Review: I'm Not Dying with You Tonight

I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was presented to me as a "Read Now" on NetGalley, and the premise seemed interesting so I snatched it up. I was imagining an end of the word apocalypse/Purge type scenario mixed with a race relations drama. However, the first half of my prediction was very diluted while the second was very surface level.

The book describes the night as "sudden mass chaos", but I don't really agree with that phrasing. The riot at the football game and the town center do happen quickly, but I wouldn't define it as chaos. Perhaps I just expected too much.

As other reviewers have said, the book is very plot driven (ie "We need to get from here to there!") versus character driven. The main characters both make various decisions that don't make a lot of sense when considering the information given to us.

Furthermore, I feel like the discussion of race relations was not given true justice others than a few passing, topical lines. Many of the race related events are based in real events that have occurred in 2018/2019, but they're not fleshed out enough for us to really understand the impact. It would have been nice for the action to slow down at some points to allow for real conversation between Lena and Campbell (who is randomly called Becky throughout the book - something I didn't quite understand).

While it was a fast read, I think it would have benefitted from a few more chapters that examined what happened next, both on a friendship level of the girls and within the town.

I don't regret reading this book, as it was enjoyable, but I wish it were just more. It's hard to give a recommendation on it one way or another.

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