Spooky Reads Day 6: Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

Title: Horrorstor
Author: Grady Hendrix
Page Count: 243
Rating: B
Keywords: Cheesy, Ikea Parody, Ghosts, Possession
Genre: Horror
Younger Readers: Not overly scary but not recommended for young children, gory and kind of gross at points, mild language

Synopsis from Good Reads:

   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 21st 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!

Review:

This book is formatted to look like an Ikea catalogue. There are drawings and descriptions of furniture at the beginning of each chapter and the descriptions become more sinister as the horror factor builds. The inside cover is a map of the Ikea-ish store, Orsk. Even the author's bio and photo are formatted to look like an Orsk employee badge. The formatting and concept are brilliant and if my rating was based on these factors alone then this book would receive an A.

I was bored for the first quarter of the book. The characters were irritating and not overly entertaining. Amy, our main character, is whiny and difficult to care about initially. When her boss, Basil, asks her and another employee to stay after hours to try and catch a vandal is when things become entertaining. Creepy graffiti, horrible smells, and ghost hunting ensue. While this section was really entertaining and made me like the book overall, some of the descriptions were just plain disgusting. If you don't handle gross descriptions well, this might not be the book for you.

Through all of the gore and grossness there were moments when the author's writing skills were evident. Certain descriptions were oddly well crafted and beautiful for the genre and made me wonder what this author could do writing in another genre or format.

While this is not a brilliantly moving novel, it is highly entertaining and original. Perfect for the Halloween season. I recommend it to anyone who likes the cheesy brand of horror and doesn't gag too easily.