Review: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Release Date: September 23rd 2014
Publisher: Quirk Books
Format: ARC
Pages: 240
Genre: Horror
Source: Publisher
Author: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Buy it: Amazon | The Book Depository
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Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Columbus, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring wardrobes, shattered Brooka glassware, and vandalized Liripip sofa beds clearly, someone or something is up to no good.

To unravel the mystery, five young employees volunteer for a long dusk-till-dawn shift—and they encounter horrors that defy imagination. Along the way, author Grady Hendrix infuses sly social commentary on the nature of work in the new twenty-first century economy.

A traditional haunted house story in a contemporary setting (and full of current fears), Horrorstör comes conveniently packaged in the form of a retail catalog, complete with illustrations of ready-to-assemble furniture and other, more sinister accessories. We promise you’ve never seen anything quite like it!

*This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Amy transferred to the Cuyahoga from Youngstown when the new store opened. It has only been eleven months but Amy has had enough. She has a younger than her manager, Basil, that she swears has it out for her and she is sure she is going to get fired before her transfer back to her old store gets pushed through. Getting fired would be bad for Amy. She owes her roommates rent money and she refuses to move back to her mom’s trailer. Then Basil gives Amy a deal she can’t refuse. If she stays overnight with him and another coworker, Ruth Anne, he will pay her double overtime and make sure her transfer gets pushed through. All they have to do is a walk of the store every hour to see if they can catch who is vandalizing the store. She agrees, which is probably one of the biggest mistakes she’ll make.

Amy is forced to hear Basil’s speeches all night so her easy escape is to the bathroom where she knows he won’t follow. However, every time she goes in there she notices weird graffiti on the walls and there just keeps appearing more and more. Then on a walk around with Ruth Anne, they discover their coworkers, Matt and Trinity have snuck in to do some paranormal investigations and Trinity is sure she actually found something. Then Trinity decides to hold a séance that goes very wrong.  

Amy is a little bit irritating at times and Basil seems like a no it all. He actually makes some decisions that make me want to slap him. Ruth Anne is an interesting character that acts almost like a child sometimes. Trinity needs to take a big old chill pill, especially when you are first introduced to her.  I would say my favorite character might actually be Matt.

Horrorstör is set up to look like a catalog very similar to Ikea. I have never had the pleasure of visiting an Ikea but you could say it is on my bucket list. There is a map of the store at the beginning of the book, along with an ordering form, which is pretty funny.  At the beginning of every chapter there is a picture and description showcasing different products which are mentioned in the book. The further into the book you get the darker the products are. Some of the descriptions are actually pretty funny when you get towards the end of the book.  

This book is labeled as an adult horror novel but I wouldn’t put it that far. I would say this actually falls into the New Adult category because Amy is college aged which I often forgot because she sometimes acted like a high-schooler. There are definitely some creepier parts in the book and it definitely falls into the paranormal category but I never found myself actually scared while reading this book.  There was a part in the book that involves a restraining chair and I felt myself getting uncomfortable while reading it because I hate being restrained myself so I could only imagine what that felt like.

Horrorstör wasn’t the best horror novel that I’ve read but I did enjoy the story. I actually enjoyed more than I expected I would and ended up reading it in one sitting. I recommend this book to anyone that thinks it sounds interesting. I especially recommend it to fans (or employees) of Ikea!