Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars rounded up**
I was so excited when my friend, Shannon, and I made a spur of the moment decision to buddy read Horrorstor!!!
I have owned a copy of this book since it was first released and have heard such great things. I would often stop, pick it up, flip through the pages and considering reading it, but for some reason never did.
I’m not sure why. The whole package of the book is unique and fun. Made to resemble an IKEA catalogue, each chapter begins with a picture of a specific furniture piece and its description.
It’s a really special book in regards to that creativity and for that reason alone, I would recommend people give it a shot to see what it’s all about.
Moving on from the engaging format, I was so pleased with the actual story!
Amy has been working at Orsk for a while, but she seems to be stuck in a rut. It’s so monotonous and honestly, it’s sucking the life out of her.
Additionally, her manager, Basil, is always after her. What’s his problem anyway? He’s such a stiff. She just needs him to let her do her thing, her way.
When mysterious things begin happening around the store, including damage to some of the product, the staff has reason to suspect someone is getting in after hours.
Basil approaches Amy and another employee, Ruth Ann, and asks them to work a dusk-til-dawn shift with him to hopefully catch the vandal.
Important people from corporate are arriving in the morning and he wants to have a handle on the issue prior to their arrival.
The two women agree and return to the store at the designated hour. Their plan, to patrol the showroom floor every hour to see if they can find anything.
On their first walk through the eerie, fun house scary showroom, with designated areas per room type, Amy and Ruth Ann stumble upon an unexpected surprise in Bedrooms.
Two fellow employees, Trinity and Matt, have snuck into the store to shoot footage for their prospective ghost hunting show.
They know of the mysterious happenings at Orsk and think supernatural forces may be at work!
The rest of the narrative follows these five employees, locked in the deserted super store for the night, as they discover the true root of the problem. And it is a serious problem.
I loved the set up for this. The brain-draining retail set-up was spectacular. I know they are not all that way, I have worked in multiple retail locations myself, but some are. The corporate speak and repetitive nature of some of the tasks, it rang real true.
I thought all of the characters were so well done. Even though they seem one dimensional to start, over the course of their time together, you learn much more about each of them. I personally began to feel quite attached.
The humor was also spot on for me. The satirical nature of the entire story, plus the witty banter between the characters, made this an absolute delight from beginning to end.
Added on to all of the great things mentioned above, the horror elements were a ton of fun. There were some yucky moments, cringe-worthy moments and creepy moments. It really offered a lot. I felt like the conclusion was a little rushed, but other than that one small thing, fantastic!
This is definitely Horror Comedy though, so if that is not your jam, you may want to steer clear.
This was my first Hendrix book and it seems like a solid place to start. I am glad to have buddy read this because it was fun to have someone to discuss it with while actually reading. I think it added to the overall experience.
I certainly will be picking up more books by Grady Hendrix in the future!
