How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold is a pretty great horror story. The story opens with a group of authors being invited to a will reading for Mortimer Queen, a legendary horror author and acquaintance to each of them. However, in order to attend the reading the seven authors must spend the weekend within Mortimer’s manor house where they must play a game of riddles. The caveat, if the riddle is not answered within the time limit or they provide the wrong answer the manor will eat one of them. As they work their way through the game, and the house, secrets are revealed about each other, their past and their relationship with Mortimer Queen. They must work together if they want to have even a hope of surviving their night locked in the haunted killer manor, something that seems increasingly more difficult and unlikely as the night goes on.
This book is a great blend of thriller and horror as it does a superb job of gradually ratcheting up the tension, both for the characters and for the readers. Normally I would say this book follows the stereotypical plot of the killer house gradually killing off the various characters over time as they work to escape. In some ways that is exactly what this is but in many other ways it is not that. It builds tension within the characters by making them face the idea of dying in that house but it also makes them face their own pasts as the riddles reveal secrets that they never wanted to see the light of day. Things that they seem to want to deny or lie about in order to protect themselves. It adds some interesting layers to the story though as it makes them have multiple things to be afraid of instead of just the one. I rather like the added complexity and depth this adds to the story. It was rather amusing watching them all freak out about what was being revealed at various times. Including that element also allowed for added depth to the characters as well as we got to see more of what made them who they are. Many stories similar to this one have limited character depth or development but this one did not because of this addition. One of the things that tend to draw me in the most is a good character and this story certainly had that. There was some intriguing structural elements as well that I enjoyed. The story itself switched character viewpoints for each chapter and rarely had the same one twice in a row which definitely made things interesting. Perhaps the best part as it added the most depth to the characters is when they had flashback chapters. For every riddle that was solved it told a story about one of the characters. While it did somewhat interrupt the main narrative it also added a lot of depth and complexity to the characters which in turn added to the story and the plot. A good book that definitely earns 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.
This book is part thriller and part horror so if you enjoy either of those than you might consider trying this one. If you don’t enjoy those genres or this blend of genres than it probably won’t hold a lot of appeal for you. This book is a little gory at times, as is expected consider the plot, but if this makes you uncomfortable than this book may not be for you. There is also considerable violence throughout the story as well due to the plot so again be careful before reading this. However, there is very little mature content or references in the book so that should not be an issue for any readers considering this book. I would recommend this book primarily for adults and not for younger readers due to the violence and gore. Honestly, I would feel uncomfortable recommending it to anyone younger than about sixteen or seventeen due to the content even if the book is good. While I hope you would consider trying it I know this type of story is not for everyone. If you do decide to try it feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.