ARC review

While towards the end of the book, there were many times that you could guess what was going on, at the beginning it was good at dropping breadcrumbs to keep you guessing. I liked the chapters with alternating points of view and the flashbacks that let you know what really happened.

This was a fun read. It started off slow, but then it picked up. And I got hooked. Keeps you on the edge of your seat.

How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold is an absolute blast from beginning to end. Equal parts hilarious and horrifying, this clever, self-aware romp through classic horror tropes is like being dropped into a slasher movie—if the final girl had a killer sense of humor and a how-to manual for staying alive.

Mallory Arnold nails the tone with biting wit and sharp dialogue, delivering a story that’s both a love letter to the horror genre and a refreshing twist on it. The characters are quirky and lovable, the scares are perfectly timed (just enough to keep you jumping), and the satire is on point without ever feeling overdone.

This is the kind of book that horror fans, reluctant horror fans, and comedy lovers alike can all enjoy. It’s Scream meets Shaun of the Dead with a touch of YA charm—and I devoured it in one sitting.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I’ll be recommending it to anyone who’s ever yelled at a character, “Don’t go in there!” and secretly wished they could survive a horror movie themselves.

This debut horror novel is a quick, inventive take on a traditional gothic horror story. A big scary old house who starts eating the poor people trapped inside - but with a creative twist of a recently deceased horror author who owned the manor, and has invited seven fellow novelists for a reading of his will. Or something like that.

This is a fun horror novel about a group of writers all going to a deceased writer's house for the reading of this will. The description caught my attention and the house of horror and them trying to escape from the house. it was a fun, campy story and would be perfect to read in October

Haven't read anything by this author before, but I'll definitely be looking for more! I love when a book keeps me guessing

A group of writers gather for the reading of a famous horror author's will. They've all wronged the deceased in some way (or have they?) Now they must escape his house of horrors in order to survive.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy and opportunity to review before publication.

What a fun ride and a great debut!

Famed horror author Mortimer Queen has one final request: bring a group of writers together for a reading of his will after his passing. When the group gathers, things quickly take a turn and what should be a quiet evening transforms into the ultimate game of survival and a race against time.

I was drawn in from the beginning and thought I was going to end up devouring this in one day. How are all these people connected to Mortimer and why would he name them in his will? Pacing was great and I enjoyed the multiple POVs and short stories sprinkled throughout.

If you like horror with an element of mystery and twists and turns, this one's for you.

This book captivated me from start to finish. It has a classic “And Then There Were None” Agatha Christie feel, but with a surprising twist at the end and a little paranormal horror that sets it apart. The setting, an old Manor, was brought to life, creating an eerie atmosphere that you could practically feel.

The characters were definitely the highlight—they perfectly embody what I imagine rich, self-centered, egotistical famous people with something evil to hide to be like. The story unfolds through the perspective of each character, with each chapter offering a unique view on the events taking place. As a reader, you step into their shoes, and experience what they see, feel, and go through - and try to survive along side of them. You can feel the tension between the characters, and get a sense of how they saw each other— and themselves. And how that changes as the story progresses.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun, campy read with just the right about of horror without getting too gruesome and dark.

Note: I did receive an arc of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review! Thank you again!

What a gripping tale of revenge. Following the characters through a possessed manor and reliving their transgressions was thrilling. Mortimer Queen will not until he has taken every last chess piece left to oppose him. This fast paced novel is definitely worth the read.

This book kind of gave me Squid Game vibes (even though I never actually finished the show). I’m usually not a fan of books with a ton of POVs, 2 or 3 is my limit but this one started off with seven. But I think it suited this book, it narrowed down as the story progressed. I didn’t find it confusing at all, and the multiple perspectives actually helped the story. I liked how the truths were revealed through the different POVs, it made it so much more engaging as you slowly uncovered each messy character’s secrets.

What made it tricky was figuring out who was telling the truth, everyone kind of felt shady asf and untrustworthy, so I was constantly second-guessing everything. These characters were super messy in the best way, and even though I ended up really disliking two of them, they all added something to the plot. There were some brutal deaths thrown in, which definitely kept the tension high. It was a wild, twisty ride once the pace of the story starts to pick up.

How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold a dark, twisty horror story about the monsters who reside in every day lives.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. It took me a couple chapters to really get into it and get an idea of how I might feel about it, and from that point I could not stop reading because I was so invested in the characters and the story playing out. Each character featured is so distinctively their own person, deeply flawed and interesting beings that you as the reader just wants to learn more about to see what exactly makes them tick and what has brought them to the manor of super well known horror author Mortimer Queen, who has left each of them in his will. What makes each of them even more intriguing is the fact that most of them don’t even seem to have a close relationship with the now deceased author, and yet they all seem to have this level of narcissism to them that has them believing they deserve this questionable honour.

As each of their backstories played out a bit more it steadily made things a bit clearer on how they relayed to Mortimer, and each of their full stories comes out as to why he included them in his will, and the deadly mansion they find themselves stuck in. This kept me so riveted to the story both because they are dealing with the incredible danger of the mansion and the deadly game Mortimer has set up for them, but also because each of their stories unraveled and story by story made things a little clearer on why these seeming strangers were all gathered in one place. I legitimately did not want to put this book down and the element of horror played out so well, with a spooky setting and morally questionable characters that made you have to think on whether you really wanted them to survive or not.

I really enjoyed this book and very much want to read more from this author because I’m so hooked on the fantastic horror story that this turned out to be. I highly recommend this one to fans of horror, but honestly fans of thrillers as well because the details of the story play out like a mystery slowly being unraveled as the details of each character explain why they’ve been included in this horrible game, and the way the reader is forced to consider whether they deserve to be there or not. I can’t wait for more from this author.

The 2006 classic Monster House meets Escape room in this gory tale. It was a terribly fun read. Told in multiple points of view you get into the head of each character and how they jump through the hoops that landed the skeletons in their closet, and their invite to the house. It’s the perfect summer read, easy to devour but without being the same tropes you find.

A fun quick horror-lite read

I really enjoyed this as a quick read but I was hoping for a little more either way with the mystery or horror elements, not quite mysterious enough due to the alternating povs and short stories interspersed to tell the story of each character and not quite scary enough when the horror does appear.

This was amazing, a quick read, and I was hooked since page one. I really liked the characters, even flawed, and although it had only small twists, I enjoyed it a lot.
I'm going to read more books by Mallory Arnold from now on.

this was a fun, quick read! I wasn’t entirely expecting the supernatural aspect so that was hard to accept but other than that i enjoyed this a lot!

When legendary mystery writer Mortimer Queen passes away, his will summons a diverse group of individuals, each with a vested interest in his estate. The group of authors invited to the reading includes a thief, an inadvertent murderer, a gossip, a wallflower, a hothead, a seemingly gentle giant, and a scorned ex-lover—all people who have crossed paths with Queen in some form. As they gather at his remote estate, they are eager to claim their inheritance, but they soon discover that Queen's final challenge is unlike any they could have expected.

In a chilling twist, the inheritance can only be claimed by surviving a series of complex riddles that will push each person to their limits. The group must rely on their wits, but every answer could be their last. As the deadly consequences of their choices unfold, old grudges resurface, alliances form, and secrets are exposed. In this high-stakes game, no one can be trusted, and the line between friend and foe quickly blurs.

The true mystery isn’t just what Mortimer Queen left behind—it’s how far each person will go to survive.

A heartfelt thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC of this book.

I've gotten a physical arc of this one, which is my preference, so I'll be reviewing it elsewhere when I finish reading!

In the early chapters there is a conversation about how the gory scenes are perceived as the most important part of a horror novel, while in truth the characters that are. I felt like it was foreshadowing, so it stuck in my mind.
In this book the cast of characters really is the most important thing, they are so different from each other but also similar in the way they're not good people, or are they? They also feel very alive, the author put a lot of work in the writing, and the atmosphere is great too. The line between truth and fabricated lies is thin here, and I loved that.
This is a fast paced read, I couldn't stop once I started, it's addictive.

This book is a fun romp through a horror story. Many of the characters are unlikable, which is fine because you’ll root for them to be killed. I think I was just expecting something different but I’m not sure what.