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. After the first part,everything changes,the sense of humor vanishes,the novel gets darker and darker,and that's where the scary begins.And I am not talking about the fluffy scary,but as creepy nightmary scary. Strange things are afoot at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Overnight items are being broken, furniture ruined, and the smell leaves a lot to be desired. Not to mention, sales are dismal, and the employee morale is low. Basil, store supervisor, convinces two of his employees to work overnight to find out what is really going on. As they do their routine patrol of the sales floor, they learn they are not alone. In fact, there is another world in there with them, and all sales are final.

And the merchandise is not really cheap and of higher quality than you might expect, perhaps even an experience that will last more than 30 seconds. (I'm paraphrasing, of course). The two women begrudgingly agree and return to the store at the designated hour. Their plan is to patrol the showroom floor, every hour, over the course of the night to see if they can solve the mystery. We finally get to the supernatural disturbances and they’re a joke. I mean, they’re played totally real but they’re just a glob of horror story cliches. It’s the Indian burial ground-type setup, tedious monologues about never getting out and being punished forever and ever. Even the villain in this is tedious! The haunting itself is spooky enough to give you chills, but doesn't really cross the line into nightmare territory. At least, it didn't for me. I absolutely loved the set-up. The brain-draining corporate retail environment was spectacular. The satire perfectly played.Grady Hendrix includes his own author photo in the form of an Orsk employee nametag, complete with the store’s obnoxiously perky customer service motto, “Have a question? Just ORSK!” To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination. 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. If you’ve ever been frustrated trying to put together furniture from IKEA, you’ll get a laugh out of Hendrix’s spoof mystery.”

You know what though I'm just going to show you how unfinished it is. Are you ready? If you want to read the book (hopefully you don't, run far away) stop reading but here we go: Our cast of characters are extremely dull. Amy is your average drifting young woman who’s treading water until she makes a move towards something she actually wants to do. As it is, she’s very apathetic towards her work, and that’s fine, but it’s not interesting to read - why should we care about her again? Why is she the main character? Thanks to this review and my subsequent read of this book I will now have a totally different perspective of IKEA when I walk in the store and I WILL NOT go shopping after dusk. 🙂A vampire's hunger for blood may be insatiable, but this masterpiece novel ladles out ample thrills, chills, and relevant examples of sociopolitical injustices to satisfy any literary appetite.” But every morning, five days a week (seven during the holidays), they dragged themselves here, to the one thing in their lives that never changed, the one thing they could count on come rain, or shine, or dead pets, or divorce: work. a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (2020-06-15). "New Republic Pictures Acquires Grady Hendrix's Novel 'Horrorstör' ". Deadline . Retrieved 2020-08-04. A cool idea of setting a soul-less Ikea with a massive haunting and a crazy satire about the modern-day service industry is EXACTLY what I got. Horrorstör delivers a crisp terror-tale…[and] Hendrix strikes a nice balance between comedy and horror.”— The Washington Post

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. Sometimes the layout of a book can severely detract from the story being told, but Horrorstor is the perfect example of a book that uses the layout to its advantage to enhance the storytelling experience, drawing you further and further in through the imagery, ads, and satire. Amy has a cash-flow problem and a desire to transfer to a different Ikea-like furniture store. If she can just stay on the boss' good side for a few more days, she'll be out of here.Mistry, Anupa (October 11, 2014). "Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix: Review". The Star . Retrieved January 29, 2020. As I was reading this, it was very easy to picture it as a horror movie in my mind. This would look great on-screen and would make an excellent film. Terrific... Sharply written... [ My Best Friend’s Exorcism] makes a convincing case for [Hendrix’s] powers as a sharp observer of human behavior.” I've asked you here because I need your help. I have an extra job for tonight. A side project. And I need you to keep quiet about it." pg 27, ebook.