How to Survive a Horror Story (Deluxe Edition): A Novel

by Mallory Arnold

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A thrilling horror read that brings on the chills. Set in a spooky country manor, this gripping locked-room mystery will make you question who the good guys are.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464227400
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	07/08/2025
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mallory Arnold is a twenty-seven-year-old editor and writer who resides in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband and three cats. She's part of the Women's Fiction Writer's Association and enjoys writing drama, thrillers, and horror. In her spare time, Mallory is tackling her goal of running a marathon in every state of the country. This is her debut. 

Editorial Reviews

"Good, spooky fun." — Publishers Weekly

"Mallory Arnold's bingeable debut, How to Survive a Horror Story, is the most fun I’ve ever had in creepy manor! Come for the authors behaving badly. Stay for the carnivorous books. Thank me later." — Emma C. Wells, USA Today bestselling author of This Girl’s a Killer

"Mallory Arnold lures you into a hungry house of horrors where the mystery deepens behind every door. With colorful characters meeting grisly demises, this puzzle box of a book won't let you escape until you turn the final frightful page." — Brian McAuley, author of Curse of the Reaper and Candy Cain Kills

"Equal parts clever and creepy, How to Survive a Horror Story kept me up all night reading (and jumping at every unexplained creak). Spine-tingling fun that you won't be able to put down!" — Jilly Gagnon, author of All Dressed Up

"Captivating adult horror for those of us still scarred by that furnace scene in Home Alone. Mallory Arnold's clever debut combines the thrill of dark theme park rides with the breathless intrigue found only in the creepiest whodunits. I devoured it and can't wait to read what she serves up next." — MJ Wassmer, author of Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend

"A compulsive, unputdownable book which is equal parts terrifying and playful. Mallory Arnold takes the traditions of horror and mystery and turns them on their head to create something original and exciting." — L.J. Shepherd, author of The Trials of Lila Dalton

"A wicked blend of horror satire and psychological suspense, Mallory Arnold’s How to Survive a Horror Story turns the haunted-house trope inside out. A group of horror writers are trapped in a haunted mansion where surviving means confronting the darkest chapters of their own lives. Imagine if Agatha Christie, Shirley Jackson, and the ghost of a very pissed-off editor threw a party—and then murdered the guests one by one. It’s funny until it’s not, smart until it’s brutal, and deeply unsettling all the way through. Arnold’s voice is razor-sharp—darkly funny, emotionally devastating, and entirely her own. This is one hell of a debut." — Carter Wilson, USA Today bestselling author of Tell Me What You Did

From the Publisher