Find Him Where You Left Him Dead
Written by: Kristen Simmons
Tor Teen
2023
A thrilling horror from beginning to end, Find Him Where You Left Him Dead is perfect for fans of Japanese folklore, Jumanji, and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Find Him Where You Left Him Dead is a novel I cannot stop recommending. I was drawn in right from the beginning and the eeriness that filled the pages.
Storytelling
I’m not surprised this novel was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in the Best Young Adult category. I absolutely loved the novel’s pacing and how the characters are introduced individually.
We are given a glimpse of the horror the four friends faced once, however brief, and how it tore them apart and affected them.
It is so thrilling and eerie, each part shifting between characters effortlessly, giving rise to strong character development. The pacing continues to rise at a steady and addictive pace. From beginning to end, the momentum does not falter.
That is where the novel is reminiscent of Jumanji because this is a game these characters are playing, but it is incredibly deadly. There are no safe moves here; each one is a risk to the team.
What was also very clever about the storytelling was the interactive feature. Each “part” begins with a Kanji, a Japanese phrase, that you will need to pull out your phone to decipher. Pulling out my phone and scanning the Japanese script to reveal the one word that foreshadowed the events was so fun. That, to me, was as exciting as reading the book itself.
Final Thoughts
Find Him Where You Left Him Dead was absolutely amazing. The way the plot developed, those twists and turns, coupled with the jaw-dropping ending, made for such an addictive read.
A Jaw-Dropping Japanese-Infused Horror | Find Him Where You Left Him Dead Review
A thrilling horror from beginning to end, Find Him Where You Left Him Dead is perfect for fans of Japanese folklore, Jumanji, and I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Cynthia Ayala
Cynthia Ayala-Bujnicki majored in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College. Editor-in-chief of Cyn's Workshop, she loves to read and write while tending to her pepper plants. She currently lives in South Florida with her husband, two kids Dante and Selene and two furbabies Mr. J the Kitten who Thinks He's Batman (yes, that is his full name) and Nyx.
