero good authority figures in her life.
Relationship Status: I’ll Be … Over Here
Book, you are not a nice date. You are a stressful, nervous-making, middle-of-the-day in a very public place kind of date. I’m a scaredy cat, so our relationship isn’t long for this world. There are certainly other people out there for you, but I’m too old to try and change myself into something I’m not and never will be.
Literary Matchmaking
Shawn Sarles’s Campfire is another book about mysterious happenings out in the woods.
The fourth in Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious series, The Box in the Woods also features murders at a summer camp and suspect happenings.
And for classic (campy) horror, don’t sleep on R.L. Stine.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Bloomsbury YA, but got neither a private dance party with Tom Hiddleston nor money in exchange for this review. You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight is available now.
