this was a really enjoyable read, i liked that this was a mystery novel for young adults but still felt like a adult novel. The characters were great and I really enjoyed reading this.

I Know When You’re Going to Die by Michael J. Bowler, 212 pages. Michael J. Bowler, 2020. $10. LGBTQIA
Language: R (71 swears, 0 “f” + Spanish swears); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Sixteen-year-old Leo isn’t like the other rich kids in the community, as illustrated by his nickname Shy Boy and having a grand total of one friend. Having a hard time even looking people in the eye, Leo prefers to stay in the background anyway. However, when he’s given the power to see when people will die, Leo has a choice: let someone be murdered or find the courage to stop it.
The premise of Leo’s story is fun, though the execution could be cheesy at times, especially at the end. I enjoyed the suspense and how Bowler crafted the foreshadowing. While I’m disappointed that readers can’t figure out who the bad guy is on their own, the foreshadowing allowed me to feel a sense having figured other details out before the grand reveal at the climax. The mature content rating is for drug and alcohol use, mentions of groping, and illegal activity. The violence rating is for knife and gun use, blood and gore, and murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I was given this ebook in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read it. I don't know if I need to switch up genres or what, but horror/thriller has always been my go to fav genre. But the last few I've read (especially frustrating because it looks like I only give bad reviews on Netgalley!) I just am laboring right finish. Don't get be wrong, this book was well written good plot and had plenty of good parts, but overall, I feel like the genre has become one of try to write the most outlandish, unbelievable story possible. I love to be scared and the fact that this book is not even remotely possible in the real world means for me it's almost silly.

The cover synopsis for this book is an incredible hook. The story centers on friends, loyalty and acceptance within a group of high school students who are bullied. When one of this group gains the "gift" of seeing when someone will die, his vision of his friend's death leaves them all searching for a way to change the future.

Michael J Bowler has built a community of characters that you can find in most any US High School. They all stay together to lower their chance of being the day's target. When they have the chance to save one of their friends, they must pull together even more to solve the murder before it happens. Even though targeted as a YA story, I Know When You're Going To Die was a very good read for me and I left my young days behind many moons ago. Now I'm going to check the author's other titles.

would like to thank netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book

this is about a gift being passed to someone deserving or not...depending on how you view the gift of being able to see when someone dies and how they die...

leo is just any ordinary young adult, still attending school but in his spare time he helps the homeless and he gives to the poor, so when one of the down and outs asks for him, he stops what he is doing and goes in search of this man...and what follows is the most extraordinary thing to ever happen to him...he is given a gift or a curse depends on how he views it...

at first he is sceptical and doesnt realise what he can do...also leo is very shy a bit of a loner and only has one friend

this story also covers bullying and social media used at its worst..and social pressures....but the story is one that grips you as you want to see where it takes him...and how he can overcome his shyness...its very well thought out and written well for anyone else that feels out of the loop and not included in the in crowd...

i did enjoy this book even though i felt it was aimed at young adults

I could not finish this book. The characters are flat, and the descriptions of activities/actions are bland. There was no character development prior to introducing the protagonist's newfound abilities, so there was no way to know how he truly changed by this.

It was not one I'd recommend.

Leo and J.C. are best friends--J.C. is Leo's only friend. While volunteering in a shelter, Leo encounters a homeless man that gives him a "gift" and immediately the old man dies. The terrifying gift given is the knowledge of the death date of any individual when Leo looks deeply into their eyes. What he see's in the eyes of his best friend strikes terror in his heart.

I Know When You're Going to Die is a great book with a good storyline. It just moves at a pace that is too quick. It could have easily been slowed down a bit with added description and that would have made it a much better book and could have boosted its rating for me.
I did enjoy the characters, I enjoyed how they stuck together, how they were relatable. Although I do think that if I found out that I had the power to see when and how people were going to die that I probably would have freaked out a bit more, but we can chalk that up to me being wuss and the quick pace of the book.

Thank you so much to Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and Michae J. Bowler for giving me an ARC of the author’s I Know When You’re Going To Die via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What if you are given the power to know when people are going to die? What would you do? Leo is a shy, rich kid. Unlike his peers, he does not live a lavish life, and instead focuses on helping the poor and needy. That is where an old man comes and bestows Leo a power where if he looks into a person’s eyes, he can see when they will die. And when he accidentally looks on his best friend’s eyes, Leo swears J.C will never meet death.

I Know When You’re Going To Die is a story of friendship and kindness. Leo has social anxiety, which I can relate to. His friendship with J.C. is cute. And his kindness is far more than the teens his age.

But that stops there. The concept of the book is interesting, but the execution fell flat. I feel like the story wanted to show some awareness (homophobia? Bullying?), but it doesn’t fall through. Instead, it sounds downright homophobic and cringy. It doesn’t have a thrill, and while I do give the author a thumbs up for not being predictable, the whole scene of everyone in the haunted house is just disgusting and cringy. I found myself just skimming past 60% just to see who really is the killer.

This book was not what I anticipated. It’s teen drama, and while I do love teen dramas, this one is not the teen drama I love. There are a lot of ways this could have gone, but the fact that it focused on them being non-white and “maybe gay” (even the <s>all</s> adults tease the kids and advice them to reach out to other sex, to my disbelief) just did not sit well with me. Two stars for the kindness, friendship and for not being predictable. Other than that, I cannot recommend this book at all.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

I know where you're going to die is a very peculiar and unique book. Leo, the main character, is terribly shy, he suffers from social anxiety. He's rich, lives in a beautiful house, his mother is a movie bigwig and he's surrounded by superficial and spoiled people, like his classmates. The only one who gets him, they really get and understand each other, is J.C., his best friend, more outgoing and fan of stylish and designed things. Both of them suffer because their mothers don't care about them, they are emotionally detached from their sons and both of them are bullied at school: J.C. because he's Mexican, even though being the mayor's son protect him, somehow, Leo because his social anxiety and shyness.
Leo's life changes during a shift at the Skid Row's rescue missions, where he goes to take care of poor and homeless people. Before dying man clasps his hands and Leo feels something being passed to him. Since then everytime he looks into another person's eyes he'll be able to tell when he's going to die. Shocked and traumatized when his first predictions come true, Leo's resolve to never look into another person's eyes is disrupted when, preventing a fight between J,C. and the school bullies, he sees his friend's death, after few days. Helped by the new girl, Laura, Leo decides to do anything in his power to save J.C's life. Or die trying.

I really liked this book, it's unique, interesting. Narrated from Leo's POV in first person, the reader is really involved in the story. What impressed me the most is the fierce friendship between Leo and J.C. Since they were kids, they were inseparable, understanding each other, loving one other fiercely. I adore how they support each other, balancing and completing one other, Leo with his shyness, J.C. with his insecurities, his need to be accepted, to be see as somebody. They live into a society, a school where being rich meant being entitled and spoiled and both of them, mostly Leo, are different from the others, they don't relate to their classmates, so indifferent and many times cruel.
Leo, with his anxiety, his shyness, is a strong and supportive friend, first and foremost for J.C., then for Laura, too. This gift, or curse, turns his world upside down, forcing him to chose what to do. Intervene? Tell someone? Try to prevent it and maybe making it happen? What should you do if you knew someone is going to die? At first shocked and skeptic, Leo decided to try everything to save his best friend's life and I really love their relationship, so genuine. I liked reading about their investigation with Laura, their suspicions, their pursuits, while, in the meantime, fighting against the school bullies, like Chet Hamilton and his posse. It was interesting reading about the main bully, too, how he was contextualized and not seen as the bully stereotype.
Leo, J.C. and Laura starts right away to like each other, becoming friends. After being forced away from her girlfriend, moved there by her homophobic parents, Laura joins them in their investigation.
Interesting the twists, the discoveries and the whole inquiry, it was really fun and an emotional rollercoaster reading it.

I found Leo really relatable as character and I loved reading about him. He's complex, shy, frustrated by his mother and family situation, loyal, stubborn. I like J.C., too, because, like Leo, he's an amazing friend, loyal, funny and insecure, too, even though he concealed well.
It annoyed me the constant assumption he and J.C. were boyfriend (even though I still suspected, because there was totally bromance in this book), above all from the adults. I found it a bit boring, since it was reiterated, but it was believable too, reading about the constant bullying and assumptions.
It was curious that the parents, save from the mothers and Laura's dad, were completely absent. Even when they were "present" they were distant, "useless". Absent mothers and cruel and homophobic father. I guess that was deliberate, for the author to focalize the story on the boys and how they were left to take care of themselves alone, maybe only helped by the governesses. To show rich kids' life, all golden from the outside, but concealing difficulties, rage and pain. It was brilliant and I love how the author showed it.

In that kind of society, where being rich rarely meant doing something good for the others, it was comforting reading about Leo, taking care of poor people or Chet's helping that family. Or, among absent family members Leo, J.C. managed to find one other and grow up better together.

With a touch of paranormal, this book set in rich society, shows its members, moral conundrum, strong friendship and how they can be decent people, good people in a corrupt society.

I found inspiring Leo and J.C.'s friendship, how they were always for each other, their love strong and pure, ready to do anything for one other.

Two boys are best friends. They have a lot in common. Their parents are rich and ignore them. They have no other friends. They are both bullied.

One day, Leo gets a super power while doing charity work. If he looks into a persons eyes, he knows when they’ll die. He tests it out at first to make sure it’s real. (He sees graphic details about the deaths.) once he knows its real, he decides to never look anyone in the eyes again.

Chet Hamilton, resident school bully, is giving a hard time. Leo inadvertently looks J.C. in the eyes. He will die next week. The rest of the book is about trying to avoid the death.

I really want to love this book. The plot is good. The characters are ok, though I wish they were more developed or the same thing wasn’t said over and over. (Leo is shy. He doesn’t look people in the eyes.). There are places where the story lags. At the climax though, it is well paced. I was hooked on the book. After the climax, it lags again.

I think parts of the book did not develop enough. Leo got this super power but it’s only used a few times and not mentioned again until the end. That should have been more central to the story. The charity work Leo does is completely dropped at the beginning. I understand the purpose was to give him character that is the reason for being chosen but the author never revisits it.

The story seems linear in that the author cannot have more than one thing going on. Why couldn’t Leo have continued to do his charity work before him and J.C. figure out how to stop J.C.’s death after school each day. Couldn’t Leo accidentally look a teacher in the eye? Maybe suggest they see a doctor and prevent a heart attack.

Don’t get me wrong, the book was fine. It just wasn’t the stellar read it could have been. But that’s just my humble opinion.

This was a neat story to read. I really enjoyed it. Well written.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I think the characters are really well described and good thought out. The crafting of the plot is very good. I really like the style of the writing and it's full of tension and good descriptions of the surroundings. All in all a nice book.