Horrorstor

I had a great time reading this book. I loved everything about it.
The characters were likeable, smart and dimensional. The setting, an Orsk furniture superstore, resembling an Ikea store was fun on a few levels, one of which is that I love Ikea! The book is bound like an Ikea catologue! I love the whole package. The storyline is eerie, creepy and lots of fun. This is a great read right before Halloween and something I plan to read every year to start off my month of horror.

I'm not usually a fan of horror, but I thought I'd give Horrorstör a try anyway. I'm glad I did. Fantastically creepy and eerie, this book was so engaging and well done. The product descriptions were a wonderful touch.

This was exactly what I needed after some the serious stuff I've read lately. The opening had me going "YAY! Zombies!" and then giggling as I realized what kind of zombies they were talking about. Everything in Horrorstör was well-described, with the perfect amount of detail, with a sort of "Silent Hill" vibe. It unfolded in my head almost like a movie, and that's the best kind of book. I loved the transitions, the characters, everything. I honestly can't think of a single bad thing to say about this book!

The pace was fast and awesome. It runs from page one, and doesn't slow down until about 15 pages from the end. The characters were almost disturbingly believable. Seriously, with almost each character I found myself having this moment of recognition and being like "Oh god, its (insert acquaintance's name)!"

Do zombies count as a trope yet? Well, that doesn't matter because there's not really zombies. There's...just read it and see! We didn't even have to deal with any annoying info dumps. Nope, just pure funnies that slowly transition into pure horror.

I cannot wait to read more from this author. So well done! Highly recommend it!

When it comes to Quirk Books, you can always expect something...well, quirky. "Horrorstor" is no exception. It combines horror and humor, sort of like the "Evil Dead," but no one loses a body part.

The setting is the Orsk furniture superstore, a thinly veiled version of a famous Swedish big box store. Anyone who has had the unique pleasure of working retail will recognize the characters and relate to the non-supernatural aspects of the novel. There's Amy, who hates every aspect of her job, but needs the work because she's drowning in student debt. Every store has a Ruth Ann, the overly chipper team player whose too sweet to hate. Basil, both boring and bored is their supervisor. They have volunteered or been drafted to spend the night in the store investigating reports of weird smells and vandalism.

During their investigation, they come across a couple of slacker employees, Matt and Trinity, who have shown up uninvited to film the first episode of their show "Ghost Bomb." There's talk of an old prison where some inmates and guards drowned and of course Orsk was built on that site. Then there's a seance and gee, that wasn't such a good idea. From there on out, the horror intensifies and the humor continues.

In addition to being a fun story, "Horrostor" can boast one of the most creative uses of the cover and interior illustrations. The cover bears a very close resemblance to an IKEA catalog. Inside, there's a store map and each chapter begins with an illustration of a piece of Orsk furniture, complete with sardonic selling points.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were likable and felt real, the ghost story might not have been the most terrifying but I was laughing too hard to notice, and the whole experience was delightfully unique.