Book Review: YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT

YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT by Kalynn Bayron

Review by Jillian Brenner

I'm not often shocked by novels anymore; I've gotten good at guessing twist endings and adding up the clues and red herrings. But when I say this novel took a LEFT TURN, I mean it. I was completely wrong. My jaw dropped. I was scared. I screamed "WHAT?" in my empty apartment at 2 am and my neighbors complained.

YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT follows Charity and her fellow high school staffers over the last week of their summer job. They work as actors in a terror simulation based on a horror movie with a cult following (key word: cult). Charity has the coveted role of final girl and is also apparently the manager of the camp with no adult supervision (expect horror AND labor violations). Staffers start disappearing, prompting Charity to ask her girlfriend and their friend to help out with the summer's last performances. It's an understatement to say things do not go well. There are owls, there are spooky noises, and there is a lot of blood.

While YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT is very fun, it is not without flaws. Sometimes the dialogue falls flat, and I was certainly left with questions about the plot. While most slasher genre plots fall apart with a little prodding, the gaps in this one were a little too apparent for me to be fully immersed. What I love about this book is the queer representation of Black women. Kaylynn Bayron is such a refreshing voice for both queer and YA genres. If you're looking for horror and something fun, YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT is worth the read.

BOOK or AUDIO?

I listened! Really enjoyed the reader, and it definitely added to the scary factor hearing the narrator's voice grow more concerned. This was quite the listening journey for me. I felt so certain I knew where this was going, and then was so deeply wrong. I listened up to the 5th hour and then jumped ahead to the epilogue before going back. Wild time.

OVERALL

Gay Characters: lesbians & a spare gay Trauma on a scale from Schitt's Creek (low stakes) to A Little Life (trauma porn): 9

My recommendation: 6/10

Buy here from The Salt Eaters Bookshop, a bookstore that prioritizes books, comics, and zines written by and about Black women, girls, femmes, and non-binary people in Inglewood, CA. #BlackWomanOwned