Horrorstor: A Novel

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Things begin innocently enough, though, with this uncomfortable looking couch. Not cozy, but not exactly a torture device…yet. When mysterious occurrences begin happening around the store, including damage to some of the product, the management has reason to suspect someone is getting in after hours. His plan is to spend the night in the building with a strategic strike team that will be ready to catch these neer-do-wells in the act! But since he doesn't have access to any professionals, he's willing to go in with two of his employees, Amy and Ruth Anne. Neither of them is at all qualified to do anything other than point and scream if they were to run across someone messing up the store in the middle of the night. For a book which is mainly an excuse to figure out what would happen if you were shrink wrapped to an office chair (bad, bad things, that’s what would happen) most of the characters get at least a little development and Basil and Amy get a ton. Their development is believable and deeply satisfying (but not romantic).

If you’ve been online lately, you’ve probably seen quite a bit of buzz in the bookish community about My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, but it just so happens, he’s also the author of this book, appropriately (and hilariously) titled Horrorstor.

Much like some countries that require each citizen to do a stint in their army, I feel that everyone should have to do a tour of duty as a retail worker. The best part of the horror is that coming from the idea of roaming around a huge retail building and its halls and show rooms in night, after everyone's gone, while a might be paranormal activities are going on.

And you'd never know the feelings of her unless you're working retail...dealing with customers, watched as if you're a thief, long hours and holidays shifts...bossy bosses, bossy snitches co workers, tedious customers, boring complains from them for things you can Never have the authority to solve. I enjoyed this too, and I’m a horror lightweight. I thought it was really funny, and admired the design. (I definitely would not want to read this digitally. The experience of holding a hauntedIKEA catalog is delightful.) My husband and teenager also liked it, and my 10-year-old has been steadily chanting “We never stop. We never sleep. And now we’re in your home.” to try to scare her sister.

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At this point, I've read a lot of Hendrix's books and I can say without a doubt that this one is my favorite. Hendrix did a great job with lots of little references that made me smile from mentioning Best Buy, Lorraine Warren (I’m a huge fan of The Conjuring series), and capturing the essence of an IKEA store. LoL I’ve only shopped there twice in my life and let me tell you, that place has to be terrifying late at night in complete darkness. 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 the very next morning and he wants to have a handle on the situation prior to their arrival.

Horrorstör is elevated from a typical horror novel because of its setting, which is really quite clever, and the way Grady Hendrix, the author, weaves the store manual into the narrative. But a certain action from some characters ruined some of the story for me , The Séance..which can be avoided for more efficient impact of the paranormal activities of the place. I mean it would have been better if the homeless man just turn up right after the twilight lights starts..or any other way that make the place powerful without acting stupid by Trinity and Mat. National treasure Grady Hendrix follows his classic account of a haunted IKEA-like furniture showroom, Horrorstor (2014), with a nostalgia-soaked ghost story, My Best Friend’s Exorcism.”— The Wall Street Journal, on My Best Friend’s Exorcism

Buy Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

From the New York Timesbest-selling authorof The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampirescomes a hilarious and terrifying haunted house story in a thoroughly contemporary setting: a furniture superstore. I thought all of the characters were 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.