YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT

A “final girl” finds herself in a real-life thriller in which survival isn’t an option.

Seventeen-year-old Charity works at Camp Mirror Lake, a horror-simulation camp in the woods of upstate New York. She’s moved up to being manager as well as Final Girl, the most desirable role in their nightly performance, thanks to her lifelong horror fandom, her mastery of fake blood, and her ability to navigate co-workers with all-too-real murderous impulses. But her real commitment to the faux frights comes from not having much of a home to go back to when the dust clears each season. The camp, owned by a Mr. Lamont, is located on the site where a 1980s cult classic was filmed. When her co-workers mysteriously don’t show for their roles as victims, Charity reaches out to her friend Paige and her girlfriend, Bezi, inviting them to fill in. As an aficionado of the genre and one of the few Black staff members, Charity is well aware of the usual tropes; as Bezi reminds her, “You know what happens to Black folks in slasher movies,” (Charity reassures her, “I’m the final girl….Guaranteed to survive the night”). Unfortunately, the slowly paced story meanders toward a reveal that readers may themselves have already anticipated. Ultimately, the tropes of the final girl and Black people’s roles in horror are reconciled in an inexplicable hurry.

An homage to horror stories that doesn’t quite land.