How to Succeed in Life

by Wol-vriey

Unlock success… at the cost of your soul.

Grady Burke was delivering a pizza when he found the evil book. Or more accurately, when the evil book found him.

Which was really very unfortunate for Grady and his family and friends and his employers.

Grady lived at home with his transgender older sister Kayla, who filmed internet porn in her bedroom, and his father Tommy, who laundered money for the Boston mob.

Now, Grady Burke wasn't exactly a loser or a slacker, he was just supremely unmotivated.

So, maybe the evil book had decided Grady needed motivating.

The evil book was titled How to Succeed in Life .

And when, very soon, people around Grady began dying in gruesome and incredible ways, Grady and those closest to him were caught in a race against time to work out exactly how one succeeded in life without getting murdered, mauled, and mutilated by macabre monstrous forces in the process.

How to Succeed in Life. The world’s most deadly self-help manual.

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 27, 2024

About the author

Wol-vriey writes eXXXtreme horror fiction, and also some surrealist stuff.

To date, he has published over forty novels in both genres.

His horror novels include: EnterPAINment, LGBT, The Virgin, Marriage, Women, Nightmare Fuel 1 & 2, Haunted House XXX 1 & 2, and How To Succeed in Life.

On the surrealist side of things, he is the author of Vegan Zombie Apocalypse, Vegan Vampire Vaginas, Vagina Mundi, and the disturbing and unsettling Dr. Orgasm.

Reviews

[Lisa Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bibliophilia Templum Review

How to Succeed in Life is unapologetic extreme horror from Wol-vriey. This is an extreme supernatural horror story with the classic element of an evil book, modern and diverse characters, and Wol-vriey’s signature explicit storytelling and dark humor.

True to Wol-vriey’s style, there’s a colorful and entertaining cast of characters driving the story. The dialogue and character interactions are fantastic, and the diversity is bold and brilliant. Grady is an evocative and engaging character, and his sister, Kayla, is a hoot.

Now, the evil book premise is nothing new, but How to Succeed in Life is not your typical evil book and this is not a typical or predictable story. It’s brutal, suspenseful, and gory, but there’s more to the mystery of this book than you think. That mystery deepens as the body count rises. But bodies aren’t just dying; there’s some wild sex going on too in hardcore extreme horror fashion.

Extreme horror fans will love this fun and gruesome read. I found it engrossing, compelling, and really nasty in places. I enjoyed it and highly recommend it for extreme horror aficionados.

https://bibliophiliatemplum.wordpress.com/2025/01/13/how-to-succeed-in-life/

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t claim to be a big fan of horror books, but like to give most genres a try once in a while when I find a book outside my norm that has something that draws me in. This one, the title was part of what did that. If it was a self help book I’d have seen it as a cliché title, but for horror it isn’t what you’d expect. The wide variety of people featured in the story, what happens to them, and figuring out how it is all going to shake out and (hopefully) end kept me engrossed the whole way. My only real complaint is that while it didn’t quite reach the level where I’d knock off stars to my ranking, there were enough proofing misses that snuck into the final book that I found myself getting knocked out of the story more often than I’d like. If you can overlook that and are interested in a strange twist on horror, this might be the book for you.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

[April Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cracking good read