Thoroughly enjoyed this teen slasher. It made me feel like I was a kid again in the 90s’ reading Fear Street. ( )

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/iMa1fQU_q8Q

Enjoy! ( )

A thrilling, wild ride of a slasher novel! It had my heart racing and nervous at every turn of the page. ( )

I picked this up because I loved the cover, the title and the concept. The opening was strong: dramatic, surprising and fun and I figured that I'd settle in for a fun, fast tripe-twisting read.

And that's what it felt like for the first third of the book. The scene was painted with deft economy. The humour and the dialogue worked. I loved that one of the characters kept quoting "The Rules Of Horror", lore culled from decades of Horror Movies, qw q guide to what to do and not do as things got more and more weird.

I started to lose interest about the halfway mark. The initial trigger was that the pace of the story slowed down. It was nothing terrible and was It mostly done to accommodate the arrival of fresh characters and to set up the new situation Charity faces when her boss gives her new instructions. Unfortunately, the reduction in pace highlighted just how plot-driven the story was. When the plot stalled, everything stalled. I noticed that there was no character development going on. Charity grabbed my attention from the first page. She was easy to like. Yet, halfway through the book, I knew very little about her and had only a surface view of what she was feeling.

About the same time, I started to struggle with Charity's reactions. Charity comes across as smart and quick thinking so I found it hard to accept that it never even occurred to her that some of her team may have gone missing rather than having simply left with no notice.

The use of the present tense didn't help. It was fine at the start of the book when there was a lot going in. It pulled me into the story quickly and gave the action a sense of immediacy, but it's hard to sustain and it gives a very limited view of what's going on.

I realised that I was starting to skim and that the book had become too Scooby Doo for me, albeit with an updated and more inclusive cast of characters,

I know that I wasn't the target demographic for this book when I started it but I'd hoped to be carried through by its exuberance. It almost worked but I'd rather set the book aside than skim it.

Booktube Review Here: https://youtu.be/VrO9enoexFM?si=rGxiSKrxjF4hR-xm

The setting and atmosphere of You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight is isolated and creepy. Kalynn Bayron creates a work experience at Camp Mirror Lake for Charity Curtis with just as many perks as hiccups. Taking advantage of an unsupervised summer job, Charity is living her best life curating a full-contact horror experience for those who are brave enough to face Camp Mirror Lake. It’s tainted, but hidden history is the main attraction. What happens when hidden history is revealed and tries to repeat itself? Strange things start happening, and what a ride it was!

Likes

What I enjoyed most about this book is the red herrings. Each character I expected to be responsible for the chaos was suspicious, but not the expected party. I was genuinely caught off guard by who we should have been leery about.

I also enjoyed how the author built suspense and tension in the story, as the mood of the book changed with the events. At many points I felt tense, scared, and a little unsettled. The setting and positioning of isolating characters and depriving them of reliable access to modern-day technology ramped up these feelings; forcing everyone to work overtime to survive the ordeals of their time spent at Camp Mirror Lake. These elements kept me reading and wondering what was to happen next.

Gripes/Dislikes

Pacing

The pacing was slow for the first 50% of the book. If it were not for the tension and suspense built during this time, I would have had difficulty maintaining interest in the book. Luckily, the pacing picks up after the 50% mark.

This may be a ‘me’ thing. I’m only partial to slower pacing when character connections are built along the way, and this story faltered for me in that area in the first 50%. Thus, the increase in pacing of the later 50% did not negate the slowness of the first 50%. My reading experience was affected by both.

Character Development

Character development is important to me as a reader, and it was somehow lost on me in this novel. I didn’t feel much attachment to the characters. For as much time as I spent with them, there was only one character I was genuinely curious about. Unfortunately, I felt like the characters were strangers, which affected my enjoyment of this book.

In addition to this, the characters seemed like they were written as half of a person. Characterization of each character was a fraction or fragment of a whole character that could have been created to better facilitate the story.

Twists

The ending of the book was surprising, but it wasn’t satisfying because there was an END to the end, and that can always be a hit or miss with me. It may be a personal preference for me, as I tire from a book with twists stacked against each other. Eventually, it’s like a game of Jenga, and there’s that inauspicious chance of the finality of the story collapsing. It’s the burden of consecutive twists. Not all of them worked for me.

What I Wanted More Of

Lastly, I desired better usage of space within the story to explore the history of Camp Mirror Lake. I understand that the mystery behind its history is intentional. However, from my viewpoint, it was a disservice to the overall story. If the history of Camp Mirror Lake was tied more into the story, we would have had more opportunities for red herring appearances. I think integrating more of the history could have served as the foundation for creating characters that deliver massive confusion and suspension; messing with readers’ heads. Think along the lines of “ABSOLUTELY nobody can be trusted.”

All in All

I liked You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight, despite it not being as impactful as expected.

For what it’s worth, this book did not disappoint with the killings. If that’s what you looking forward to, this book is for you.

Don’t let my review prevent you from picking up this teenage slasher. Give it a try and see where you land on the scale of literary enjoyment. ( )