The Week Before

Five Nights At Freddy's Interactive #1

by Scott Cawthon, E.C. Myers

Just in time for the 10th anniversary of Five Nights at Freddy's, return to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza in this interactive novel in which you decide what happens!

Return to where it all began in this interactive novel set before the very first Five Nights at Freddy's game.You the reader are the Security Guard - and you've got five nights (or is it six?) to survive Freddy, Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy as they try to wipe you out. With over 25 different possible endings and two difficulty settings, this one-of-a-kind, innovative novel is a uniquely entertaining experience for any Freddy fan.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Horror Thriller, Audiobook, Novels, Choose Your Own Adventure, Gaming

256 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2024

About the author

Scott Cawthon is an American independent video game developer, animator, and writer, best known for his creation of the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.

Reviews

[Christian Schultheiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, Scott might still have a few strong gems up his sleeve yet after all these years because this is one of the strongest, lore ridden, best written, and well paced story he’s put out in a bit now and the premise of it being a choose your adventure style was just so fantastic and underused nowadays and honestly I think it turned out nearly perfect for this type of franchise/book I mean we get like 25 different routes and even after flipping through and working my way through all the routes I didn’t once find myself bored or uninterested. If I’m being truly transparent I bet I’ll be able to pick this up for at least one or two more random read through and still have the same enjoyment and solidly spooky of a time and that’s saying something. 4.5/5

[robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE LOOOORRRREEEEE

[Bryce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the relatively few FNAF books I’ve read, this is the best one easily. It’s also probably the best CYOA I’ve picked up, it finally scratched that itch I’ve had for a good one since the Clone Wars one I owned as a kid. My choices actually felt like they mattered, and had believable results. Ralph rarely did things I wouldn’t do that’s completely counter intuitive to my choice unlike other books of this type I’ve tried. There’s some instances where he does things pretty much just like in another option, but one ends in death and the other doesn’t, but I get why all of those instances had to happen. Also, the blend here of interactive adventure and actual game lore is fantastic. The book itself plays like that game. Bonnie and Foxy come from the left, Chica comes from the right. Chica loves the kitchen, Bonnie the janitors closet. When Freddy approaches you hear his music box, and Foxy peaks out or disappears from pirates cove to run at you. It’s honestly incredible how flawlessly the gameplay loop of FNAF 1 was translated here. And the story and lore itself is great. You play as Ralph, also known as “Phone Guy”. You’re the veteran security guard who records all the training calls for new hires recently moved to the night shift because of a vacancy (presumably William Afton). Ralph has the added depth of having a daughter to go home to (which makes the true ending here hit that much harder) but he’s also so dedicated to this franchise that he almost doesn’t even believe he’s truly truly in danger. Each day he goes home and the horror of the previous night fades back into love for Freddy’s. It’s a perfect way to explain why he keeps going back, and who he is. There’s also tons of references to the deeper lore of the games. He frequently and vaguely mentions both the bites of 83 and 87, every time in a way that seems to be protecting the image of the brand, even to himself. Golden Freddy is also a presence throughout that just provides little snippets of something more. The pizzeria is set up just like the game, on night one you can honk Freddy’s nose on the poster, and boy is there dead bodies everywhere. The true ending of the book also is basically a direct translation of phone guys death in FNAF 1 which is super cool. This thing is also gross and gruesome. Some of your deaths are actual insane and it’s kind of wild they got away with these in a YA title. But I love it. Definitely the best CYOA I’ve read in a long time, and imo fantastic for fans of both the Freddy’s games and Freddy’s lore

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I died like 10-15 times before I actually got an ending ! I’m so glad we are bringing back “choose your own adventure” books again. They’ve been on my mind for a while now actually. Bringing back childhood memories with this book style Scott ! Will be rereading for the other endings !

[haley ⊹ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept dying and getting pissed off so interactive novels are definitely not for me

the writing was a lot more tolerable than past fnaf books though, and I was happy to get phone guy lore

[Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself was good. Easy franchise midquel featuring a series regular. But I feel like the "interactive" element was what brought it down. If it was just a normal book with a slightly more fleshed out story it would have been at least four stars.

[Grace Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

omg the LORE?!!! insaneeeeee

[shelby ☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read!! I don't usually read interactive novels, but this one was super good!! I liked that we got more information about Phone Guy, who was always one of my favs.

[Autumn0689 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars! As a FNAF fan I knew I was going to enjoy this book purely due to it being both an interactive novel but also because it finally delves into a character that I’ve always been interested in: Phone Guy (who is now known as Ralph)

The deaths are gruesome, and the book really shows how hellish it must be to work at Freddy’s with the animatronics being smart and deadly.

It’s great to get the other endings but it’s amazing to get the canon ending. You grow to know Ralph, about how he has a daughter, and you feel bad because you know what’s going to happen to him.

A great book for FNAF fans! Packed with a bunch of lore! 4.5 stars!

[Dhiraaj Naidu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of the endings and deaths feel really cheap and pure luck-based, and I like how it’s set up like a survival horror game (with an inventory system that you have to keep track of). I don’t really think i wanna come back to this book, because it lacks the variety and sense of consequence that other CYOA books have, opting for trial-and-error. But it was still a fun read!

[julie ☼]

"Not my circus, not my animatronics.”

An interactive novel that takes place in the FNAF world AND has lore implications? Sign me up.

Not only do we get to learn more about everyone’s favourite tutorial, phone guy, we also get to experience working at Freddy’s through a choose-your-own-adventure type story. This was so much fun and I would definitely recommend this to any FNAF fan.

While the back of the book says there are over fifty different possible endings, there are only 5 actual endings, 1 of which you can only get by cheating (which I thought was very fun and clever). The other “endings” are just deaths or, as the book puts it, “game overs”. My main gripe with these five endings is that none of them feel exactly like a resolution, and while I feel as though that was the intention, it still is a little jarring for the reader. There is no “good ending” or “bad ending” but merely a couple different examples of what could have happened to Ralph if he made different decisions.

Obviously, the best ending is the canon one which you can only achieve if you play through the game once and then go back to play again. Some may say that’s kind of annoying, I say that’s exactly within the spirit of the FNAF world. Remember, this is the game franchise where you have to type in a code into a 3x3 set of bricks on the wall in your office in order to access minigames that drastically alter your gameplay. Of course the true ending will be hard to get to.

I also thought the inclusion of game-related knowledge made this especially fun to go through as a fan. Getting to know that flashing foxy with a flashlight means he’ll malfunction or knowing which door a certain animatronic would go to made me feel so smart when I got it right. However, I honestly think it is virtually impossible to win this without dying at least a couple times. If you want the full experience, play it through once to an ending and then just read the book cover to cover. Then, you’ll get to see all of the reveals.

Anyways, I know this book probably didn’t need a long review because it’s an interactive novel for children, but as someone who is utterly obsessed with FNAF, this is not a book you want to miss!

[guille (littlebitmoody) · Rating 4 out of 5]

took me 5/6 attempts to win. I think I got the best ending? I didn’t die, so that’s good! Not sure if it’s the cannon ending though… I might try a couple more times to see the other endings!!

[kitkat · Rating 5 out of 5]

banger for a fnaf book

[Dandy ˙ᵕ˙ · Rating 3 out of 5]

love the cyoa format, think it couldve been executed a lot better

[Elio ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never done an interactive book before and it was ……. interesting? idk it was a very boring story but the way you go through it is kinda fun. Took me about 2hrs to get through one ending, and I don’t plan on going to get the others (for now).

[Bonnix1sts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow I did not get to this one very early. Very good interpretation on phone guy from FNaF 1, really interesting to people who are looking for a fun story and for FNaF lore hunters!

[ferdi 🍉 · Rating 5 out of 5]

holy. fucking. shit.

usually, the fnaf books are a huge hit-or-miss, but this one???? fucking hit. it was so good and the amount of lore dropped into it??? insane. but in a good way. i loved this so much, every second of going through options and decisions to get the different endings and finally get the canon ending was so much fun

i had to go through this book 3 times just to go through all the possible routes and, again, i loved it.

i cant wait for the "into the pit" interactive novel to come out, especially with the video game now being out

[Mr.B · Rating 4 out of 5]

So the week before it’s my first cyoab and it’s great I’ve died about 20 times atleast before getting an ending I’m glad they gave some background to phone guy in this too that’s it it’s really good read it definitely 8/10

[saige ✨️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible read for all Five Nights at Freddy's fans! It's an interactive novel, aka "choose your own adventure" book, where you play as Ralph, a security guard (the phone guy from the first game). He's taking the night shift the week before the events of the first game just before he moves on to another job. You must collect items and make all the right choices to help Ralph survive all five (or six?) nights at Freddy's. It's such a fun read for all fans of FNAF, and particularly if you love the lore but dislike the jumpscare horror of the games (like me!). This definitely has a menacing, horror feel, but for someone like me, the lack of visuals makes it easier to play.

The next section is a more in-depth explanation of why I like this book, but with minor spoilers, so be warned before reading on!

The first thing that drew me to this book is the way it's set up to feel like a video game. When you make a wrong choice, you get a big "GAME OVER" at the end of the page that makes it feel like you're playing the games. The headings for each night and the "the end" pages all are formatted to look like a video game. If you choose the option to use the master key (which doesn't exist in the book), you get called out for cheating and it says "the game has crashed," which is a fun easter egg. Overall, it's a really unique experience that makes it fun and interesting to read.

Another thing that I really liked was that it incorporates a lot of mechanics of the actual FNAF games. It takes place in the security office from the original game, so the main mechanics are there (closing the doors, turning on the lights, checking the security cams). You have to check on Foxy through the cams, just like in the game. Freddy and Bonnie come at you from the left, Chica from the right. The kitchen camera is broken and you only have the audio to go off of (and you can hear Chica banging pots and pans sometimes). There's even an ending where Freddy kills you by playing his song when you run out of power. There's aspects of the 4th game where you'll have to listen at the doors sometimes to check when animatronics are waiting for you. There's elements of the 2nd game too; in one scene with Foxy, you have a choice between using a flashlight or a Freddy mask on him. And similar to the 2nd game, the mask doesn't work on Foxy but the flashlight does. It's really cool to read through if you're a fan of the game and use the elements of different games to determine what choices to make. For me, knowing the primary mechanics of the main games, it was pretty easy to make the right choices with little error.

It also has a cool item collecting feature, where making certain choices in the game can help you gain items that will help you in the future. They provide note paper in the back of the physical book that you can write in to help keep track of these. This is just a cool little mechanic, some items are required to progress and some items just provide you easier, alternative ways to avoid the animatronics (and one will lead you to a secret ending hint hint wink wink).

If you're big into FNAF lore like I am, this book is PACKED with lore. I don't want to spoil it all because it's so much more fun to read it yourself, but just know this book has a ton of fun little easter eggs and pieces of information that help flesh out the games' universe. And playing as the phone guy is such a unique idea that provides him so much more characterization (and you even get to see Ralph recording the original phone messages from the first game if you make the right choices!).

This book boasts that it has 50+ endings, but it actually has a whopping 73 endings! Now, this includes all the "GAME OVER" pages when you make the wrong choices, and only about 3 of those are official endings, but they're still really cool to read through. All the different endings are super unique, and it's cool to see more of how the animatronics actually kill people instead of just jumpscaring you.

Overall, this book is fantastic and very refreshing change for FNAF fans who have been disappointed by the book series. I highly recommend this book to all FNAF fans.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh ho ho...this was excellent! And the fact that GR teases this as "Interactive Novel #1 has me excited! In this Choose Your Own Adventure Book, you play as Ralph, aka the night guard, aka Phone Guy who is finishing up his last week at Freddy's and is just trying to survive. The story is really well-written, pretty intense, and a lot of fun to read. I was really invested from start to finish. Read this with my brother and we tried to get every single ending. Most are pretty gruesome. Ralph dies a lot, and while there are an overwhelming number of "Game Overs", there are also a small cluster of "The Ends" which suggests that the real story has multiple endings, including (as always) one true ending. This is a book that takes a lot of reading to get through completely!

I'm hopeful that there are more books in this series, because I have not been this hooked on a FNAF book in years. I think it helps, too, that Ralph is just a really genuine person, easy to root for, and realistically written. It's hard not to like him. And we want to watch him survive.

The other FNAF books in series like Fazbear Frights got too weird and too gruesome for me. This one was certainly bloody, but it wasn't gratuitous, which makes a huge difference. I tore this book apart, piece by piece, looking for secrets and will probably do it again. There's so much to find here and it's been awesome!

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This interactive novel puts you as the main characters making decisions each night that will either end to you be able to leave or to give you a game over. The week before the first game, you are Ralph the night guard who only has 5 days left before he leaves Freddy Fazbear's Pizza after many years of being a loyal employee.

At night, the animations wander and at first you are weary of them because there has been rumors of them being aggressive but then you must run or hide when they are near and it becomes important to check your cameras to see where they have wandered off to. Each night gives you different challenges and you collect items to use later along the way.

This was a good idea but I found some issues with the execution of the idea. We the reader are missing some information about why our character is acting the way he is and there are some inconsistencies in his character. You can also see through the pages that if your choice is the next page whether or not it ends in a game over which may affect the choices you make. There is also a bonus item that you can choose to use but you don't find out what that item is until night 5. In order to use the item you would have to do a second read through much like a new game plus in a video game.

If you are a fan of FNaF then I would recommend these types of books, and this could be a good start. It does help to have some background of the world before reading this particular book.

[Alexander Draganov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Запалих се по поредицата “Нощна смяна във “Фреди” през 2023 заради игралния филм, а през миналата година първо преведох романите, а след това изчетох и повестите, като към края на последните вече бях поуморен от сагата. С тази книга-игра обаче тя се рестартира по най-добрия начин, като представя на читателя наистина майсторски написано приключение. Литературата е на високо ниво, като се има предвид, че говорим за интерактивен формат и успява да те потопи в атмосферата, а геймплеят макар и простичък, е повече от предизвикателен. Формално за вдъхновение е използвана поредицата “Избери своето приключение”, но със събирането на предмети и степента на трудност The Week Before напомня повече на серията “Ново поколение книги-игри”. Грешните ходове завършват със смърт все едно е заглавие от Марк Смит, а с това елементът на ужас нараства, тъй като поставя читателя в състояние на клаустрофобия, сравнимо с изпитваното от геймърите, пробвали оригиналната компютърна игра.
Цялото ми ревю прочетете в Цитаделата:
https://citadelata.com/the-week-befor...

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read through this with my sister and her friend and we had such a fun time trying to survive at Freddy's - we couldn't stop laughing every time Foxy showed up after he got us so many times! We spent the night trying out different paths, and the book rewards you (and one might say requires you) to read through several times.

This was my first interactive novel, and now I'm certain I'd like to try more! My one critique is that some of the "Game Over's" were actually more satisfying than the Endings, and this left reaching the ends a little less satisfying than I'd hoped. And while I know the book is following a script to align it with the first Five Nights at Freddy's game, maybe some alternate paths could have been fleshed out a bit better.

I always have fun with this franchise - the mix of horror and humor makes this a great way to pass the time on a dark night. Good luck, night guards! 🐻🔦🍕

[シナモロール · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little adventure, with lots of forks in the road and different outcomes. It gives a lot of lore for FNAF fans, and newcomers such as myself. It starts off easy and simple, but to get the True Ending you will need to make the correct decisions, and might be led down some dead-ends which will take quite a few attempts to figure out.
There's also a lovely little easter egg if you try to cheat at some point, which I greatly appreciated.

A couple of things that I did not like were:
The printing: It is very easy to see which options lead to a death or game over, as the big, bold "GAME OVER" printing is visible through the other side of the page, or directly next to the page you're currently reading.
The variety: Despite the decisions you make throughout the adventure, you're generally going to get one of 2 endings, and a bonus ending which was a bit of a letdown itself.

[Abdulrahman Abellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was good, but it was the interactive system took a little getting used to for me.

The side quests were a little hard to keep track of (the notes do come in handy lol)

However, I did like the concept of being able to pick what happens, and I do like the story.

However, I’m not sure if there were any other endings than what I found, but sadly, bronwen and ralph did’t really get a good ending, both of which had died.

However, it’s understandable considering ralph is the phone guy so….

[Pranav · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5
I read this a few months ago, when I was having a FNAF phase, and I did keep coming back trying to find all the different paths and ways to read the story and I have to admit it's really well done, it's scary enough to not be too scary for kids (since that's a large part of the target demographic), but it is gripping and spooky enough to keep an older audience hooked. And the lore implications of this book are quite high. I just wish they'd proofread this another time because there are some contradictions within the book which slightly undermine the experience.

[natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

date started: 19/10/2025
I KNOW this book is going to make me want to die, but I'll just pretend ralph (GASP, spoilers for a game that came out eleven years ago coming!) is alive and well and he's totally not going to die in the end of this novel.

date ended (first finale I have): 20/10/2025
HE LIVESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! I'm very curious about what the "canon" ending might be though... I had a blast anyway!!! this was so fun :)

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay ngl this was a very fun time. As a longtime fan of the franchise, I loved the connections to the lore of the games, but the actual characterization of Ralph and his daughter was also compelling. I always loved old school choose your own adventure novels, and this brings all the best of it together in a very entertaining and well-executed interactive novel.

[Charliehorse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. I really expected this to be kind of gimmicky, but the story was decent and the CYOA nature of the book was fun. I felt like the relationship between Phone Guy and his daughter was heartfelt.

It’s definitely made for fans of the games and serves to provide more lore for the series, but I feel it would be enjoyable even by a casual audience.

[Emma (littledollreads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so much fun. There was such a good mix of scary, funny, and lore important bits in here that I had a great time trying to survive this book. Very excited for what this series of Interactive novels has in store for FNAF fans in the future.