The Procrastinators Book Club discussion

Welcome to the You're Not Supposed to Die TonightBuddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on September 5thand anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 09/05
05: Chapters 1-2
06: Chapters 3-4
07: Chapters 5-6

Week of 09/08
08: Chapters 7-9
09: Chapters 10-11
10: Chapters 12-14
11: Chapters 15 + epilogue

PARTICIPANTS
~ Juliane
~ Mina

Chapter 1-3

How exactly does the Camp operate and make any money if there are only ever so few guests per evening and they never stay more than half a day, fascinating business model.

I have to admit I don't think I could ever be a part of such an experience, I'm scared too easily. I would prefer Bezis position of watching and coordinating. What about you?

Curious to find out what is happening on the lake and if the three missing workers are in fact just unreliable or something way more sinister.

I still haven't started it. Life is happening and I didn't find the time to read. Hopefully, I'll manage to start it and catch up from tomorrow.

I'm sure I've read the synopsis when I agreed to this buddy read, but I don't remember what it was.. So I was surprised when, after the first few pages, the horror stopped and was "haha the playing is over".

Yeah, I too probably wouldn't want to participate in the acting part. Well, considering that people are supposed to die I'm gonna go with they might be dead. But yeah, what's with the lake, why is it forbidden to swim in it? And also, all the animals going in and what, dying?

I haven't read much, only the first 3 chapters, but I'm glad I started it. It's an easy read.

No worries about the pace in this Buddy read I also only managed chapter 4-5 during my commute this morning but I agree it is an easy read.

I'm not sure what I find creepier the possibility of a lake full of dead woodland animals or the image of the old woman staring through and banging on the cabin windows.

Of course the Sheriff is a bit of a fool who takes nothing the teenagers say seriously, just like the boss of the camp it seems.

Although after what the girls saw (or whatever they thought they saw?) at the lake during the night I'm starting to get why that place is creepy even without any death games.

I read chapters 4 and 5 before work, so I'm caught up to you.
The granny is creepy. And as for the dark shadow they saw.. do you think the killer is doing the same thing as the killer from the movie? Like sacrificing people to the lake to get power.

Chapters 6+7

Javiers Grandma did it 😂

But seriously before reading these chapters I was more inclined towards no regarding your question of the killer getting stronger by harvesting power because I wasn't sure about a kind of supernatural explanation outside of the movie.
But now taking into account the earlier killings taking place in 1971 some otherwordly explanation seems more plausible because (unless the killer is either in their 70s or its some kind of family tradition) that would be a way it could be the same killer right?

I'm guessing the group splitting up at this point was a mistake despite it still being during daylight time.
Also I think your first hunch about the three missing workers already being dead is spot-on otherwise the way they left their cabin would have been really disgusting.

Finished chapter 9, would've read chapter 10 too, but it's too long and I have to get ready for work.

Things are slowly heating up. Yeah, I agree that splitting was a bad idea, but we'll see how bad.
I don't think there is a real supernatural thing going on, at least not from what I read so far, but maybe the killer is a bit on the crazy side. The killer to be too old seems unlikely to me, the family thing is a possibility but then how fucked up is the family if that's a tradition. Maybe it's someone who's a little too much into the horror like Page, maybe they discovered the earlier killings and thought oh it would be fun to make a reboot of the camp. I guess we'll see.

What are our thoughts on Mr. Lamont?
It would be too obvious if he was the killer because he's someone that wasn't that much present for others to see, and then we would think it's him. BUT also what if Mr. Lamont doesn't even exist, he's just a persona made up by the killer.

Chapters 8 to 11

Woah splitting up was a horrible idea, I was sceptic but this turned out even worse then I would have guessed.

So half of them are probably gone by now, I mean realistically there is no way Tasha gets through this I guess and somehow I've got a bad feeling about them calling the sheriff and hoping he will help, if they can even reach him with the spotty cell service despite the landline.

Being a bit on the crazy side seems a really good description for whatever this Owl society is. So a secret society that has been around for a long time, sacrificing people to feed the ground of the woods or lake with blood, for what? Maybe they are actually just insane or in fact hoping for a path to world domination. What do you think their justification will be?

By now I'm also wondering if one of the teens is in on it because how did the car keys just vanish from Bezis bag, that seems oddly convenient, it must have been someone knowing their way around the camp really well.

Which also brings me to Mr. Lamont. I really like your theory of him being a made up person by the killer, maybe the Owl society needed a way into the camp and posing as the owner would probably be helpful in that regard.
I agree he somehow remains this sort of sidelined character but who regularly keeps popping up and I really don't get his motives. Charitiy at the beginning thinks he only runs the camp for money but then he shuts down the final day and seemes really quite concerned although I'm unsure if only for fear of getting sued or actual fear for the teens. I feel like he will swoop in in some big unexpected way before the end and to be honest since all the adults in this book so far have either been lunatics or negectlful in their duty of care I really rather hope he might actually be one of the good ones and somehow find a small way to be helpful, but considering how bleak things are right now thats really just hopeful speculation not yet backed up by anything we know about him.

Finished chapter 11, and that's it for today from me.

How is taking the police 40 minutes to get to them make sense? When Ms Keane dropped in the police came pretty fast. Well since things are going bad either way, what if the sheriff is one of those persons that were sacrificing the camp members?

As for the society... in some way you were right about it being some family tradition.. Honestly, I don't have any idea for their "explanation" for doing this, but I also think I'm not liking where this is going. If it were a killer just killing it would be more "fun" but it actually being a society, and when I think about it a weird ass Owl society.. it just...

ooh, is there someone you are suspecting more? I haven't thought about the keys. I would've thought that the killer just went to their cabin and took them *shrugs* it's not like the killer hasn't been moving freely through the camp, but also they wouldn't have a reason to lock their cabins or whatever because they were the only ones there.

Yeah, I think that it's possible for Lamont to save the day or like a bit of the day.. but we'll have to see.

From chapter 12 till the end.

If the sheriff isn't somehow involved in the Owl society, he's just a pretty shitty sheriff. You have someone who's injured, could die, and you just leave, and even threaten to put them in jail because they are messing around

The kid that botched their ritual or whatever.. could THAT maybe be Mr. Lamont?... Yep, was right about that. And you were right about someone helping the bad people.

The end, before the 1 year, was a bit chaotic. And I think I already mentioned it, but since things with the society and the sacrifices started happening I wasn't that into it. In the end it all felt somehow shallow? Maybe that isn't the right word but insufficient.
And then we have the 1 year chapter... it started alright, Bezi being the final girl, even maybe Kyle calling her to the place of the crime but... is he stupid? Her girlfriend died there, she almost died, and he gives her the incantation in case she wants wealth? Boy are you stupid? If the end was something like she uses it to find Charity's body okay, but Charity getting out of the water and walking to her... no.

I guess I went in with wrong expectations. I mean I forgot what the synopsis said and was surprised that the slashing in the beginning was a game.

Some morning reading and I also finished.

Well done on figuring out Mr. Lamont, the way he is connected to Ms. Keane was kinda creepy and I was hoping way too long that my hunch about one of the teens helping the kilers would be wrong.

I'm also not happy with the way the resolution worked, it all felt way too contructed while both Mr. Lamont as well as the Owl society felt somewhat superficial (I agree with your words of shallow and insufficient here as well).
Like how many people do actually need to be sacrificied to receive what kind of power or wish-fulfillment? Every single one of the killers seemed to have different ways to do it. Also the whole part of Rob sending Charity to the camp to geht her killed felt really far-fetched.

And if Ms. Keane was in on it why did she come to the camp with the gun at the beginning? I guess they wanted the guests gone to only have the camp counsellors to kill but didn't that run the risk of also driving Charity and her friends away far too early, did Ms. Keane and Mr. Lamont really just trust in Charitiys sense of duty to lock up the camp instead of leaving directly. Which also brings us to the Sheriff because Mr. Lamont must have known he was a lazy no-good (if he's not in on it) otherwise he would have run the risk of the camp getting shut down by police the night Ms. Keane came by.

One the one hand I like the idea and the way the scene was set of Bezi getting revenge on Kyle it seemed cathartic on the other hand the supernatural part with Charity coming back feels too forced, despite previous hints of other people believing in getting actual power from the lake. I agree here a killer without any secret-society motives would have been more "fun".

I think Kyle really hadn't found his place in this world and was way too naive when it came to Bezi. Like with the way he couldn't decide between helping the teens by trying to drive them away and on the other hand being willing to kill to reach his own ends by the end of the night. Don't know his characterization also feels a bit unfinished to be honest.

In general it was a fun read although a bit too messy finding its resolution and I really could have also done without the whole secret society/supernatural part of it.

Yeah, the Ms. Keane connection was surprising.
The whole Society part was too much and unnecessary, if Mr. Lamont knew about very old sacrifices for power and that's why he bought the camp, and killed people, I would understand and it would be a better plot.

Kyle is the worst written character. In the beginning he was on the teen side, then he killed Tasha and Javier, then he was oh I don't want to help you, I just want to be rid of you, and he's scared, doesn't know what to do, THEN he kills the grandparents, and ofc the end with Bezi.

It started fun, but like you said towards the end it got messy.
Glad we read it together and discussed it :D

Having had two days to digest I'm still as confused by Kyles characterization, which ev er way he got from one point of the story to the next is incredible, and I completely agree with you on him being the worst written character in this story.

Thank you for a fun discussion.