How to Survive a Horror Story (Deluxe Edition): A Novel
THE INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER
Seven authors enter the manor
Can they survive the story within?
When legendary horror author Mortimer Queen passes, a group of writers find themselves invited to his last will and testament reading expecting a piece of his massive fortune. Each have their own unique connection to the literary icon, some known, some soon to be discovered, and they've been waiting for their chance to step into the author's shoes for some time.
Instead, they arrive at his grand manor and are 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.
You see, the Queen estate was built on the bones of Mortimer's family, and like any true horror story, the house is still very, very hungry.
With the clever, locked-room thrills of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone with the ghostly horror of The Fall of the House of Usher, How to Survive a Horror Story is a bright, biting, thrill-ride that begs us to contemplate how the best horror stories come to be.
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Community Reviews
eArc Review:
How to Survive a Horror Story is about a young aspiring author who's invited to a will reading of an acclaimed and famous horror author at his secluded, oversized mansion. Not familiar with the guy besides a chance meeting she weeks before his death, Melanie is bewildered and confused over the invitation. But not too confused to ignore the invitation. When she arrives at the manor, she encounters six other authors of the horror scene who were connected to the late Mortimer Queen in different ways.
While the title suggests this book acts as a loose step-by-step guide to surviving a horror story, it is not. It's more like an account of what happens over this fateful will-reading weekend in Mortimer's manor. And the horror theme/element of the book wasn't really prominent for me while I was reading. The tense between the characters progresses naturally and there's a dominant thriller vibe in the narrative that comes across strongly in the book.
But since I was aware that the deceased and the guests of the house, besides Melanie, were horror writers, I was expecting the creepiness before it actually happened. And since the book is told in third person the ominous will-reading stated what they were to expect while trying to solve the riddles of the manor, that added another degree of separation to my overall reading experience.
How to Survive a Horror Story will keep readers entertained and invested as the hours tick by with the guests struggling to work together and make it out alive. This book gave me huge Clue vibes and there really wasn't a point where I wasn't linking the characters or scenes in this book to the movie. Chester, Chrystal, Petey, Scott and Buck all have their own version of events that differ from the late Mr. Queen.
All of them are scared and want to make it through the weekend in one piece. And for their plan to survive to work, there needs to be trust.
And Melanie's character not being able to remember the details of the day she met Mortimer kinda leaves this big question mark over her head the entire time because we don't know if Melanie's character can be trusted or not.
I had a good time reading this book and although I felt the ending was kinda sour and plotty, I would recommend this book to other thriller and mystery book readers who enjoy locked door riddles and psychological tension with their books.
What a fun locked room cozy horror debut this one was! 🙌
The premise of this one definitely had my interest as I do love a good locked room setting! I do have to say the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. And I wish more background on the manor and the Gia character would have been given - I’m left with a lot of questions! 🫠 Still, I do recommend checking this one out if you enjoy locked room settings or horror that is on the lighter side! 👏
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the chance to read and review this ARC.
Honestly, pretty good book. Like I don't read a lot of horror, but this one was something that legit felt like a movie and had some fantastic twists especially with all the narrators being unreliable.
I'm not sure how I feel about the ending; is he a ghost or is he back?
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