"You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight" by Kalynn Bayron

I just closed my library copy of Kalynn Bayron's "You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight" and I honestly am not sure that I can collect my thoughts enough to write a coherent review. 

I am just sitting here in a mild state of shock as I try to process this story and that ending. 

 

If you are a fan of 80's and 90's slasher flick like the "Friday the 13th" franchise, the "Halloween" series, the "Scream" saga or any other horror movie of this type, then you NEED to get a copy of this book today!

Charity is the official Final Girl of Camp Mirror Lake, a remote location where guests pay to be terrified in a full contact terror simulation based on the popular slasher film, "The Curse of Camp Mirror Lake". Charity's job is simple. Play the part of a fellow guest, help give the clients the ultimate terror experience, and survive the night. 

But this year, things aren't quite going as planned. As the end of the season approaches, Charity and her friends find themselves short-staffed when some their Camp Mirror Lake coworkers decide to bail on them before the final game of the season. And then weird things start happening...

A dead owl left on the cabin's steps.

Previously locked doors being found unlocked and open.

Shadowy figures seen inside their hidden tunnels.

A dark hidden history about the camp comes to light. 

Charity and her friends begin to realize that they aren't the only ones at Camp Mirror Lake, and they are about to learn the true meaning of terror. 

As in watching any slasher-flick, I like to think that I will be able to guess the plot twists and surprises that will be coming within the story. However, this story had me constantly coming up with theories and then discarding them as new information was revealed and as characters were introduced or killed off. There were so many surprises in the last 50 pages of the book that my head is still reeling! I don't want to say more or I will be giving away too much, but this is is definitely worth the read!

The story was extremely fast paced, jumping into the action on page one, and when the story did slow down, the creep factor of the scenes was hair raising. The characters were all likable and while some of the side characters were a bit one dimensioned, it didn't take away from the story. 

If you need a suspense filled, action packed, slasher story, RUN to the library or a bookstore today!!!

 

 

"None Shall Sleep" by Ellie Marney

 Holy "Silence of the Lambs", Batman!

I did NOT expect to enjoy this book as much as I did! I was looking for a good mystery to change up my current reading options and instead I got this beautiful YA mash-up of "Silence of the Lambs" and "Criminal Minds".  It was GREAT!

If you enjoyed "The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, then this book needs to go on your TBR list ASAP. 

This YA thriller is told from multiple perspectives but the two main characters are teens whose lives have been drastically altered by serial killer. 

Emma Lewis- a teenage survivor of a serial killer's murder spree. Emma fought back against her attacker, fled to freedom, and led police to the serial killer's hideout, ending the string of murders in Ohio. She now studies pediatric psychology so she can help other kids who have dealt with trauma. 

Travis Bell - the son of a law enforcement officer who was killed during the arrest of a prolific serial killer. Travis has followed in his father's footsteps, and wants to work to catch killers like the monster who killed his father. 

The story is set in the 1980's and begins with Special Agent Cooper of the FBI approaches Emma and Travis with a unique proposition. He wants to create special team that will interview incarcerated juvenile serial killers to gain insight into their motivations, their thoughts processes, their methods, etc all in the hopes that the information they gain will help the FBI stop future serial killers; and he believes that Travis and Emma are exactly what he needs. With their backgrounds in law enforcement and psychology, their personal history with serial killers, and with both Travis and Emma being close in age to the offenders, Cooper believes that Travis and Emma will be able to get the juvenile serial killers to share details that other investigators haven't been able to get.  

Emma, reluctant at first, hopes that by joining this team she can help sooth the wounds on her soul left behind by her own harrowing experience. Travis agrees more readily as it is a way to make his father proud and stop other families from feeling the pain his family felt. 

However, while Emma and Travis are only supposed to be working with cold cases, their interviews put them on the trail of an active serial killer known as The Butcher. And to catch this serial killer, they are going to need some help. 

The FBI sends Emma to interview Simon Gutmunsson, a notorious teenager serial killer known by the media as "The Artist". The FBI believes that Simon may have information or insights that could lead to the capture of  The Butcher, and they believe he will talk with Emma.

This is where the book really takes on a "Silence of the Lambs" feeling with Simon playing the role of a much younger Hannibal Lector and Emma portraying the somewhat innocent Clarice. The interactions between Simon and Clarice (oh, I mean Emma) were some of my favorite parts of the story. Looking for the clues hidden in the conversations between these characters kept me reading into the small hours of the night. 

The support system between Travis and Emma, while not romantic in this book, was a great aspect of the story. Usually, halfway into a book, I am rooting hard for characters to get together, but I didn't feel like I needed that for Emma and Travis. There is definitely a deeper connection between these characters than just work partners, but it has a slow build feel that I am looking forward to in the next book. 

The climax of the story was amazing! I could NOT put this book down. I can't say much more than that without giving away too many important details, but I am already pre-ordering book two, "Some Shall Break", for it's release in June 2023. 

This was not your typical "who-dun-it" mystery, but an more in depth examination of  human kind and what it really means to be a monster.

 Don't miss this one. Get a copy from your local library!

"The Final Girl Support Group" by Grady Hendrix

 Holy Easter Eggs!!!

If you are a horror movie fan, then this book is a MUST-READ!!! And I'm talking about being a fan of the classic horror movies like the original Halloween franchise, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc. References to these horror movie giants are expertly interwoven throughout this suspenseful tale with just enough subtly to make the reader scour each page for more connections between the characters in this book and their story lines and the screenplays their stories were inspired by. 

I had a general idea of what to expect when I first opened The Final Girl Support Group, but I guess I wasn't anticipating the level of depth that we get as readers by diving into the minds of women who survived their own personal horror movie. That is what a Final Girl is, the last girl standing at the end of the movie who faced down the monster and won. 

The Final Girl Support Group follows Lynette Tarkington, who survived a brutal attack by a deranged serial killer and then a year later survived his younger brother's attack, both on Christmas Eve. Her parents, her boyfriend, her little sister, and later her foster parents were all casualties from these Christmas Eve slayings. 

Ever since, Lynette has been obsessed with making herself "safe", from learning self defense to turning her apartment into a fortified panic room. She cannot leave her house without feeling like people are watching her, that the monsters are still out there waiting for her. The only time she leaves her apartment is for her monthly group therapy session with a group of women who are survivors like Lynette, and their therapist Dr. Carol. Dani, Marilyn, Heather, Julia, Adrienne are all Final Girls, and they are the only people who can truly understand what Lynette is going through. 

But Lynette doesn't feel like she is a true Final Girl. Whereas all the other women in her support group fought back and eventually helped take down their attackers, Lynette merely survived the attacks and someone else took down the bad guy. So does that make her a Final Girl? Just not dying? And Lynette is keeping secrets, and those secrets could change everything if anyone ever learned about them. 

Lynette's ordered and carefully structured life comes crashing down when one of the Final Girls is murdered in her home, and it quickly becomes apparent that someone is trying to put an end to all the Final Girls once and for all. 

This horror novel is a dark, gritty story that shines some light on the depravity of mankind and the strength of the human spirit. And although Lynette frustrated me at times with her paranoia and the decisions she would make, I think she was the perfect character to focus on in this story. She truly develops as character as the story progresses, and I was content with the way Hendrix chose to end the story. 

My favorite line in the whole book was,

"Dying isn't the important thing. It's nothing more than the punctuation mark on the end of your life. It's everything that came before that matters. Punctuation marks, most people skip right over them. They don't even have a sound."

You ever read a sentence or passage and then just have to sit back and admire it? This passage did that for me. 

My favorite part of this book was trying to figure out which book character was inspired by which classic horror movie.

I am a huge classic horror movie fan, so all the Easter eggs in this book wanted to make me jump out of my seat each time I found one. I know many of the actors in these movies, and have watched documentaries on the making of these horror movies just for fun. (I'm weird, I know!) So whenever Hendrix slipped in a connection, like using part of the name of the actress that starred in the original horror movie as part of the book character's name,  I just wanted to run around and show everyone the book while screaming, "Did you see what he did there? Did you see?"

Mild Spoilers:

Julia Campbell = Neve Campbell!!!!

Heather DeLuca = Heather Langenkamp!!!!

Dani's little brother was named Nick = Nick Castle!!!!

(I'm such a nerd.) 

I had so much fun trying to pair the Final Girls to each classic horror movie. It wasn't obvious right off the bat which girls survived which movie, and that made it all the more enjoyable to me. 

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a horror movie fan and a fan Final Girls everywhere!