Can this final girl survive a real-life horror scenario? Find out in Kalynn Bayron’s novel, You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.
Summary
Charity has the summer job of her dreams playing the final girl. Fans of slasher films might be going “wait, what?” right now. Let me explain.
What Charity knew about Camp Mirror Lake when she took the job was that it was the set of a horror film that she and her friends watched when they were kids.
Now Camp Mirror Lake is used as a place where people play to pretend like they are in a slasher film.
Fans of slasher films may be familiar with the “final girl” trope. The trope is basically what the name suggests: the final character left alive at the end of the film. TV Tropes has an entry on this trope if you’re interested in reading more.
So Charity’s job at Camp Mirror Lake is to reenact a slasher flick and be the last (or one of the last) people standing at the end of the night.
Charity loves her job. She’s a long time fan of slasher films and the job makes it possible for her to get away from her mother and her mother’s boyfriend for the summer.
But it turns out that things aren’t what they seem at Camp Mirror Lake. Can this final girl survive the summer?
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight features a Black main character who is in a lesbian relationship.
Thoughts
While I’ve seen a handful of slasher films in my life, I’d hardly call myself an expert in the genre or its tropes.
That said, I thought it was interesting that Charity is a Black character. A quick Google search suggests that the prevailing belief is that the Black character is one of the first to die. So for Charity to be the final girl subverts that.
Despite my lack of knowledge of slasher films, I would love to be involved in a simulated horror film like what is depicted in Bayron’s novel. That assumes, of course, that it’s done safely and no one actually dies. Maybe I’m odd in thinking that the simulations described in You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight sound like fun.
One of the things that confused me about You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight was how old Charity was supposed to be. I assumed that she had to be in high school: old enough to have a summer job, but young enough that she had to be in school during the school year. Plus, I sensed that her home life sucked and that she’d take the first chance she could to permanently move out (in other words: I don’t think she was 18).
But also: at one point in Bayron’s novel, I thought Charity mentioned that this was not her first summer at Camp Mirror Lake, making it her second or third summer at the camp. So if she’s 16 or 17, wouldn’t that make her 13 or 14 when she started working there? I thought there was also some comment about there being a rule that you had to be at least 16 to be at the camp – though I wasn’t clear if that rule extended to employees or just the people paying to be there. So yeah…I was confused about how old people were.
Confusion aside, I thought You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight was a fun read.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.
Ready to buy You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight?
Updated:
