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

Publisher’s Book Description:

At Camp Mirror Lake, terror is the name of the game . . . but can you survive the night?

This heart-pounding slasher by New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron is perfect for fans of Fear Street.

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?

Karen’s Thoughts:

I have a 14 year old and we have entered our horror phase, which delights me. We have been spending our time together watching the Scream franchise and other horror classics like I Know What You Did Last Summer. She even recently bought her first Stephen King book! So I was so excited to read the description of this book and I am here to tell you that IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

The first thing I need you to know that the premise of this book is creative and fun. These kids work at a summer camp in which you go and act out famous horror movie tropes. It’s all fun and games . . . or is it? One by one people start disappearing and you never know if it’s part of the game or something more sinister is going on. There are scenes of real edge of your seat terror and suspense here.

Reading this as an adult, I thought to myself, no one would ever let teens do this – but those little things are actually addressed in the book itself, so you are never taken out of the story with a sense of disbelief. It was very well done, the way Bayron knew what we would question and how they gave us answers right there in the text.

This was a fun and entertaining read. I highly recommend it; it has high teen appeal and sometimes, you just need a fun, entertaining read. The MC is Black and identifies as queer, so there is some discussion of what that means in her life. There is also discussion of poverty and family dynamics. So I don’t mean to suggest that there is no there there in this book. I want to give credit to those issues which are seamlessly weaved into the story. But at the end of the day, I just really appreciated the creative premise and the entertaining execution.

Give this and How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine to every horror fan in your life. They are both such fun send ups of popular horror tropes that delight and entertain while also giving you a bit of fear and suspense.

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