The Bystander

The Game at Carousel, Book 1

By: Rob M. Lastrel

Narrated by: Adam Sims

In a town where horror movie tropes come to life, one’s only chance to survive is to play their role, in the first book of a spine-tingling gamelit series.

When horror-obsessed Riley Lawrence and his group of college friends arrive in the small town of Carousel for their Centennial Celebration, the few decrepit cars parked in the street don’t scare them. But when they enter a locked building, an animatronic usher hands them each a ticket, and the lights dim, Riley realizes they’ve entered the inescapable patchwork of a horror movie set. And they’ve each been assigned an archetype—Scholar, Athlete, Eye Candy, Final Girl—to play out as the curtains rise.

Assigned the Film Buff archetype, Riley’s doomed to repeat a pattern: knowing exactly who the killer is but never surviving the attacks himself. After all, film buffs may know what’s coming, but they’re always the first to be hunted down. Until, that is, Riley learns he can avoid a death or two by exploiting the Oblivious Bystander trope. It seems monsters and killers won’t harm him as long as he can convincingly pretend he hasn’t noticed them.

To make it through this deadly game, Riley and his friends will need to leverage their tropes effectively to determine what’s trapping them there in the first place. But as the rounds continue and escape seems farther and farther out of reach, they’ll be forced to ask themselves: Would they survive in a horror movie?

The first volume of the hit LitRPG horror series—with more than three million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!

©2024 Rob M. Lastrel (P)2024 Podium Audio

So original!

A fantastic read. Very engaging in a unique setting. I can’t wait for the next one!!!

A refreshing story.

This is a very entertaining change of pace from any book I've read. The characters are good(not great) and it's fun to read. The MC isn't all that smart but is still reasonably clever. Things I connected right away takes him much longer to conclude but that's similar to playing a game vs watching one, so its fine. He has no grievous lapse in judgement and is fairly realistic in his reactions. The book is a breathe of fresh air with good potential.

Living the movie life isn’t as glamorous as you might hope!

If you’re not sure about the story because of the horror, don’t even worry about it, give it a try. This story is more about characters having to ‘live’ through movies as if it was real life, with all that entails. Lots of mystery, character deaths that aren’t necessarily permanent, and a rewarding outcome when the players do well in their assigned roles.

Well worth it.

That said, the narrator may have struggled a little bit with all the voices of different characters. Still enjoyed it though so your mileage may vary.

Amazing concept for horror and scooby doo fans

I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. I finished it in 2 days which is extremely fast for me.

The concept is similar to Scooby Doo, where they go figure out mysteries. The main cast gets trapped in a mysterious town. There are other people who have been trapped in the town as well for years. Groups of 4-6 must take part in "Storylines" which are all horror mysteries. People can die but as long as 1 member remains alive and solves the mystery, then all members survive.

The book is written in first person which makes the first couple hours confusing but after 2-3 hours, the book explains a lot of the questions I had. The characters seemed to blend together as well, and it took me about 1/4 of the book to differentiate the the different characters and their personalities. I don't think this would have been an issue in the physical book form so I think it's just a quirk of listening to the audiobook.

The story is awesome and engaging. Book 1 has the characters go through 4 (I think 4) storylines so they must solve 4 mysteries. Each storyline is very unique, and I was not able to guess any of the solutions for them.

I'm currently on book 2 and an eagerly awaiting the 3rd and 4th.

Revitalizes the LitRPG genre!

I was getting pretty burnt out on these LitRPGs, but this one had me hooked from the get go! It’s pulse pounding, mysterious and crazy! I wish there was a TTRPG of this