Review: You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

by Kalynn Bayron

Release Date: June 20, 2023

2023 Bloomsbury YA

Kindle Edition; 230 Pages

ISBN: 978-1547611546

ASIN: B0BLKGPSLV

Audiobook: B0BY3GZRGR

Genre: Fiction / YA / Horror

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

 Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.

But the last weekend of the season, Charity's co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity's role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they'll need figure out what this killer is after. Is there is more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?

 

My Thoughts

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight is a short, fast young adult horror tale, one that I had high hopes for at the beginning, one that took a sharp nose-dive into a direction I was hoping it wouldn't go, hence the rating.  It definitely has a unique premise, one that intrigued me, even sent me on a Google search to see if the place actually existed (sadly, it did not).  The characters were fun, even making smart choices, until that deep-dive halfway through the book.

 

First of all, the main characters were interesting, but I especially liked Charity. I definitely like it when then MC makes smart choices, especially one who is familiar with slasher films and know what not to do when things go bump in the night. Charity and her friends work at Camp Mirror Lake and the objective is to create a scary experience for paying guests; they recreate scenes from slasher films and have the guests go through these scary things and the one left standing at the end wins a prize. I enjoyed the discussions around the difficulties creating the scenarios and what Charity and her friends had to do to fix props, create props, etc... The author definitely establishes this atmosphere of fear and foreboding right from the get-go through this whole set-up. There is also great and realistic LGBT representation in the story, and I enjoyed the funny, light-hearted comments between the characters.

 

The plot itself would have been great if the author had stuck to the tone of the first half of the novel. There was this element of tension and fear that had developed through little things happening, and I enjoyed Charity's mental discourse as she talked herself out of going to places alone, reminding herself what happens to girls who get too curious.  However, right at the beginning, three camp workers go missing, and this is where I started having problems with the story. Why would Charity and her friends not even think to investigate? Why would they not check their rooms or call their homes to see if they went home?  Why just assume all three just up and left? And I know this sounds picky, but I also had a problem with the fact there were no adults on the premises. I guess the responsible person in me just couldn't let that point go.

 

The plot takes a steep turn about halfway through and while the writing was still enough to keep me reading, I wasn't a big fan of the paranormal element in the story simply because I feel like the author wasn't committed to going that route, as if they didn't know if it was the right path to take. Personally, I thought it was strong enough to stay the more traditional slasher route and would have been a lot more fun.  I also thought the other characters lacked depth and this is probably due to the length of the book as there was not enough time for the reader to get to know all the characters.  Also, one of the tropes I hate in horror novels is one where people are told NOT to go in there or go in the lake. That one drives me nuts as honestly, that would be the first things I would do.  

Verdict

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight had a great premise, great writing, and if it had stuck to the slasher-type of story-writing, would have been great. I wish it had stayed campy, included more humour, and witty dialogue, as that it what drew me at the beginning.  However, the author is very talented and I really hope they write more horror novels in the future as I would definitely be on board.