THERE’S NO WAY I’D DIE FIRST By Lisa Springer

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

There's No Way I'd Die First by Lisa Springer
Published by Delacorte Press on 9/5/23
Genres: Contemporary, Horror & Ghost Stories, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 292
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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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.

Short and Sweet Review

Noelle loves horror movies, she knows all the tropes, and survival tactics, she’s even in charge of the movie club at school. So Noelle decides to throw a halloween party and invites all the cool kids and even hires a clown. Unfortunately, this clown isn’t for show, he’s there to kill the party guests and even know’s some of their secrets. Noelle know’s she’s going to survive this because she’s final girl material.

This book was not good at all. Noelle loves horror movies and in her head because she has watched so many she thinks that makes her qualified to survive. When this killer clown named Gage crashes her party, well actually she paid for him but he goes off script, anyway she just know’s she’s going to survive hence the title of the book. There was nothing redeeming about this book, Noelle was rich and so were all of her friends but even with that fact Noelle thought she was better than them. I think my biggest problem was when this clown is going around killing everyone and Noelle is just thinking of movie plots and how she was going to survive, honestly there was no sense of urgency from her. The clown? He was ridiculous too. He also had no urgency, he came in to kill these kids but at one point he decides to use the bathroom in a birkin bag. I will say that scene had no business being as detailed as it was and it was just unhinged and from then on I knew this book wasn’t going to get any better… shitting (excuse my language) in a birkin bag?!? Just crazy. Anyway the motives of Gage the clown aren’t original and he could have done better than crashing a party full rich kids with no care, had no effect on them whatsoever. The ending was also trash and I kind of wish Noelle was not the final girl.

Overall, this was not a good book. I’m kind of upset that I’ve read two bad horror books in a row but oh well.