There's No Way I'd Die First
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3.6 • 8 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A spine-tingling contemporary horror-comedy novel that follows a teen scary-movie buff as she hosts an elaborate Halloween bash but soon finds the festivities upended when she and her guests are forced to test their survival skills in a deadly game, from debut author Lisa Springer.
"An instant classic in horror." —Ryan Douglass, New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston
"A gory, edge-of-your-seat, not-for-the-weak, slasher novel for teens." —School Library Journal
Seventeen-year-old Noelle Layne knows horror. Every trope, every warning sign, every survival tactic. She even leads a successful movie club dedicated to the genre. Who better to throw the ultimate, most exclusive Halloween party on all of Long Island?
With some of the top influencers in her school on the guest list, including gorgeous singer-songwriter Archer Mitchell, her popularity is bound to spike. She could really use the social boost for an upcoming brand expansion. Nothing is going to ruin this party.
Except…maybe the low budget It clown she hired for a stirring round of tag. He axes one of her classmates. From the looks of his devilish grin and bag full of killer tricks, he's just getting started.
A murderous clown is out for blood, but Noelle has been waiting her entire life to prove that she’s a Final Girl.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Springer dissects and reinvents classic horror tropes in this savvy debut thriller about a teen striving to survive a Halloween party gone wrong. After the unexpectedly viral popularity of her online movie club, Jump Scares, Black 17-year-old Noelle Layne throws a massive Halloween party. She invites a host of idiosyncratic classmates and fellow influencers to make the event as memorable as possible, including beautiful and enigmatic musician, Archer Mitchell. When a planned round of hide-and-seek with a clown Noelle hired for the event turns into a gruesome game of cat-and-mouse, she and her friends must call on their encyclopedic knowledge of slasher movies to make it out alive. Noelle and Archer's romance occasionally feels stilted as Springer struggles to balance its quiet, tender moments with the breakneck pace of the action sequences. And while some conversations about the ins and outs of slasher cinema might be inside baseball to audiences outside of aficionados, the novel's horror beats are splashy and viscerally effective, and character relationships elevate the stakes as the party twists and turns toward a bloody conclusion that is sure to satisfy genre fans and newcomers alike. Ages 14–up.
Customer Reviews
See AllGood fun
This was overall a really fun slasher read. I know it’s YA but sometimes the YA tropes were a bit much.
It felt like a slasher movie in a good way.
There’s No Way I’d Die First by Lisa Springer was not what I expected it to be. You can’t judge a book by its cover but I did. One thing is clear , the story pays homage to horror movies with the main character being a fan of the genre. A few things that I liked about the novel are the fact that the lead character Noelle is a trust fund baby. There are very few young black female literary characters that come from money. Not to mention the fact that her backstory was not tragic. I liked the other characters even the antagonist. The choice to have this story take place on Halloween was a good idea. The killer’s motivation was not what I thought it would be. Also, that plot twist was good. My guess was wrong and I am okay with that.
The only thing that I did not like about the novel was the ending. Even though it was the most realistic ending in my opinion. I wanted that final scene to continue for a few more pages. Other than that this novel was easy to read and the pacing was fast. It felt like I was watching a slasher movie in a good way. I am rating this novel four stars out of five.
Bad
Bad horror plot.