You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight

Gr 8 Up–While the guests expect to be scared when they sign up for a terror experience at Camp Mirror Lake in upstate New York, they don’t expect to end up dead. In her third season working for the camp, Charity, a Black teen, has advanced to managing the orchestrations that frighten the campers and playing Final Girl, the one who gets to decide who, if anyone, “wins” the game. When several teens don’t show up to work on the penultimate evening, Charity assumes they have quit early, and so she calls for reinforcements, including her girlfriend, Bezi. However, the lake has a hidden dark history and unexpected visitors reveal that Charity is no longer in charge. The tension in this slasher ramps up toward the final conclusion that includes plenty of blood and surprises without a bloated page count. Featuring a diverse cast and plenty of horror movie references, in this novel Bayron manages to acknowledge established horror tropes while subverting them in unexpected ways.