How to Survive a Horror Story promises gore-soaked, escape-room thrills and largely delivers: there’s creepy action, imaginative horror touches, and Lovecraftian vibe in the manor’s malevolent presence. At its best, it’s propulsive, macabre entertainment.
But it struggles under its own structure. With too many POV shifts, a cast that often lacks emotional weight, and puzzles that don’t always pay off, the story can feel more procedural than pulse-pounding. I found myself invested in the concept more than the characters' fates.
This is a solid middle-of-the-road read: fun for fans of haunted-house mysteries and locked-room thrillers, and polished enough to hint at Arnold’s potential. While not a standout, it’s an engaging diversion—especially for those who enjoy ensemble horror with a metafictional twist.

Out of the blue, Melanie Brown receives an invitation to the will reading of legendary horror author Mortimer Queen. Against her mother’s advice, she drives out to his manor. She finds herself surrounded by six other famous writers. She cannot figure out why she is here. Each has their own unique connection to the literary icon, some known, and they all have been waiting for their chance to step into the author's shoes as the master of horror. But instead of objects or money, they are bequeathed a game. The rules are simple: solve the riddle, go to the next room. But if you don’t, one of them will die. And for once, the authors are faced with a true haunted house…
Mallory Arnold blends many traditional tropes from mystery and horror stories into something that reminded me of Clue without the humor. The environment of the manor is wonderfully creepy (except for the clocks; that was just weird), and Gia was a fascinating face for the supernatural. The characters are all exaggerations of their tropes (a throwback to Murder by Death, perhaps?) that seem a bit more realistic because they are eccentric writers. There is a nice twist that does throw one character’s trope on its head, and that was a nice bite.
The riddles aren’t difficult,t but that’s the point. This is a revenge story, not an escape room type puzzler. The terror here is that the characters know that Queen knows what they did, and that they didn’t hide their betrayal as well as they thought they did. The one thing Arnold lacked was giving us more of the terror from the characters who knew they were going to die. The psychological and environmental terror is what really pushed the story along. That and how to find you survived a horror story. And, yes, there was an answer.
Overall, How to Survive a Horror Story is a fun caper playing with horror tropes in a spectacularly creepy setting. Add it to your reading list for some poolside creepiness.

Phew. Haunted houses, people-as-monsters, betrayal and revenge… this story has it all. How to Survive a Horror Story is full of suspense, gory, and creepy in the best way possible.

Seven authors are invited to a will reading of a famous horror author, each expecting to inherit something valuable. What they don’t expect is the journey that lies ahead of them, and the secrets that will be exposed.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the e-ARC!

The *idea* behind this story was really interesting, but in execution I found this to be a pretty middle-of-the-road/3 star read. Having multiple POVs made the narrative a bit confusing and hard to follow at times. The twists present in the story didn't really hit me very hard, and while I thought the story was going a different direction because of the build-up through out the rest of the narrative, it was less a shock and more an "oh" moment. I think my biggest issues with the story were that the characters just fell a bit too flat and therefore I never felt truly drawn in to the story or invested in its outcomes.

Following the death of legendary horror writer Mortimer Queen, several writers are invited to his estate to claim an inheritance at the reading of his will. Each person has a link to Mortimer, either well known or otherwise. However, upon arrival, the guests realize that this will not be a quick and easy trip. Instead, they enter a maze in his family manor where they must answer a riddle to move through the house. The catch being that if they don't answer within an hour or they answer incorrectly, the manor will devour one of them at its choosing. The question becomes, who will make it out alive, and what secrets will be uncovered in the process.

I enjoyed the horror vibes that were peppered throughout this novel, and all of the moments that made me doubt what was real and what was made up. The multiple perspectives were a bit confusing at the beginning, but it was easier to understand who each of the characters were as the story went along (and more characters were knocked off). I really enjoyed the originality of the story. At first, it seemed similar to another book that I read earlier this year, but I was surprised when it took a very different turn. The final twist at the end felt a bit lackluster for the buildup of the rest of the story.

This book may be for you if you enjoy a locked door mystery, a story within a story, and a sprinkling of gruesome deaths and scary scenes.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, NetGalley, and Mallory Arnold for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR STORY by Mallory Arnold is the second horror story about a living house that I have read this year. I'm not certain if this is a subgenre I was not aware existed or if this is a relatively new area for horror writers to expand into. Either way, I believe the idea of a sentient house is creepier than a haunted one. More menacing, more capable of doing violence. *shivers*

There are two elements of HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR STORY. One is the horror part, and it is sufficiently disturbing and gory, and everything you want in a horror story. The other is the mystery aspect of the story. After all, the random group of strangers and professional acquaintances must solve a mystery before they can proceed to the next room.

But there is an overarching mystery that connects the horror and the game elements, and that is the mystery of the horror writer himself. All we know is what the characters tell us about Mortimer Queen, as we never meet him in person or see through his point of view. What we do learn is skewed against him and in favor of the person telling the story at that point in the novel. We never learn if he died happier knowing what he set up for his fellow authors, if the vengeance he so desired was worth it.

With HOW TO SURVIVE A HORROR STORY, Ms. Arnold doesn't just tell an eerie story about one man's need for revenge and a house that eats people. She also shines a light on the dark corners we all have inside of us, the places where we hide our secrets and hope they are never brought into the light. She also unpeels the masks of innocence we wear every day, the ones that hide the very existence of those secrets in the dark corners and show the world what we want it to see. We are all full of stories after all, and sometimes, the stories we tell are the most dangerous of all.

I wasn’t totally sold on this one at first. The beginning and middle felt a bit slow, and I kept waiting for that “wow” moment. The ending brought that moment I was waiting for!

This book has all the right ingredients for a creepy, locked-room horror with a group of writers summoned to the gothic estate of a legendary horror author, a mysterious game with deadly stakes, and a house that seems to be alive and watching. While some of the pacing dragged, the final act pulled everything together in a way that felt clever and satisfying!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Penn Press for the gifted copy.

I was drawn in by the concept a clever, meta take on horror tropes that promised suspense and self-aware humor. Yet despite the engaging premise, I found myself becoming quite bored by the story overall. The characters unexpectedly felt flat and lacked the depth necessary to truly invest in their fates, which made the narrative less impactful than I’d hoped. This was my first book by Arnold but will definetly give the author another try because I liked the premise.

Overall entertaining but not all the way through, I had a hard time getting into it and almost put it down a couple of times.
There are maybe too many characters to keep track of and unfortunately none of the characters are likeable to me.

The concept is interesting and it has some great ideas but it was too slow for my taste.
Overall it was missing a little oomph for me personally.
I'm am so in love with the cover though.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mallory Arnold and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t quite work for me. The premise — a satirical survival guide through classic horror tropes — sounded like a fun ride, but the execution felt more gimmicky than gripping. The pacing dragged, the characters felt one-dimensional, and the humor just didn’t land for me.

I can see the appeal for readers who enjoy meta-commentary and tongue-in-cheek horror, but overall, I found it repetitive and lacking the depth or charm I was hoping for.

I didn’t love this one but I think that’s more a me thing. It was a fun ride and the characters were well fleshed out.

3.5 ⭐️

This was certainly a fun locked room mystery with a light and fun horror aspect to it. Guests get invited to a deceased horror authors manor to discuss his will reading, the catch is that this is a Monster House that is hungry and will feed on guests to continue growing bigger. Each room needs a riddle to be solved in order to move to the next room. Play the game or risk making the manor angry. 👀 who will make it out of the manor alive?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a gifted copy of this novel!

If you enjoyed playing Clue as a kid (or even now!) I can almost guarantee that you will enjoy this one. There are different elements within this plot that deviate from the game for sure, but the set up of the story having multiple POVs consistently gave me nostalgia throughout. The main characters in this book are authors, which I personally loved, and all were well developed as readers soon find that everyone has secrets. Although I did guess a portion of the ending at one point, I was happy to see it come to fruition. A bit of a slow burn at first, readers will quickly find themselves wanting to align with some of the characters and dislike others. This would be a great read for spooky season, and I definitely recommend giving this one a read!

Netgalley ARC - as ever, thank you for the opportunity to read and review.
I will say that really wanted to like this book. The premise was interesting and it started off promising but fell away quickly. The character backgrounds were well developed and the initial game scenario was strong, and I guess I found myself disliking most characters and ultimately not caring how their parts played out.
It was still an enjoyable read nonetheless.

This was a fun quick read for me, I dont know why I put this towards the bottom of my reading list. It is a mixture of mystery and horror and it was a nice pallet cleanser from my typical read of romantic fantasy. I love when authors give us characters that are lovable and relatable. For example, Melanie with her social anxiety. That is a trait that I can personally relate to because im not a fan of being out around big groups of people and having to interact with strangers. While I thought the first few chapters were a bit slow, there are plenty of twists and turns later on to keep everyone entertained.

How to Survive a Horror Story
3.5 🌟

First off, thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fun book! I definitely could see this being perfectly executed as a summer horror movie honestly! The premise reminds me of a mash up of House on Haunted Hill, mixed with Saw AND Scream but add in some riddles and insufferable characters as the seasoning.

In this story, we follow a group of semi-strangers to acquaintances (oh, and they’re all authors btw 😂.. love a bookish book) that have all been brought together at spooky house Queen Manor because the inheritance of famous author Mortimer Queen is up for grabs because of course.. he had no heir so they have been summoned for the will reading.

Chaos ensues.

Live or die.

Make your choice and move on to the next room. (I’m hearing this all in the Jigsaw voice btw) 😂😂 if you can’t already tell I LOVE horror movies and watch a bunch of them endlessly so that’s probably why I needed to read this book!

This book was great in concept but there were some pacing issues and that’s why I gave it a 3.5 ⭐️. When I was in it, I was in it and loving it, but when it dragged.. it was a rough time. I definitely want to read another book by this author, this was their debut and I definitely expect it just to get better from here!!!

A gang of popular horror writers summoned to a legendary author's estate for a reading of his will - only to end up in a horror plot themselves. This was a spooky clue- take that I loved.

This book has a really interesting premise: seven authors get invited to a recently diseased famous author's remote mansion because apparently he left them something in the will, despite their often strained relationships. But what they are left with is, well, death: they are forced into a game that eliminates them one by one unless they can solve the late author's riddles. Also the mansion might or might not be haunted.
It's a good premise and I enjoyed the setup, but the execution was a bit lacking. For one, there are a lot of different pov characters and I really didn't care about any of them. Some deaths were underwhelming and sometimes written in a convoluted, almost cartoonish way that kept me from being able to imagine what exactly was going on. I did like a lot of the ideas and the way the author works with multiple unreliable narrators and backstories told from different perspectives that always kept the reader questioning where in all that the truth really lies. I just didn't feel the vibes and wasn't emotionally invested in what was going on.
2,5 stars, rounding up for the cool premise.

Sadly, the story didn't live up to my expectations. The setting was dark and mysterious, a great horror setting, but the plot didn't play out that well.
I also had the feeling that the story started off way too close to Agatha Christie's "And then there were none". The differences, however, were the parts I disliked about the story. In my opinion the ending was too harsh, the protagonist was unlikeable and not clearly characterized as protagonist until the very end. Overall, all the characters were neither very likeable nor well thought through. But I also think that they were not as awful and fate-deserving as the story orchastrated them.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the eARC! I absolutely loved this one. Solid 5/5.

The initial description was what first drew me in, and then I actually started reading it and it became so much more than I bargained for in the best of ways. I genuinely didn't see this book ending how it did or guess most of the finer details of each characters backstory.

Of all the characters though I do have to say that Buck is my favorite and I really can't explain why he is without spoilers so I'll just leave it at that. The entire cast was very well crafted and most of them truly are built to be disliked which I appreciate a lot, so many authors are scared to make unlikable characters so when an author can craft a truly irredeemable character I really enjoy it. Mortimer Queen isn't one of the characters that I liked in this book but he was excellently written especially because by the time the book opens, he's already dead so everything we see of him is retrospective.

I also really liked the "Short Story" chapters, they revealed so much yet nothing at all at the same time and continued to leave me guessing how this entire story would pan out. I loved that every character had something to hide and it made it into a puzzle for me to figure out what they did to deserve all this.