Described as a locked room mystery meets “Fall of the House of Usher,” @malwriteswords #HowToSurviveAHorrorStory intrigued me from the jump. As I dove into the book, however, I found there was a bit more of a supernatural horror vibe than a “Knives Out” vibe.

Famed author Mortimer Queen has recently passed away, and seven people are invited to his family manor for a reading of his will. Melanie, a struggling never-published writer, finds herself among some of the literary world’s biggest names. When they’re asked to play a game for the will reading, none of them know just what’s in store for them and the monstrous pasts they hide.

It’s been a while since I read a book I was so divided about myself. On one hand, I enjoyed the characters’ development through the flashback scenes of the novel and how they all fit into the puzzle of the story. On the other hand, I didn’t find any of the characters likable or even enjoyable. Even Melanie, who I would consider the main protagonist, doesn’t have an ending that feels fully right, fully absolving her as a breaking of a cycle. In a way, the book feels a bit Frankenstein, trying to be two things seemingly pulling against one another forced to be a cohesive story. This is a story of vengeance, and while it is served, it feels diluted by the supernatural horror angle, which also has some great moments and possibilities for a different story.

One of my favorite series growing up was “Goosebumps,” and what this book has going for it is that it feels like an adult version of that mixed with a Shonda-land tv drama. Not every book was a hit, nor is every episode must-watch tv, but in the end, they’re enjoyable. #HowToSurviveAHorrorStory does its job as a horror read, but leaves the reader wanting just a little bit more.

I was super intrigued by this ARC- the plot and story sounded super creepy and fun! And you know what: I loved it!

I will say, I wasn’t expecting the supernatural aspect in this story. I thought it was more like, Saw-style trap rooms. And, I mean, it technically was, just with more craziness 😂 Which kinda added to the whole “spooky, haunted house” vibe! It honestly would have been perfect to read around Halloween!

I loved how absolutely unreliable all of the characters were as well 😅 Like, I love a good unreliable narrator and getting the POV of all of the characters was super satisfying and added a lot of depth to the story.

Plus, it was GORY! Which I think really helps make a fun, entertaining horror story. I was racing to get to the end to see who was telling the truth and who wasn’t. I really wanted to see how everything came together, and it was super satisfying!

Packed full of spooky vibes, betrayal, haunted-house riddles, and a great mystery, I will definitely be recommending this one when it comes out! 😈

The book follows 7 horror authors who are invited into the manor of the late Mortimer Queen (best seller horror author) who has left something for them in his will. As the plot develops you find out the guests have more in common with the deceased than being writers and you will discover just exactly what landed them an invite to the gory Queen mansion.
If you like horror books this is a nice one, even though at times you’ll have a difficult time believing all the gruesome deaths. Maybe the book overall needs a bit of tightening but I enjoyed it nonetheless and would definitely recommend.
3.5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's the perfect combination of locked-room mystery and haunted house spooky for readers who are just getting into the genre. It was a bit of a slow start, but once the action starts happening, it is pedals to the metal. Everyone's background and story for being there were pretty interesting, although for some of them I don't think they should've had to die over it. I was confused over Melanie the most- she seemed like such a sweet character, her twist at the end was most shocking to me. All in all, good book! I'm excited to see what else Mallory Arnold comes up with.

Thanks to Mallory Arnold, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for the ARC!

A tense and suspenseful thriller with a great premise...however, it sort of fell flat for me. The execution wasn't all there, it was very slow in some areas (almost making me DNF) and the characters/dialogue were very superficial with little depth to help further the plot. Overall a fun read but not one of my favorites.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book. This isn’t the type of book I usually read but I really enjoyed it. Admittedly it did take a few chapters for me to get into but once the characters were introduced and the story got flowing, I was hooked!

Love the premise of a mysterious invitation and being trapped in creepy house. The characters were fun, some more likable than others. The plot wasn't necessarily original, but it was fun to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

1 star.

Famous horror author Mortimer Queen has died and a group of writers, each of whom is connected to Queen in some way, is invited to the reading of his Will.

When they arrive at his spooky manor house they are invited/compelled to play a game. There are riddles that allow the group to move from room to room. If they fail to solve the riddle one of them will die by being taken by the house. Eaten, I guess.

This wasn’t just silliness. That’s it. I thought of not finishing it but I pushed on. I shouldn’t have bothered.

I’ve reflected and still don’t know how I feel about it. Pacing was slow in the beginning and with some characters backstories. Although I did enjoy the ending.

When renowned horror author Mortimer Queen dies, several fellow writers are all invited to the reading of his will under the impression of getting a piece of his amassed fortune. However, they find themselves forced to play a game of Mortimers making in his massive yet run down creepy mansion. Why did Mortimer choose these particular authors and what is his ultimate goal from beyond the grave?

A typical one by one locked room murder mystery, the story slowly unravels each character's past relationship with Mortimer and why they are invited to the reading of the will. We bounce between each character being the main POV of each chapter. I felt this was really well thought out and while not an original horror story trope, the author puts a supernatural spin on it, making it feel more unique. I was impressed that this was the author's debut novel and I am looking forward to what they write next.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
When I requested this book from NetGalley I had no idea what I was getting into. I was intrigued by the cover and decided why not? Was this book perfect? No. But it was enjoyable to an extent. At times I found myself putting this book down and having to take a break because it was..too much. At moments it felt like the book dragged on due to an unnecessary amount of over explaining the tiniest things (which really had no significance). There was also moments where I just couldn’t put the book down. There were some moments that were definitely questionable and confusing but overall everything tied in perfectly. The book did flow smoothly in terms of plot and everything was interlinked one way or another which I enjoyed. Now for the ending, it was sort of a let down. Maybe it was supposed to be intentional for the reader but from the very start I could already tell Melanie was going to inherit the Manor. It just wasn’t super thrilling or anything memorable. As much as I didn’t enjoy the ending, I did love the “short stories” included and how it was perfectly incorporated into the end when Melanie publishes her book about six short stories. Overall, it was a great read and reminded me heavily of the movie “Abigail”. 4/5

This was enjoyable and easy to read! A little predictable but nonetheless a great story! I quickly devoured this one and will read whatever else Mallory comes up with.

Let me preface by saying, I am not a regular horror reader but I would classify this as horror lite ™️. While it has paranormal and spooky elements, I did not find it to be something that would keep me up at night or to be too gruesome to make me put it down and not finish.

This book gave strong Knives Out/ The Menu/ Clue vibes. Set in a haunted house turned escape room, 7 shitty people converge to see what mysterious piece of a now deceased famous horror writer’s (also shitty) inheritance they will receive (and as the story unfolds it becomes very unclear why they would show up to begin with). The story is told from the perspective of the 7 characters in a third person present tense which at first was distracting (maybe I’m just not used to reading books written in the present tense) but about 20% in I stopped noticing. The characters all had distinct voices and I never found it difficult to remember whose perspective we were following. I enjoyed the multi perspective aspect because the story really benefited from being in the heads of the different characters. The pacing was perfect, and the story moved along with very few lulls. It was a quick read and I found myself thoroughly engaged in the world of the story.

At times I found the writing to be a little clunky with some typos and minor grammatical errors with passages that felt like they were lifted from Wikipedia rabbit holes (emu war, I’m looking at you). I found some of the characters and settings hard to visualize and wish there had been more descriptions about clothes/appearance/ and the room settings because sometimes the lack of detail made it hard to follow the plot. I found that some of the “reveals” fell a little flat based on either how predictable they were or the lack of suspense. The “game” of the house did feel somewhat juvenile and obvious in the beginning but I did enjoy the stakes being raised in some of the later challenges. Maybe a there was a deeper social commentary being implied but honestly, I found it to be more entertaining when being read as a novel about bad people doing bad things and the heaping doses of karmic justice being meted out.

Overall, it was effortlessly readable and fun, in a suspended reality sort of way. I did really love the ending and I think it did change the way I looked at the book as a whole. This was an incredibly fun debut novel, that isn’t too scary/macabre for casual horror readers.

Thank you so much to Poisoned Pen Press and Mallory Arnold for the ARC!

This book was so good! It is a fast paced gruesome horror, once the game begins, that I could not put down! I read it in 2 days and stayed up last night to finish it cause I was desperate to see what happened and how it ended!

I absolutely loved how within the chapters there were back stories about each character which gave a great insight into each one and left me confused on whether or not to love or hate them!

Look, this was just fun. I couldn't put it down.

I have really particular demands for my horror stories. And this book doesn't seem like one that would typically meet those demands. But I'm so glad I gave it a go. This is a monster house book (ala Shirley Jackson or Richard Matheson) so there's going to be some crazy house stuff (I am typically more of a traditional ghost story/haunted house aficionado). But what really worked for me was the premise--a small group of writers are invited to a recently deceased, incredibly successful horror writer's home for his will reading. And, more importantly, we get to discover the backgrounds of each guest along the way, which ultimately explains why they were invited in the first place.

I liked the concept of storytelling and truth: whose version of events is the real one? Can we ever be the villain of our own stories? How do we re-cast events to make ourselves feel validated? What lengths will each of us go to for our own success? As the secrets and lies are exposed in this story, you really cannot stop turning the pages.

One minor issue I hope the editors catch is that there are a number of continuity errors, especially in the early chapters. I thought at first they might even be intentional (as voices shift from chapter to chapter) but that doesn't seem to be the case. Otherwise, this was a fast, roller coaster of a read.

How to Survive a Horror Story tells a clever horror story of a locked house of riddles and people die if you get the answers wrong. Mortimer Queen, a famous horror writer, has died but not before he had invitations sent out to a group of horror writers to be present for his will reading. They find themselves the main characters in a game of truth and betrayal.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy mystery and horror genres. It’s a chilling and suspenseful read with high stakes. The book reminds me of the Monster House movie with the house being a terrifying character capable of taking care of heinous people. As the characters navigate through the house of horrors, their stories reveal their true nature and motivations.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Seven authors have received notices that they have all been left something in the will of the recently deceased greatest horror author of the day. They have all been summoned to his crumbling mansion in the Vermont wilderness from all over the country. They soon discover that in order to escape the house (never mind find out what they supposedly inherited), they must solve a riddle in each room or face a punishment. Once in a room, there is no way to escape and so they work together to try to solve the riddles. This proves to be more difficult than it should be, as each riddle seems to reveal a secret that one of the players would like to keep hidden. If they don't reveal the secret is about them, none of the others know and bad things start to happen. As the ravenous house begins to collect victims, the remaining players must try to use their wits to survive. While most of the players are horror authors, like the deceased Mortimer Queen, one, Melanie, isn't a published author and has no idea why she is there. That is another mystery she must solve to get out of the house alive.

The story was very fast-paced and I enjoyed learning the backstories of all of the characters and what they had done to be included in the "games" set up by the dead author. While the events can be quite gory at times, there is enough mystery to keep the reader guessing as to what's really going on and what the end game might be.

“I’m not a writer of thrills, but of horror. So bring on the fear”

How to Survive a Horror Story is a captivating horror mystery by Mallory Arnold. When a renown horror author, Mortimer Queen dies, a group of writers are notified they are in his will and must attend a weekend at his manor for the reading. Upon arrival, the group of authors soon realise rather than claiming the will, they are here to play a game. The rules of the game are simple, to escape the manor, each hour a riddle must be solved to allow the group into the next room. Should they get the answer wrong - they will be punished. If they run out of time - the manor will claim a person.

The fact that I read this entire book within one day says everything! This book is so fast paced once the game begins that with the use of back stories as a way to develop the story and add depth to the characters, you cannot fault it. Mallory really knows how to create characters that you feel strongly about, whether it be Mortimers wife who you feel a sense of justice for, or Chester, the character we love to hate. The plot has sparks of originality, as although there are various tropes throughout, the plot development of all of the books aspects allow the tropes to fit in nicely. There wasn’t a single point where I considered putting this down or I knew exactly what was going to come next.

The only thing I can say is that this is such a fun read, some of the characters have hilarious moments and there are some gnarly and gruesome deaths.

Thank you very much to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance!

How to survive a horror story was such a suspenseful book and my first great horror book of 2025. I would recommend to anyone needing a page turner.

Melanie Brown and a group of authors are invited to Mortimer Queen’s manor under the guise of an inheritance. However, the famous horror author Mortimer Queen has other plans: a deadly game of riddles. Each room presents a new challenge, and failure means succumbing to the sinister powers of the manor itself. This was a thrillingly fun horror read.