Try Not to Die on Slashtag took me right back to the days of reading Choose Your Own Adventure books, but with a grown-up, bloody twist. It’s like Goosebumps met Saw in a creepy haunted hotel, and I was hooked. As a busy mom, I don’t always get time to read, so having a book that lets me make quick decisions and jump between different endings was so refreshing. It’s a fast-paced, interactive horror where you control the fate of Jeremy, a film student, as he navigates the deadly Propitius Hotel.

What I loved most? It’s unpredictable. I couldn’t always guess which choices would keep Jeremy alive, and I got some truly horrific deaths along the way. And as a reader who grew up devouring scary stories, the nostalgia was real. Jon Cohn nails that spooky, high-stakes vibe but adds just enough depth to keep you invested in the characters. This was my second by him (the first being Everything is Temporary), and I think he may be my new auto-buy author.

The only downside is that it left me wanting a bit more story beyond the deathtraps. But I enjoyed clicking my way through the carnage, and I’ll definitely try other books in this series. If you’ve got a few minutes of peace and want a fun, quick horror fix, this one’s a winner.

This book was so fun! I’ve never read one like this and had a great time. Slashtag is one of my favorites so I was really excited to get TNTD!

This was so much fun! It gave me that nostalgic feeling because it reminded me of those choose your own adventure books we used to have in my youth. The same thing applies but this was horror for adults and so so good and horrific fun!

I can’t recommend this one enough, not only for horror fans, but also for those who’d like the nostalgia.

For those that are very interested in being the main character in the book, now is your chance! With Jon Cohn's choose your own adventure book, you can play as the character and see where your story ends!

This book was so much fun to read! I feel like there aren't many "choose your own adventure" style books for adults, and Try Not to Die: On Slashtag fills that niche perfectly.

Readers are dropped into a reality competition show that happens to be set in an actual haunted hotel, naturally chaos ensues. Part book, part puzzle-solving exercise, Jon Cohn truly captured the chaotic energy of a reality show and by allowing readers to choose what routes they take throughout the book, showcased his writing talents.

Thank you Netgalley, Vincere Press and Jon Cohn for the eArc of Try not to Die; On Slashtag

What a fun, gory read! Anyone who loves " choose you own adventure " books and love horror, this is for you. You can choose what decisions the main character makes to live or die through a haunted house in the middle of nowhere. You can live... or die. Think I died a fair few times haha. I love the set out of the book and even if you do die, you wont have to start right back at the beginning of the book. If, like me, like to see how long you have left while reading/page/location number for an ebook, turn it off. It makes it so much more fun! Even though this is a fast paced story/adventure, the character building is still there and you get a good sense of who are the good guys/ladies and I really enjoyed the underlaying story. There is a nice flow of the supernatural and balanced out with a few gory deaths if you chose the wrong turn you get a wonderful mix of suspense and foreboding.

This is the 9th out of the 10 books in the Try Not to Die series and can be read as a standalone and ill definitely be reading the rest in the series of Try Not To Die.

4.5 stars for Storygraph, 5 stars for Amazon, Goodreads and Netgalley

Try Not to Die: On Slashtag by Jon Cohn is an electrifying and immersive read that brilliantly combines horror with interactive storytelling. Cohn's creative narrative and suspenseful twists keep readers on the edge of their seats, making every decision feel crucial. The book's engaging format and chilling atmosphere ensure a thrilling and unforgettable experience.

This was my first Try Not to Die book (though I have several on my Kindle) and it was super fun! Reminiscent if the choose your own adventure books of my childhood, this is sure to he a hit with any nostalgic readers craving an immersive/interactive experience, similar to the Until Dawn video game. I liked how this one tied into Slashtag - the characters and their fears were interesting, and the action started right off the bat. I died ten times in total LOL and some were gruesome! The ending was perfect also. Can't wait to read more of this series.

DNF @ 38%.

I am incredibly disappointed. This book was fun! But let's face it - it's an election year. And even if it wasn't, I quit allowing the news on my tv since around 2016. Why? Because I am so tired of it all. So when author's squeeze in little jabs and insert their politics into a book, I get annoyed. I don't care who you are - if you want to write non-fiction, than write it! But sliding it into your books is obnoxious. I don't care about your political views. And after the week I've had, this was enough. Perhaps at another time I would have kept on reading, but I can't anymore. I've too many books to read to continue on.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Vincere Press for the advanced reading copy.

I haven't done a "choose your own adventure" since my Goosebumps days - it was so much fun. It was that nostalgia mixed with more gore and horror.

I did make sure I read every option (so had many grisly deaths), but I sped through it. I liked the set-up and will be checking out the Slashtag novel. The location was great and I could picture everything, including the creepy and demented "surgeon" Arthur Wilson.

I wish it was longer so I could connect with the characters and I'd have liked the puzzles to be something I could have solved with them - I felt a bit removed.

Overall, a fun and gory interactive horror which has made me want to check out both the author's other works and the other Try Not To Die books.

I loved the Slashtag book and was extremely excited to see it join the Try Not to Die universe. I died more times than I'd like to admit but love the choose your own adventure style books. Need to get all the books in physical form.

I thought it would be fun to read a book similar to an earlier time called “Choose your own adventure” only this would be “horror” and suspenseful. I love the storyline even though I died or chose the wrong”answer.” It was a great escape story for me to read. I think it was great that this book was written!

As a kid who loved Choose Your Own Adventure novels, I was so excited to dive into a TNTD. Being able to revisit the world of Slashtag and the Propitious Hotel was so much fun! I thought the choices for the reader and story as a whole were well-written and tied together.

I devoured the choose your own adventure books as a child and I was so stoked to read this! My favorite part of these books is that you can reread it as many times as you want and get a different outcome. This was written really well and I hope the author writes more.

I absolutely loved the Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid, so it's probably not a huge surprise that I really enjoyed this. The writing was solid, it works even if you haven't read Slashtag yet, and the ebook option was simple to navigate. It also wasn't easy. I'm not even sure how many times I "died" before I made it to the ending where my character survives. The journey and differing routes were all part of the fun though!

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Vincere Press in exchange for an honest review.

I was a huge fan of Choose Your Own Adventure books as a child. I particularly loved the Goosebumps ones and I was super intrigued when I discovered a whole series focused mostly on taking horror properties and turning them into Choose Your Own Adventure books. The first one I read was a little bit of a disappointment but I am so glad I tried again.

Try Not to Die on Slashtag is the story of two people who get invited to playtest a horror reality TV show focused on outwitting an evil ghost. To do so, they will have to overcome horrific puzzles and deathtraps, like a mix of Saw and an escape room. This is already a great premise and I really enjoyed how it was integrated into the CYOA format. Admittedly it is a shame that there is only one right path, but the correct choice was obscured fairly well throughout most situations and I enjoyed not knowing whether I was making a good call or not. The Kindle version is also fantastically formatted, with quick links to take you directly to the correct choice you didn't make, after your grisly death of course.

I believe this book is based off a fiction book (which I now fully intend to pick up) but it absolutely did not matter in the slightest for knowing what was going on. I went in blind and I fully enjoyed the story and the characters. I didn't feel lost at any point and I was able to slip into the world seamlessly. Overall I would say the writing was strong, with good emotion, peril and plenty of fun horror content throughout. I already mentioned how the right choice wasn't always predictable, and that made it more rewarding when I did manage to make a good call.

Overall, this book is a ton of fun and I strongly recommend it for any fans of the CYOA genre, particularly if you want to recreate the Goosebumps feel with a more grownup novel. It was an absolute blast and I am definitely going to give others in the series a try

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

I liked the concept of the try not to die aspect, it reminded me of the choose your scare that Goosebumps did when I was a youth. It was thrilling and the storyline for Slashtag was full of grotesque scenes. I highly recommend this novel for those looking for a little fun with their reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. As a child I LOVED the Choose Your Own Adventure books, and I love horror books so this one grabbed my attention right away. This book was so entertaining, and of course I had to choose each option to see what happened. There were some creative ways to die!

This was an incredibly fun book!

I was a huge fan of those Choose Your Own Adventure books when i was younger, so finding the adulti, gory version for me was just a huge hit!
I like that you have the option to either play the story or just read it, as you can cater to a larger audience that way.

Things I liked:
• Killer game shows are always a fun premise.
• The three-choice options. I wish there were more of them because making incorrect choices becomes very simplistic otherwise.
• The option to read through the successful route as a story without doing the interactive elements if you're more interested in a horror novella than a choose your own adventure. This makes it much more appealing to recommend to others who might consider that 'childish' or outdated.
• The gore was good -- not too over the top or ridiculous, just enough to get the imagery across.

Things I didn't like:
• The characters were very simplistic and generally not interesting to me. I didn't feel a lot of their reactions were justified based on what (little) we knew about them or what was happening, thus I didn't find their fates impactful.
• An incorrect choice near the beginning of the story brought up a character that never shows up again. I'm sure this is connected to the novel, but as someone who went into this not having read it that was kind of pointless and opened up unanswered questions.
• The riddles were either 1) too easy, or 2) not given to the player to be solved and instead figured out by the characters. I would have liked more rewarding of correct deduction.
• Please, I am so tired of the 'I have to be better than them, I'm not a killer!' trope. Just kill them, Jeremy. It's fine.

Even though it didn't end up being for me, I have friends who would love this and will be sure to put the word out to them. Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-ARC!