Horrorstor: A Novel by Grady Hendrix

(Thank you to Quirk Books for providing me with a copy of this book!)

about book:

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!

my thoughts:

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix was fun and spooky.  It had ghosts, hauntings, a huge Ikea-like store to get lost in, and a cast of self-absorbed characters that you didn't really care about (so it didn't matter when you forgot their names or lost track of what happened to them).  Plus, there were some great illustrations of furniture and torture devices to go along with each chapter; and some pretty hilarious adverts to represent the store and its overzealous employees.  This was one book that I could read at night and not worry about falling into nightmares after I closed it.

The story takes place at Orsk, a giant Ikea-like store filled with anything and everything you need to outfit your home.  Its the go-to place for the local community.  However, the store has been having a spat of bad fiscal months.  There has just been too much merchandise damage lately - think, feces on furniture, broken items, temperamental escalators, and misplaced displays.  Gross and annoying, eh?  Well, imagine how the employees feel when they have to deal with these huge messes each morning they walk into work.  In order to figure out what happens in Orsk when the lights go out, the boss decides to recruit two employees to stay in the store with him overnight.  He thinks floor sweeps every hour will do the trick in unmasking the real culprit behind Orsk's recent problems.  Of course, in a horror story, nothing ever manages to work out the way you planned, does it?  In Horrorstor, we get two extra employees thrown into the mix.  They've chosen to stay the night in order to film their version of a ghost hunting reality show, because they believe that ghosts are haunting Orsk.  The two groups wind running into each other and combining forces when they discover that a homeless man has been living in the store.  Things seem to be settled, until they learn that he's not the one responsible for any of the messes they've discovered each morning.  Yikes! Looks like Orsk just may be haunted after all. 

Talk about a great, spooky-ish book to get lost in on a rainy afternoon.  I zipped through it in a few hours and enjoyed every minute of it.  From the illustrations to the ghoulish characters, Horrorstor was a treat to read.  I especially loved learning all about the "Beehive" - it was creep-tastic!  So, if you are looking for a new book to read, check out Horrorstor.  Its got a bit of horror, a few illustrations, and a great sense of humor. 

And now, another book bites the dust as I move forward in completing Peril the First for this year's R.I.P. IX. Up next The Shining and Doctor Sleep.

Thank you to Quirk Books for providing me with a copy of this book!