A Horror-Lite Debut

        How to Survive a Horror Story, the debut novel by Mallory Arnold, is a guided tour of tried-and-true genre tropes. It has a remote, spooky mansion, the death of an eccentric gazillionaire who has called people from his life to the reading of his will, riddles, booby traps, and a final girl. It is a mostly fun read by an author that shows promise.

            After the death of the uber-rich, very mysterious, and extremely famous horror author Mortimer Queen, seven horror authors are invited to the reading of his will, each expecting to be the recipient of some of his vast wealth, only to learn that they have been invited to his remote, extremely creepy mansion to take part in a deadly game of riddles. If they solve the riddles, they advance, and if they don’t, the house – a quasi-living, hungry thing will take them out one by one.

            Arnold’s characters – all horror authors in their own right – are mostly caricatures. They’re rich and greedy backstabbers who all, it turns out, not only knew the famous Mortimer Queen, but supposedly have wronged him in some way. The authors, the house, and late Mortimer Queen are relatively flat and uninteresting, but perhaps that was part of the point. They’re supposed to be sycophants, each trying to steal a piece of Queen’s fortune and genius, all except for Melanie Brown, the one character with a bit of depth. While all of the authors at the mansion are frauds, Melanie actually feels like one, as she’s yet to publish a single book.

            The novel slowly reveals each author’s backstory – how they knew Queen and what they had done to raise his ire. For my money, the various traps they fall into in the mansion while they attempt to solve the riddles were less interesting than these flashbacks. The horror aspects of the novel are more cartoony than scary, which makes some sense, as Arnold took inspiration from the game Clue. The idea of six of the seven authors being extremely successful and wealthy is as dubious as anything evil about the house (an idea that is never really explored), for most of us authors know there are very few such people in today’s day and age, especially in the horror genre. I would have loved to learn a bit more about the house. While the story is about the authors and Queen's posthumous revenge, a little more backstory on it would have been nice.

            Criticisms aside, How to Survive a Horror Story is a light, fun read that will probably appeal more to casual horror fans than diehards.