Booktok Sensation Adam Silvera'sThe Survivor Wants to Die at the EndIs Almost Here — Read an Excerpt! (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Quill Tree Books; Adam Silvera

Adam Silvera’sThey Both Die at the Endbecame a Booktok viral sensation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its prequelThe First to Die at the Endfollowed suit in 2022.

Now, with a series adaptation in the works at Netflix with stars likeBridgertoncreator Chis Van Dusen,Yellowjackets’executive producer Drew Comins, and musical artistBad Bunnyattached, fans are clamoring for the next taste of the series.

The wait is almost over. PEOPLE can exclusively share an excerpt from the first chapter ofThe Survivor Wants to Die at the End, due out from Quill Tree Books on May 6. In this book, — the author’s most personal to date – readers will learn even more about Death-Cast, the service that calls people on the day they’re going to die, and how it looms large in the lives of two boys whose paths cross at the exact right time.

Paz Dario waits up every night for the call from Death-Cast, until he decides he’s done waiting. But before he can take matters into his own hands, a boy saves his life.

Alano Rosa is heir to the Death-Cast empire, but thanks to his father, he doesn’t feel like he can control his own destiny. And with the violent Death Guard threatening Alano, his End Day might be closer than he thinks. As fate brings Paz and Alano together, it’s up to them to survive what lies ahead.

Read on for an exciting first peek atThe Survivor Wants to Die at the End.

Quill Tree Books

LO S A N G E L E S

July 22, 2020

PA Z DA R I O

7:44 a.m. (Pacific Daylight Time)

Death-Cast never calls to tell me I’m gonna die. I wish they would.

Every night between midnight and 3 a.m. when the heralds are alerting people about their End Days, I stay up and stare at my phone, willing it to ring with those haunting bells that will signal my early death. Or my late death if we’re being real about how little I’ve wanted to be alive. I dream of the night when I can interrupt my herald’s condolences over how I’m about to die and just say, “Thank you for the best news of my life.”

And then, somehow, I will finally die.

My phone didn’t ring last night, so I’m forced to live through another Not-End Day.

I’m always performing a will to live for all the people working hard to keep me alive: my mom, obviously; my stepdad, who used to be a guidance counselor and still acts like one; my therapist,who I lie to every Friday afternoon; and my psychiatrist, who prescribes the antidepressants I overdosed on in March. I almost feel guilty wasting everyone’s time since I’m a lost cause. But if I can’t convince everyone that I only tried killing myself because of that documentary about my childhood incident, then I’ll be sent to a suicide treatment facility where I’ll not only have even more people working to keep me alive, I won’t stand any chance at trying to kill myself again.

If this Not-End Day goes as well as I hope, I might be happy to stick around.

For the first time in almost 10 years, I have a callback. And not just any callback but a chemistry test to be the love interest in the movie. And not just any movie but the adaptation of my favorite fantasy novel,Golden Heart. All it took was one killer self-tape and lying about who I am.

Now I gotta go book my dream role.

I’m pacing my bedroom, going over the audition sides, even though I’ve got these lines down. Everything in here is black and white except for the novels, plays, and video games that entertain me on my Not-End Days. Mom got me this big Zebra plant, which, despite the name, doesn’t match my room’s vibe. It was a nice thought to get a natural pop of green in here, but I’ve had a hard enough time nourishing myself, so the plant has browned from neglect; I gotta throw it out because I can’t watch a plant die before me.

I crack open my door, hearing a Spanish song playing from the old radio I moved to the top of the fridge after we got rid of all the alcohol. Mom and Rolando are laughing as they cook breakfast before she goes to work at this local women’s shelter. It’s the little moments like this when Mom isn’t bringing me plants or supervising my antidepressant dosage that give me hope that she will actually be okay if I die. Even if she said otherwise after my suicide attempt — I ’m only talking about the one in March, since no one knows about the second.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

I rush down the hall and into the bathroom that’s still warm and misty from Rolando’s morning shower. I wipe the steamy mirror, trying to see the villain everyone else sees, but I only see a boy who has dyed his dark hair blond to book this job and who is growing out his curls to hide the face everyone knows more from the docuseries about the first End Day instead of his small but once promising role in the last Scorpius Hawthorne film.

The cold water of the shower shocks me awake before I twist the knob so far that the hot water turns my tanned skin red. I force myself to stand there even though my body wants to take control of my legs and back away. The body eventually wins, and I get out.

What was supposed to be our fresh start, at least.

That trip to Brazil with Mom to film my scene was mind- blowing, I still can’t believe I got to visit the iconic set of the Milagro Castle and—

Nope, no going down memory lane for my time as young Larkin Cano when I have a different role to play now. Not the one for the audition. The role I play every Not-End Day.

Fully dressed and clean, I grab the doorknob and whisper, “Action.”

I become Happy Paz.

The Survivor Wants to Die at the Endcomes out May 6 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

source: people.com