The Diary of Fate

You sure has received a lot of praise. 

I just don't know...I wish I loved it.  Everyone does!  It isn't that I don't love it.  It's just that...

It reads to me like a cross between an 80s cautionary slasher movie and the 40s radio show The Diary of Fate.  I think that the author might have listened to the DOF and got the idea for the style of this book. And that's fine! I actually love listening to DOF. But what makes people love DOF is that it is so entertainingly heavy-handed. If you've read You, I beg you to listen to a DOF episode and tell me if you sense what I'm saying.

You is similar to 80s slasher films in that it is a cautionary tale. Start down a bad road, keep making poor choices, and you'll end up being decimated by the larger-than life, invincible villain. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees and in this case, Zach McDade.  Wear all black, stop caring about school, don't communicate with your parents and look what happens. 
I know it isn't that simple, I know the author is trying to make the point that we have free will and our choices have consequenses. Walter Dean Myers Dope Sick, has the same message and is a much better book and more original book in my opinion.