You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight
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, The Curse of Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business. But on 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.
You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight Book Cover
GOT U COVERED 📕
Author: Kalynn Bayron
Published: 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Genre: Slasher, LGBT Horror, Young Adult
Description: A girl with long curly hair and a frightened look on her face, running down a path leading to a cabin bunk.
THOUGHTS 💭
The book opens straight into the mayhem without much setup or explanation. People are in danger and scared shitless, but if they don’t spring into action fast, the approaching killer is going to use his machete and spill their blood all over the campsite 🩸🏕️ Luckily for them, it’s all fun and games, as it’s revealed that they are part of a terror simulation experience that mirrors a famous horror movie. I think the concept of this camp and the experience is so cool and something that I’d want to participate in. It seems like it’s very intense because participants have to sign a waiver if they get injured during the game. Every fan of horror always has an opinion on how they would approach a situation they see on screen, so this would be a perfect way to test whether they are as savvy or as capable as they think they are. The experience could probably be likened to Dead by Daylight if it was a live experience. So if you’re a fan of that game, I’m sure you’d love this.
We meet Charity; the final girl of this simulation and the main character of the book. She takes her job very seriously. It’s quite the honor to her and from what we find out, her safety net away from her tumultuous home life. Charity is basically in charge of this whole operation because the owner, Mr. Lamont, is often a no-show and only comes at the end of the week to pay them. However, the camp is in capable hands because Charity has dedicated a lot of time, skill, and effort into making this experience the best possible for the clients, and also her coworkers. Throughout the book, you will understand why she is the final girl because she exhibits the very qualities that we associate with that title. She’s considerate, reliable, resourceful, self-assured, and thinks quickly on her feet. She doesn’t make a lot of the dumb decisions that we so often see within slasher movies and because they are very familiar with these tropes, because they are simulating them for work, she and the team are extra savvy when it comes to the decision-making when they are faced with peril.
Charity and her coworkers make up a diverse group of people. We have people of colour (Black and Hispanic) and Queer individuals (Gay and Lesbian), which isn’t traditionally very common within horror. It was a nice additional touch, especially getting to read about the relationship between Charity and her girlfriend Bezi. They have a sweet relationship and you can tell that they are madly in love with each other. They become even more connected due to the horrific circumstances they’re in and Charity’s love and protective nature shone bright when they were in danger. 👩❤️💋👩🌈.
This book also has many red-flag moments that will only make sense once everything is revealed in the final chapters. I think if you re-read the book, you’ll see where certain clues were placed as it related to the events happening under the teens’ noses, however on first reading, you’re pretty clueless as to what’s going on and some things aren’t going to make sense. I like that there aren’t many obvious or predictable moments in the book. You’re along for the ride, and as Charity and Bezi are discovering things, so are we.
Because some things do seem to be a little too odd, my initial thought was that perhaps the camp’s team was playing a prank on Charity and had orchestrated the events by having everyone manipulate things to make their simulation seem real. However, that was not the case. The events were pretty real and I only shook off the prank theory once Charity and Bezi discovered the Owl Society.
Speaking of which, the whole Owl Society 🦉plotline was quite the off-kilter direction to go. I typically don’t like overlapping sub-genres. Slasher mixed with Supernatural doesn’t always work for me and I’m still a bit undecided as to whether it worked here. We still get a lot of exciting action by the third act of the book and it does have its tense moments and gory details that made me wince when I read about fleshy wounds, arrows in eye sockets, and nails coming off 🤢etc. But the scene that was a winner for me was when Charity, Bezi, Kyle, and Javier went to look for Porter, Tasha, and Paige at the nearby home of Miss Keane. That woman is scary and unpredictable so I was expecting the worst when she, along with her shotgun, held the kids in her living room.
This book also has a lot of twists. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving. Once you think it’s reached the climax, it still goes on to reveal something else and when you think all is revealed, then another twist comes. Some were a bit obvious but other story points did throw me off in the best way. As a result of the book’s length and pacing, the story goes by pretty fast so the author doesn’t linger too much on unnecessary details, but at the same time also cuts back on details that would have given more contextual value.
Now, of course, this is not without its flaws. There were things in the book that I think could have been explored more. I wanted to know a little bit more about the characters we were introduced to and what made them work at the camp, especially since the selection of the camp’s team members had significance to Mr Lamont. I also felt like the disappearance and deaths of certain characters could have been given more depth and exploration. Perhaps a suggestion could be; that the camera that Charity finds at the Owl Society’s cabin, could have had a video recording showing the sacrifice of one of the characters as a found-footage element 📸, or better yet, they could have seen it for themselves while they were sneaking around. It just felt like one moment the characters were here and the next they were gone and killed “off-screen” or in this case “off-page”.
The lore of the lake and the incantation aspect also felt a little weak for me and fell short. The ending and epilogue also weren’t the strongest either. I wanted Charity to have her final girl moment like the great Laurie Strode and Sidney Prescott, but instead, she became a sacrificial lamb.
Overall, despite a few shortcomings, it is a very enjoyable book and captures the essence of a summer slasher well. It has its really tense moments and at times is so action-packed that you find yourself immersed in the horror. If you like the Friday the 13th and Dead by Daylight properties, then you’ll appreciate this book hands down. At only 230 pages, you could finish this over the weekend along with a delicious summer beverage 🍹. Going to recommend adding it to your book collection.
I grade this book B-
