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Click Your Poison #7
HAUNTED: Can YOU be Scared... to Death?
3 Unique Storylines. Over 50 Possible Endings. Just one question... Can YOU be Scared... to Death?The most frightening day of the year isn't Halloween. It isn't Friday the 13th. The scariest day of the year, in fact, is today--because today is the day you enter... The House.HAUNTED is a horror story unlike any other -- YOU are the main character. After a mysterious invitation, you're set to spend three nights in a severely haunted house as part of a television show called The Offering. If you can make it through to the end, you'll walk away with one million dollars. But this game, like the uncanny inhabitants of the Tansky House, might prove far deadlier than any horror you've previously imagined.Praise for
"One helluva ghost story."-Shirley Jackson, author of The Haunting of Hill House"I'd seal my enemies in a cellar with a copy of HAUNTED, but that would be too good for them."-Edgar Allan Poe, creator of the horror genre"Decent story. Could've used more gables. ★★★"-Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The House of Seven GablesHere's how it You, Dear Reader, are the main character of this story. The House will change and mold itself to your fears -- based on your own choices. Tansky House holds many secrets...what should you do?
Explore the grounds meticulously. Anything could be a clue! Go to page 232Take a drink (or two) from the ample bar, then hide in my bedroom. Go to page 13Ghost, ghouls, devils, and madmen, oh my! Stop yelling "Don't go into the basement!" and live your own interactive horror movie. Whether you get your chills from Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, and The Exorcist, or if your goosebumps come from slashers like the Scream, Saw, or The Purge* franchises, you'll find a custom horror story waiting for you inside HAUNTED. You're in control now... but can you make it out alive? Or will you be scared to death?
Get HAUNTED!
* Click Your Poison is in no way associated with these other brands and 1954747020 978-1954747029
"One helluva ghost story."-Shirley Jackson, author of The Haunting of Hill House"I'd seal my enemies in a cellar with a copy of HAUNTED, but that would be too good for them."-Edgar Allan Poe, creator of the horror genre"Decent story. Could've used more gables. ★★★"-Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The House of Seven GablesHere's how it You, Dear Reader, are the main character of this story. The House will change and mold itself to your fears -- based on your own choices. Tansky House holds many secrets...what should you do?
Explore the grounds meticulously. Anything could be a clue! Go to page 232Take a drink (or two) from the ample bar, then hide in my bedroom. Go to page 13Ghost, ghouls, devils, and madmen, oh my! Stop yelling "Don't go into the basement!" and live your own interactive horror movie. Whether you get your chills from Paranormal Activity, The Conjuring, and The Exorcist, or if your goosebumps come from slashers like the Scream, Saw, or The Purge* franchises, you'll find a custom horror story waiting for you inside HAUNTED. You're in control now... but can you make it out alive? Or will you be scared to death?
Get HAUNTED!
* Click Your Poison is in no way associated with these other brands and 1954747020 978-1954747029
283 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 2, 2022
About the author
James Schannep
10 books159 followersJames Schannep has no tragic backstory.
Having grown up in a fairly ordinary suburban household, with a family who loved him, he was forced to dream up far flung adventures on strange new worlds where the hero can save the day and make a difference through strength of character alone.
Schannep attended the United States Air Force Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in English Literature with a minor in General Engineering. After serving honorably as a Nuclear Missile Command and Control Officer, he returned to trying to make a difference through story.
As a screenwriter, game designer, and novelist, he is probably best known for his Click Your Poison series of interactive gamebooks.
Social Vampire is his first novel.
When not dreaming up strange new worlds, James lives in the one inhabited by his wife, who faithfully remains the patroness of his art, and with his children, who don’t quite grasp what they’ve inherited yet with such an eccentric father.
Having grown up in a fairly ordinary suburban household, with a family who loved him, he was forced to dream up far flung adventures on strange new worlds where the hero can save the day and make a difference through strength of character alone.
Schannep attended the United States Air Force Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in English Literature with a minor in General Engineering. After serving honorably as a Nuclear Missile Command and Control Officer, he returned to trying to make a difference through story.
As a screenwriter, game designer, and novelist, he is probably best known for his Click Your Poison series of interactive gamebooks.
Social Vampire is his first novel.
When not dreaming up strange new worlds, James lives in the one inhabited by his wife, who faithfully remains the patroness of his art, and with his children, who don’t quite grasp what they’ve inherited yet with such an eccentric father.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 30, 2025
The book, or should I say the game, was entertaining at first, but became tedious. The author has only one way you can survive, and after going back and forth several times it gets frustrating.
March 20, 2022
This is part book, part “your” adventure. I read this book electronically. Chapters ran 2-4 pages and then the book would ask “you” as the protagonist what to do next. There would be anywhere from 2 to 5 or more options (with links) to go next. Once you clicked on your choice, you’d be taken to a different chapter presenting your choice.
I noticed that the electronic page/% read might vary from 12% to 93% and with you next decision that chapter might take you to 54%. Page numbers jumped all over with some pages in the 6000s. After part of a day, I chose an action and the book ended with “THE END”. It then said if you weren’t happy with that ending you could start over and make different decisions. I “bookmarked” the title page of each chapter to see if I had been there before. I guess I read maybe 30-40 chapters until the end.
At the very end of the book, a list of chapter titles in alphabetical order is listed and there were closer to 250 chapters. So, I went back to the beginning and made different decisions. So far I’ve had three different endings.
The 4.0 is really for the this unique way to write a book. It does interact with the reader. Some chapters were a bit gothic dark and as a horror genre fan, that was fun. The writing and plot line aren’t award winning but interesting and written as a traditional gothic novel with that familiar premise of being offered to spend three nights in a haunted house for a great amount of money. What path that takes, depends on you.
This might be a good read for a YA book. So far there hasn’t been anything inappropriate or any bad language….just good scary fun!
I noticed that the electronic page/% read might vary from 12% to 93% and with you next decision that chapter might take you to 54%. Page numbers jumped all over with some pages in the 6000s. After part of a day, I chose an action and the book ended with “THE END”. It then said if you weren’t happy with that ending you could start over and make different decisions. I “bookmarked” the title page of each chapter to see if I had been there before. I guess I read maybe 30-40 chapters until the end.
At the very end of the book, a list of chapter titles in alphabetical order is listed and there were closer to 250 chapters. So, I went back to the beginning and made different decisions. So far I’ve had three different endings.
The 4.0 is really for the this unique way to write a book. It does interact with the reader. Some chapters were a bit gothic dark and as a horror genre fan, that was fun. The writing and plot line aren’t award winning but interesting and written as a traditional gothic novel with that familiar premise of being offered to spend three nights in a haunted house for a great amount of money. What path that takes, depends on you.
This might be a good read for a YA book. So far there hasn’t been anything inappropriate or any bad language….just good scary fun!
June 25, 2022
A choose your own adventure for adults on kindle, where you can click links for your choices instead of flipping around page numbers? GENIUS!
The story itself…mediocre.
You receive an invitation to stay locked in a haunted house for three nights for a reality show, and if you make it, you win millions of dollars! But is it really a reality show?
Spoiler: no.
The beginning is fun when you arrive and get the flavor of the house. But on the second day, you get an assignment to do a scavenger hunt to look for a notecard with a keyword that you’re supposed to enter into the computer in the office. The idea is clear - it makes you experience all the different rooms in the house and uncover a bunch of mysteries and whatever, and then the word you find leads to different endings. (Yes, there apparently are multiple notecards you can find.)
I’ll be honest, I got real bored looking through the house. I definitely somehow took some shortcuts, because at my end, a lot of information was mentioned as if I was supposed to know it (and I definitely had not taken the effort to learn it).
After going through it a couple times, I eventually looked at “THE END” where all the chapter titles are listed to find the different keywords you can type in to see what the different endings are, and I’m glad I did. The ending I did was definitely the lamest, so it was nice to see the others without having to do the whole stupid search through the house again. (I’m sure there’s some cool stuff I missed in the house search; I just do not have the patience. This is also how I play video games: just do what I have to do to see how it ends. Results vary. Lol)
The story itself…mediocre.
You receive an invitation to stay locked in a haunted house for three nights for a reality show, and if you make it, you win millions of dollars! But is it really a reality show?
Spoiler: no.
The beginning is fun when you arrive and get the flavor of the house. But on the second day, you get an assignment to do a scavenger hunt to look for a notecard with a keyword that you’re supposed to enter into the computer in the office. The idea is clear - it makes you experience all the different rooms in the house and uncover a bunch of mysteries and whatever, and then the word you find leads to different endings. (Yes, there apparently are multiple notecards you can find.)
I’ll be honest, I got real bored looking through the house. I definitely somehow took some shortcuts, because at my end, a lot of information was mentioned as if I was supposed to know it (and I definitely had not taken the effort to learn it).
After going through it a couple times, I eventually looked at “THE END” where all the chapter titles are listed to find the different keywords you can type in to see what the different endings are, and I’m glad I did. The ending I did was definitely the lamest, so it was nice to see the others without having to do the whole stupid search through the house again. (I’m sure there’s some cool stuff I missed in the house search; I just do not have the patience. This is also how I play video games: just do what I have to do to see how it ends. Results vary. Lol)
May 9, 2026
This was soo much fun.
This is one of those choose your own adventure style books that has you choosing between a few different options at the end of each page or so to drive the story forward.
I've played some of the classic Fighting Fantasy novels and Tunnels and Trolls solos too in the past and enjoyed them. This differs from them slightly though because there are no dice rolls or character sheets or combat or any of that, but simply allows for choices to be made in an attempt to, in this case, survive a haunted house and break a curse. You also get to win $1,000,000 if you succeed.
There's a nice little touch where if you fail and end up at 'The End', you can click it(if you're playing the ebook/kindle version) and be taken to an alphabetical list of all the chapter names and, as long as you remember one, it allows you to click it and continue from that point again, rather like the old trick of keeping your fingers in previous entries in the Fighting Fantasy books in case you died suddenly. Nice. I had to do it a few times in fact, especially as I neared the end.
The writing was very good and the atmosphere as I wandered around the house kept me invested in trying to reach the end, or rather, an end, since there are apparently 50 different ones to be reached as well as 3 separate storylines.
This is 1 of 7 of these books and I very much look forward to trying the others now. It's well worth your time, especially if you were a fan of these type of gamebooks in your youth. It was nice to find one like this with a more mature focus.
Highly recommended.
This is one of those choose your own adventure style books that has you choosing between a few different options at the end of each page or so to drive the story forward.
I've played some of the classic Fighting Fantasy novels and Tunnels and Trolls solos too in the past and enjoyed them. This differs from them slightly though because there are no dice rolls or character sheets or combat or any of that, but simply allows for choices to be made in an attempt to, in this case, survive a haunted house and break a curse. You also get to win $1,000,000 if you succeed.
There's a nice little touch where if you fail and end up at 'The End', you can click it(if you're playing the ebook/kindle version) and be taken to an alphabetical list of all the chapter names and, as long as you remember one, it allows you to click it and continue from that point again, rather like the old trick of keeping your fingers in previous entries in the Fighting Fantasy books in case you died suddenly. Nice. I had to do it a few times in fact, especially as I neared the end.
The writing was very good and the atmosphere as I wandered around the house kept me invested in trying to reach the end, or rather, an end, since there are apparently 50 different ones to be reached as well as 3 separate storylines.
This is 1 of 7 of these books and I very much look forward to trying the others now. It's well worth your time, especially if you were a fan of these type of gamebooks in your youth. It was nice to find one like this with a more mature focus.
Highly recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2024
Eh...I don't know what to say about this one. I thought it was a Click Your Own Poison about a Reality show. That's not the way it ends up going. I made it much further in this book than any of his other books before ultimately killing myself. On accident. I wasn't a huge fan. Started out promising and faded quickly.
September 1, 2026
This book was such a fun and creepy read! I really enjoyed being able to make choices and see how the story changed based on what I decided to do. The haunted house atmosphere kept me hooked, and the different endings made me want to go back and try different paths. A great choice for anyone who enjoys interactive horror!
November 30, 2021
Absolutely fascinating. Plays with the concept of being scared to death. Once this book is released, there’s no doubt that this needs to be read a few times. That’s how amazing it is. Received an ARC and reviewed because it’s so awesome.
July 8, 2022
Genuinely spooky!
This book legit had some “EEEEEKKKK!!!” moments. The doll. Omg THE DOLL!!!! I’m a huge fan of this author’s series of “choose your adventure” spooky books. An adult version of the beloved Goosebumps “choose your own scare” books.
This book legit had some “EEEEEKKKK!!!” moments. The doll. Omg THE DOLL!!!! I’m a huge fan of this author’s series of “choose your adventure” spooky books. An adult version of the beloved Goosebumps “choose your own scare” books.
December 14, 2022
Too Much Fun
I kept going back and forth to all the different "chapters" and still can't figure out which is my favorite. This was the first time I read go your own way via ebook and highly enjoyed it. I hope this author has more of these.. I would read them all.
I kept going back and forth to all the different "chapters" and still can't figure out which is my favorite. This was the first time I read go your own way via ebook and highly enjoyed it. I hope this author has more of these.. I would read them all.
November 11, 2025
📱 That was fun!! I loved the story and the interactiveness. I wanted to know more of the story of the house but also see if I could survive (died twice, lived once with no winnings). Highly recommend for a fun read!!
April 29, 2026
Interesting story
This my first click your poison book and i throughly enjoyed it. Im looking forward to reading more books like this. They are definitely fun and keeps one entertained!
This my first click your poison book and i throughly enjoyed it. Im looking forward to reading more books like this. They are definitely fun and keeps one entertained!
May 9, 2022
This is probably one of the sorriest books I have read. I guess the Arthurian say he wrote a book. Meaningless and stupid.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2023
This is a fun and intriguing romp through various horror story arcs. I love Schannep's other books in this series too. I was a big fan of choose your own adventure books as a kid, and now I get to read them as an adult too!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews