Book Review
Oct. 10th, 2023 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariHorrorstör
by Grady Hendrix
This clever horror novel is set in Orsk, a big box furniture store that is definitely not Ikea. Strange things have been discovered in the store at opening, so the manager Basil and two employees, Amy and Ruth Anne, work an overnight shift to patrol the store and get to the bottom of it. Two other employees, Matt and Trinity, also show up, hoping to capture paranormal activity on camera. What they all find turns out to be more than any of them bargained for.
This novel was scary but also had plenty of subtle humor. I liked the irony of it being a haunted house story that takes place in a store that mimics a house. Hendrix has an interesting take on the trope of a building being haunted or cursed due to what it's built on. Plus, there's some sly commentary on the drudgery of retail work, the mechanisms of consumerism, and the dark side of our society's insistence on the value of employment and labor.
As a bonus, the print edition of Horrorstör mimics the design of an Ikea catalog, complete with increasingly sinister product profile.
by Grady Hendrix
This clever horror novel is set in Orsk, a big box furniture store that is definitely not Ikea. Strange things have been discovered in the store at opening, so the manager Basil and two employees, Amy and Ruth Anne, work an overnight shift to patrol the store and get to the bottom of it. Two other employees, Matt and Trinity, also show up, hoping to capture paranormal activity on camera. What they all find turns out to be more than any of them bargained for.
This novel was scary but also had plenty of subtle humor. I liked the irony of it being a haunted house story that takes place in a store that mimics a house. Hendrix has an interesting take on the trope of a building being haunted or cursed due to what it's built on. Plus, there's some sly commentary on the drudgery of retail work, the mechanisms of consumerism, and the dark side of our society's insistence on the value of employment and labor.
As a bonus, the print edition of Horrorstör mimics the design of an Ikea catalog, complete with increasingly sinister product profile.
