Book Review: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

 

Have you ever shopped in Ikea? Did you get lost trying to find the exit or the bathroom or the people you came with? Getting lost like that is horrifying enough. Grady Hendrix  starts with that and runs with it in his low budget knock off of Ikea called Orsk. On top of being difficult to navigate at times, strange things are happening in the store overnight. Things are being broken or otherwise desecrated. As the book goes on, so does the strangeness.

Management is having fits. People from corporate are coming to see the store. 3 employees volunteer to stay overnight and try and puzzle out what's going on. But, will they make it through the night?

My Thoughts: Haunted building stories are interesting. Like a good haunted house story, they can be satisfying and perhaps make you a little more grateful for the mundane homes and businesses. 

The main character of the book is Amy Porter. Her point of view is crucial to the success of the story. The other 2 employees that stayed are Basil (management) and Ruth Anne. In some ways they are stereotypes. Amy is the employee that wants to get by by doing the least she can. Basil wants everyone to toe the line and follow corporate rules. Ruth Anne is that employee who is nice to everyone - customer and fellow employee alike. I wasn't expecting it, but each character reveals more about themselves as the book goes on. They go from stereotypes to real people. And they are not always what you would expect them to be. The other thing that surprised me about some of them was that their characters showed growth and change as the story progressed.

The plot moves along fairly quickly once night has come to this Orsk store. At first everything is pretty normal. Then stuff hits the fan. One event leads to another and it snowballs to the conclusion.

I could suspend my disbelief for most things in the book because I was expecting a haunted building story and it delivered. The only thing that I couldn't quite buy was the very end of the book. It was set up in such a way that the author could have written a sequel if he wanted to do so. Otherwise, I loved the character development, setting, and pace of the novel.

I gave this book 5 out of  5 stars. It has stayed with me even after more than a week's time since my reading it. And I have to admit I am currently a little less likely to go shop in Ikea until this works its way out of my system. If you like a good haunted house story, especially one with a little humor, then this could be a good match for you. I think it's definitely worth a read.

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix was published September 2014 by Quirk Books. I purchased my review copy.