Book Review: You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
Genre: Horror Thriller/Slasher
Age: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Kalynn Bayron is, admittedly, one of my favourite authors. I’ve never read a book of hers I’ve disliked, and this is the fourth book by her I’ve read, with more currently sitting on my TBR (I forever seem to have two Bayron books at a time on my TBR!). And safe to say, You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight shows that Bayron isn’t just talented at fantasy, but horror, too.
But with books like Cinderella Is Dead and This Poison Heart, both of which blend horror into more fantasy-heavy works, this should come as no surprise. This Poison Heart struck me as delightfully gothic, and with You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight, Bayron proves she can pull off slasher horror.
Charity couldn’t be happier – not only does she work at Camp Mirror Lake, but she’s been promoted to final girl, putting her at the centre of the game they run for guests alongside managing the whole camp while the owner remains absent. But during the last weekend of the season, Charity loses co-workers. Assuming they’ve done a runner, she pulls in her girlfriend and best friend to join her and help make the experience worthwhile for the guests. There shouldn’t be a problem, until Charity discovers one of her missing co-workers dead.
From here, the action ramps up, as Charity & co try to firstly discover what is actually happening to their little slice of slasher paradise and, on top of that, try to survive the night. There’s twists and turns, and though I don’t think anything here would come as a huge shock to most adult readers familiar with the slasher genre, for the YA audience who are just coming to horror and slashers, there’s quite a bit to make them really surprised.
I’d definitely recommend this to both sets of readers, too – for adults, there’s an almost nostalgic quality to it, and for teens, well, it’s a well-crafted YA book and Bayron is excellent at writing for this particular audience.
I read You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight for the ‘Written by a woman of colour’ prompt in our DHR Reading Challenge – check out our Challenge page to find out more and see how you can take part.
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Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
Bluesky: @elleturpitt.bsky.social
I purchased this book.
