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.

Shlock Horror LitRPG Greatness

I discovered this book before it was officially published and loved every second of the journey - the uniqueness of the setting and the twist of litRPG on top just scratch an itch I didn’t know I had.

Can’t wait for the next book!

Very good story

It's such a unique setting and system, one of the best executed LitRPGs! I love this so much! Voice was a bit dull to me at first, but it gets normal and I think it fits the tone of the story.

Amazing

So much fun it a hundred b movies in one book it’s every thing I love about horror movies in one book