Book review: Revenge is a story best read cold in Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die
- Jonathan
- Jul 12
- 3 min read
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this…
Many things simply don’t go as planned; investments, weddings, vacations. Even with meticulous preparation, things can spiral beyond our control. Such is the case in Mallory Arnold’s latest release Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die.
The book follows the perspectives of three women; Nora Callahan, a high school cross country coach; Ruby Monroe, a kindergarten teacher; Cham Fenno, an auto-mechanic. Though the three of them are quite different, they all share something they never would’ve eexpected; Jason Vance—a nomadic biker. And an athletic dive bar performer. And a crypto trader. Basically, anything his partners need him to be so that he can take anything he needs from them.
The three women have a chance encounter and discover the truth about their mutual boyfriend, and how they’ve been scammed both emotionally and financially. Unable to get help from the police, they devise a (mostly) harmless prank to exact revenge on Jason and get back what he took from them, luring him to a small cabin on Devil’s Fange Ridge, a snowy mountain in Stoneveil, Montana. But their plan falls to pieces when Jason turns up dead. What follows is consistent and enthralling tension.
Having obtained this almost immediately after finishing her 2025 hit How to Survive a Horror Story (which just celebrated one year of publication), I was itching to read what Mallory Arnold cooked up in her newest revenge-suspense featuring murder, mystery, and gory cult activity.
Utilizing a structure akin to Scream, the novel is self-aware to the point that the characters treat their revenge plot and mutual heartbreak as if they were in a horror movie. The three do their homework in preparation for their revenge plot—watching slasher after classic slasher at Nora’s house and identifying the makings of a horror movie while forging a strong bond. When their plan goes off-script and they no longer have control, they fall back on their training and remind each other of the “rules” to survive.
The tactic to treat their situation as a horror movie is not at all dissimilar to the characters’ treatment of their own predicament as a set of literary rules in How to Survive a Horror Story.
Like How to Survive a Horror Story, characterization is one of the strongest aspects. The three protagonists being witty and likeable, even when we don’t admire their actions. At one point, we even read Jason’s POV, which provides a humorously contradictive perspective. Their situation is also relatable, at least initially. Many of the emotions and decisions felt after heartbreak come across authentically through the characters, such as Ruby not wanting espresso with breakfast, since that was a tradition shared with Jason before the reveal.
The novel is one of the most structurally suspenseful ones I've read. Mallory Arnold skillfully introduces questions and concerns throughout, and the revelations never feel jumbled or messy, though at times they are bloody.
The book’s suspense is complemented by some epistolary elements; the inclusion of audio recordings of the women’s police interviews the morning after the events. The prospective clues fuel our drive and turn the pages. Aside from the interview logs, subtle hints to questions not even formulated yet are dropped. Indeed, there were a few moments during my rereading where I threw my hand to my mouth and gasped at what was hiding in the dark during the first read.
Over one-hundred pages of tension follow the grisly discovery of Jason’s body. Within these pages are many questions that do get answered. But not all questions are answered definitively, which is not a point of criticism. There is a very clear picture of a prominent cult—known as the White Wed Cult—that is painted, yet there are aspects of the it that are not fully explained, which only further builds upon the terror that we feel with Nora, Cham and Ruby.
It’s difficult to fully discuss the novel without taking a gondola into some mountainous spoilers, but a novel like Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die is the product of the new generation’s appreciation of old-school horror. One that bombards us with twists and suspense but also portrays a caring and fierce bond forged by three women who were scorned by one man.
Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die will be released by Poisoned Pen Press on July 14th, 2026.
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