I LOVED this book. I could not read it fast enough! I will admit, I do have a slight obsession with escape room/haunted house stories. (I blame the Saw Escape Room in Vegas. If you haven’t tried it, you really should!) Anyway, ever since, I’ve devoured movies and books with any kind of escape room theme. I love the idea of people actually using critical thinking to escape impending death. It’s great stuff! This book hit all the points for me! I knew pretty early what was going to happen, but I didn’t even care. I loved watching how everything played out, who got their just desserts, and how exactly it happened. I loved and hated the characters, I loved Melanie’s character arc, and the pacing was chef’s kiss. Seriously, I can’t believe this is a debut novel. I was hooked on it from the first page and now have a new author to add to my auto buy list!

Huge thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

What worked for me:
This may have fully pulled me out of my reading slump! It was a unique story, told in multiple POVs, that would make an excellent on-screen adaptation someday. Even though I was pretty sure how the story was going to play out, I wasn’t disappointed at the final reveal.

What didn’t:
Nothing I can recall.

Straight to the point:
If you’re looking for “Clue” meets “And Then There Were None” with a twist of horror, then this is for you!

Seven horror writers are summoned to a remote house for a will reading for the estate of their rich and famous colleague, Mortimer Queen. When they arrive, they are instead locked in and compelled solve a series of riddles in order to escape the house. For every riddle they don’t — or refuse to — solve, the manor will claim a victim.
Terrible secrets are revealed as Queen gets his revenge on his rivals from the grave.
It’s a fun, fast-paced popcorn horror/thriller, perfect for binging by the pool. A solid 3.5 stars.

🔪 How to Survive a Horror Story 🔪

"𝘈 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴...𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Am I horror/thriller girlie now?
I just might be.

Holyyyyy. This book had me gripped from the beginning.
Everything you expect out of a 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥𝘰-𝘔𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴-𝘒𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘖𝘶𝘵 kind of deal; but throw in a little bit of 𝘚𝘢𝘸 in there too.
Yet, seemingly nothing like any of them.

This had me pointing fingers and defending characters like there was no tomorrow.
I loved getting every characters' POV, and getting a glimpse into all of their minds.
It truly made it difficult to figure out where it was going to go at any given point.

This book had me absolutely hooked from the get-go, and I could not put it down!
It contained multitudes - an array of characters, multiple mysteries, suspense, and even humour thrown in here and there.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘑𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘳."

This was a DEBUT!?
This was a sensational book; it toyed with my emotions, it had me on the edge of my seat, and it had me second guessing EVERYTHING; all the while allowing me to draw my own conclusions.

I can't wait to see what else Mallory Arnold throws our way!

Thank you, Mallory, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this eARC!

This book took on an eerie life of its own drawing your attention into this game of life or death. The riddles, manor and overall concept was quite intriguing with ambitious and suspenseful moments sprinkled throughout.

It did take me a bit to really get into the story with the begining lacking, but once it picked up I was fully hooked. It was fun, creepy and overall fantastic!

Sadly this is a DNF at 57%. A great premise its just not executed very well. A little too predictable and the characters aren't that likeable.

This engaging debut novel blends supernatural horror with a locked-room mystery. There are definitely unbelievable moments and mild gore. A group of writers is invited to the eerie manor of horror author Mortimer Queen for the reading of his will. Unbeknownst to them, they must complete a series of escape room-style riddles to proceed—each failure brings severe consequences. With secrets, suspense, and unpredictable twists, the story delivers a unique and thrilling read.

Thank you @MalloryArnold, @PoisonedPenPress and @NetGalley for a free e-ARC. The opinions are mine alone and not biased in any way.

Mortimer Queen the esteemed horror author has died and invited six of his peers and one seemingly random girl to the reading of his will. The will reading is at Mortimer Queen’s home which turns out to be more than it seems. The house is hungry and looking for its next victim. The seven guests are tasked to solve riddles as they move through the house trying to survive. All of the guests harbor terrible secrets that they are desperate to keep hidden. The beginning of this story immediately made me think about the movie House on Haunted hill and Clue. I liked how suspenseful the book was and how it always kept me guessing. One way I like to judge books is if I think it would make a good movie and I definitely think this one would make a great horror movie. My imagining would be horror comedy even though the book was not comedic. I would recommend this one! Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I sadly had to DNF this book. 7 POV’s was way too much for me to enjoy in a book. I tried to get into it but that amount of POV’s really stopped me getting to grips with it and to get connected to the characters.

I had high, high hopes for this book (and we all know that you shouldn't raise your hopes right), and I will admit I was a little disappointed by it.

The premise is that a group of horror authors are invited to a dark spooky mansion to hear the reading of a will, the will of Mortimer Queen, king of horror.

But once inside, they find themselves trapped and unable to leave until they make it through a variety of rooms and face some horrifying trials...

Sounds good, yeah? But it plodded on and on. The trials were moral, the deaths borrowed from other books and films (maybe they were meant to be?) and I was left with questions, I wanted to know more about the house and its ghoulish housekeeper! Why give us such a wonderful character and location and not elaborate more.

Where did the woman go from the painting? Who were all the other victims that were lured into the mansion? How did Mortimer know about his haunted home? SO MANY QUESTIONS?

Anyways, great writing, excellent plot, but just a very ordinary delivery.

This locked room horror mystery will keep you guessing until the end.

A famous author dies and 7 other authors are invited for a will reading. The guests must solve riddles to get through the manor. You will never guess what this creepy manor has in store for each of them. The carnivorous books were definitely a highlight.

The premise of this book was right up my alley: a cursed old mansion, a bunch of horror authors fighting to survive through different tests, a great array of secrets, mind games and tension. I have read other similar books before, but I must say this is the one that best executed the "authors trapped in a horror house" trope. The characters were really interesting and their twists and secrets caught me off guard. I really enjoyed the fact that most of them were what they seemed at first glance, and those who were in a way, had a depth to their character that felt strikingly human in a way that inspired compassion and understanding. Honestly, a greatly executed book all throughout.
Concerning the horror itself, it was a little gore-y at times, but I'd say the atmosphere is rather one of a dark mystery than pure, utter horror. If you enjoy scary books but are not looking for them to haunt you at night, this will definitely do the trick.
Overall: a fun read, very interesting and full of mystery, not a terrifying story (which I mean just as a descriptive and not as a bad thing).

Thanks to poisoned pen press and NetGalley for this arc!

The premise of a locked room murder mystery surrounding horror authors was super fun and was executed very well!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing the e-ARC of this book for an honest review.

This was a fun surprise. It has that zesty flavor of a Dark Pictures Anthology game, Flanagan's The Fall of House Usher, and Knives Out. I wasn't disappointed.

4⭐️

This was so much fun. I love a Clue like story of people being invited to a secluded house by a mysterious person that they don't know. The house being its own character? That makes things that much more dramatic. The fact that the characters were all authors or author-adjacent made them insufferable at times but I did enjoy the way that allowed them to twist the narrative surrounding them. I really enjoyed how steadfast many characters held onto their false persona even after the life and death threat was proven real. The way that each characters lies and wrong doings were revealed was really well done.

Melanie was such an interesting character to me. She started as this meek girl who is used to being talked over by her own mother so expects nothing better from anyone else. She was the only one invited who hadn't been published and had no true connection to the publishing industry or Mortimer. None of the other character expected anything from Melanie and probably expected her to one of the first to die. In fact, Chester tried his hardest to make sure she was the first to go to keep his own secret. As the story went on, it proved that Melanie was more clever than any of them. As she regained her memories of why she was invited to the house, it proved to make her a final girl you wanted to root for.

Thanks Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing this ARC to me!

After Mortimer Queen's death, a group of writers, each of which has their own connection to the literary icon, is invited to his last will and testament reading. Instead, when they arrive at his manor, they are all invited to play a game. The rules are simple: solve the riddle and progress to the next room. If they don't, the manor will take one of them for itself.

It's such an insane, silly story in all the best ways possible. It took me a while to get involved in what was going on, but once I did, I could not put this down. The writing is so sharp and engaging, and the pacing only got better as it went on. Even the manor is such a character in itself; it's so eery, and everything about it is so wonderfully descriptive, it makes it so easy to imagine you're there with the characters as everything unfolds.

I liked how it switched in between each character's POV, while I might not have liked every character, which is to be expected, I think it made it that much more interesting to follow. I do feel like they were a little too flat, and maybe a little underdeveloped, but it didn't really take much away from my enjoyment of the book overall.

I was really struggling at the beginning with this one. Mostly due to non-book related circumstances but in part because I wasn't feeling the beginning. I mainly had a difficult time connecting with the characters. They sometimes felt more like caricatures of exaggerated traits rather than nuanced or complex personalities.

The story at times was also fairly predictable with the riddle solving and plot twists.

With that said I really enjoyed each character's back story and finding out why each was invited to the will reading.
I also enjoyed the ending because it didn't feel forced given the situations presented throughout the story.

I genuinely feel this would make a great graphic novel or even Netflix show.

If you like shady characters, haunted mansions, forced group cooperation, and last one standing kind of stories, you will like this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you love unreliable narrators this book has six of them and oh boy do each of them have their own problems. This book felt like watching the first Knives Out movie in all the best ways.
If six POVs scares you don’t you worry, all six characters are together going through the same events together so you just get a bit of a taste of the inner turmoil they’re dealing with as they advance throughout the book. They all cohesively blend together and have such unique tones.
I loved the breadcrumbs throughout the book to lead you to the twist at the end. I think this is a book worth reading twice to collect all the pieces you may have glazed over the first time.

I need this to be made into a movie ASAP!!! Haven’t had this much fun while reading in ages. It has humour, scary and creepy moments, it makes you actually use your brain and try to solve all the little riddles on page. I got hooked from oage one and could not put it down (yes I was reading at work, too!). Perfect for the lovers of classic horrors and thrilling mysteries, this book is your perfect summer read 😈

When Mortimer Queen dies, he invites several horror authors to the reading of his will at his home, a grand horrific manor house. Mortimer Queen is the King of horror fiction.

The story is told from several different points of view. It starts with Melanie Brown. She is the only writer who hasn’t published. She has a horrid mother, and her sister tries to talk her out of going. This part reminded me a little of Shirley Jackson’s – The Haunting of Hill House. I think this story may have been better if she had been the only point of view and we found out all the information as she discovered it.

When she arrives and sees the house she almost turns around and leaves. The house is a monstrosity. It looks neglected.

An odd woman greets all of them in the foyer. She leads them into another room to get to know each other. Instead of reading the will, she explains that they will be playing a game. In each room they will have a riddle. If they are unable to solve the riddle, someone will die. Who ever survives will inherit Mortimer Queen’s wealth.

Apparently, Mortimer had written a famous novel called Monster House. They are now residing in it for the weekend. They soon discover that the house can and will eat them.

At this point it started to lose me. Instead of telling them right away what was going on, I think it would have been more interesting if it had kept me guessing a little more about what was going to happen.

The death scenes are graphic but because it was a house doing it, it didn’t feel that scary. I found it harder to suspend my disbelief.

The rest of the story was reminiscent of Christie’s – And Then There Were None.

I think this author missed a chance to use a little psychological horror by not telling the reader what was going to happen. It could have been more fun to have them go off to their rooms for the night, hear a scream, and have someone disappear. Then work together to find out what was going on. The reader would have been spared the unnecessary gore and maybe had a chance to really be scared.

I do love a good ghost story, and I had hoped that this would be one.

This book does have a campy feel and it may be just what you would enjoy. Can't always predict what another reader would like. If it sounds like a fun read to you, I encourage you to read it.

This book is scheduled for release on July 8th.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Print for this advance reader copy for my honest opinion.