This review originally appeared on Goodreads on October 23, 2021.

Horrorstör

By Grady Hendrix – Quirk Books – September 23, 2014

Review by Robin Marx

Silent Hill IKEA.

Instead of a haunted house, this fast-paced horror novel centers on a haunted housewares store. After a number of vandalism incidents and strange happenings at an Orsk, an acknowledged IKEA rip-off, the manager Basil chooses a pair of employees to stay with him overnight to get to the bottom of the mystery. Inevitably, these hapless retail workers find out they’ve gotten much more than they bargained for.

The first half of this book feels like a Scooby Doo cartoon, with a light tone and broadly drawn characters. Things take a decidedly darker turn in the second half, when the true nature of the haunting is revealed. Each character reveals more depth and surprising resourcefulness as their situation grows more grim. There’s also some social commentary dealing with consumerism and the plight of retail workers, and the whole story ends on a particularly satisfying note. Highly recommended for horror fans.

★★★★☆

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