Review by yvo_about_books - How to Survive a Horror Story

yvo_about_books 's review for:

How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold

2.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Finished reading: June 24th 2025

"Sometimes monsters are the people we love the most."

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

There was just something about the title and cover of How To Survive A Horror Story that intrigued me immediately, and then I read the blurb and I became even more excited. I'm a sucker for a good locked room mystery, so the promise of one set inside a haunted manor with deadly consequences sounded absolutely fantastic. I'm not sure if I simply set my expectations too high for this book, but the fact is that I ended up feeling rather underwhelmed by the execution.

Don't get me wrong, there is no denying that How To Survive A Horror Story has an absolutely brilliant premise, and this story had SO much potential. Like I said before, I have a weak spot for locked room mysteries, and this particular story had that 'escape room' vibe; only 100% more deadly. I do have to say that the rooms themselves as well as the mysteries inside ended up being a bit underwhelming for me... Somehow they weren't as dark and thrilling as I thought they were going to be, and the story was surprisingly tedious and basically boring in parts.

As for the Vermont haunted manor setting: this was such a great backdrop for this plot, and I don't think the author used it to its full potential. I mean, the haunted manor is so delightfully creepy and has that atmospheric gothic feel about it, and the strange things inside add a supernatural horror vibe... But somehow quite a lot of the scenes fell flat for me, and it just wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. It's a shame the author didn't use the opportunity to turn the haunted house into a proper character, because that really would have taken the story to the next level.

How To Survive A Horror Story uses a multiple POV structure, and this is partly where it went wrong for me. Sure, the different POVs are all important as it tells us more about the seven characters in play during the game, but the majority are considerably unlikeable and I didn't enjoy having to spend time inside their heads. They all kind of sounded the same after a while as well, which made it harder to keep them apart... And I honestly couldn't care less if any of them would make it out alive. This also ment I wasn't really invested in the plot, and I often struggled to find the motivation to keep reading.

This struggle probably also had to do with the fact that it was SO obvious who would end up being the winner and make it out alive from the very beginning. One of the things I love most about a locked room/escape room plot is trying to figure out the puzzle, so when that is taken away from me it really puts a damper on things. Instead, there was a lot of focus on unlikeable characters doing what unlikeable characters do best, and even their deaths were underwhelming. Sure, the short stories about each character were a nice touch, especially with how it ties in with the ending, but as a whole it wasn't enough to win me over.

In short, while How To Survive A Horror Story has a fantastic premise with SO much potential, I'm sad to say that my expectations for this book weren't exactly met. The story itself ended up being rather underwhelming for me, and not quite as dark and compelling as I thought it would be. It's a shame, because I truly thought it was going to be a contender for my 2025 favorites list based on the blurb.

Content Warnings