A Bit Bookish

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It may not seem like an obvious choice to combine horror and comedy, but in this case I think it pays off in this account of a haunted IKEA like furniture showroom. A group of people stay overnight in an ORSK store to investigate strange acts of vandalism. Manager Basil and his employees discover the store had been previously the site of an asylum that had been closed due to the cruelty of its warden--which explains why ghosts were haunting the store. The story is told mostly through Amy, an employee who is very unhappy because she views her work as an unfulfilling dead end job. The book is very much a social critique with great banter between Manager Basil and employee Amy, like when Amy says to Basil "I know this is your religion, but for me it's just a job." To which he retorts, "That's your problem. For you it's just a job...A job is what a guy in a gas station has. People at Orsk have work. It's a calling. A responsibility to something bigger than yourself. Work gives you a goal. It lets you build something that lives on after you're gone. Work has a purpose beyond making money." The concept and design of the book is really unique, and I found it to be a lot of fun.


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