Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix - Review

Title: Horrorstor
Author: Grady Hendrix
Pages: 240
Publication Date: September 2nd 2014 by Quirk Books
Source: ARC from Edelweiss
Link: Official Site, Goodreads
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 twenty-firstcentury 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!
This book! I love it. I knew when I read that this book was a horror story taking place in a store similar to IKEA I was in. I mean.. just look at that cover!

I would like to thank Edelweiss for providing me with the ARC copy.  I received it for free for an honest review.  I downloaded this copy onto the Kindle app because I have a Nexus 7 tablet and that's how you have to read review copies on it.  It was a little disappointing to read it on there though.  The images and graphics do not transfer over.  I was on a roadtrip reading it too so I didn't have access to the internet to look at my other file of it on my laptop.  So when I got home from the road trip after reading it, I then went back and looked at all the images that go with the story.  I do think it took away from the experience because the images make the story more fun and spooky.  Though I am sure you will not have this problem if you chose to buy a copy of the book as an ebook.  It just didn't transfer over right as an ARC.  Though after looking through the copy on Adobe Reader I think this is a book that should be purchased as a physical copy to get the full effect.

Now let's talk about this epic story. The books begins with a few employees who are working at Orsk.  As you read along in the book you are meant to feel as if you are reading an Orsk catalog.  There are designs for the furniture for sale as well as diagrams of the store, applications and more.  When you get farther and farther into the book these things morph into types of devices rather then furniture that is used in the novel.  It adds a little bit of creepiness as you read.  I think one of the reasons I requested this ARC is because I love IKEA but it always has had a bit of a scary factor to it when I go in.  Everything set up so neat... fake windows and doors. What if those windows and doors actually went somewhere? Somewhere like a creepy dungeon or hell.

Back cover/Variant front cover

The characters think that someone is breaking in the store during the day, so one night the boss has a few employees spend the night in the store to discover who these people are and report them to the police. Three employees spend the night and split up to do a search of the store.  While searching they discover two more employees who were hiding with some equipment to do some ghost hunting. Which brings some humor in the novel since from the start these two employees have believed that there are ghosts haunting the store rather then vandals breaking in. After that.. the crazy night of ghouls begins.

I enjoyed this book.  It is a short fast read. The whole concept of reading an IKEA catalog, or in this case a Orsk catalog is amazing.  I have seen a few pictures of the physical copy and it really looks like a nice book.  When the book comes out.. be sure to go and read it .. in bed... at night... with a flashlight.

The crystal ball says:


Clouds are covering! A read that lets me down every now and then but peaks out of the clouds!

25 comments:

  1. I'll be reviewing this one soon. I did enjoy it, though it sort of ended up more campy than scary for me. lol

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  2. This sounds like such a cool concept! Though I've never thought Ikea was creepy, so thanks for that. My next visit will be... interesting. :D I hope to check this one out, just to see how the author makes a story work in an Ikea catalog setting!

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  3. I want to read this one! It sounds so fun! I will keep in mind to read it in book form versus Kindle form. Thanks for mentioning that! Graphics definitely don't translate.

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  4. I thought this was a review for a home decor book, and I thought the cover looked really interesting, and here I come to find it's a kind of hilarious-creepy sounding horror story! I love that cover and think this is an absolutely excellent idea, and will definitely be adding it to my tbr so long as it has plenty of amusement in it, of the Ghostbusters kind. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention! I'm only sorry the reading experience, with the images, wasn't better for you. x

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  5. I really enjoyed this one, my review will be up next week, but I agree with Andi, it was more campy than scary.

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  6. When I first saw the cover, I thought you were going to review an Ikea catalog ! But finally, it was no that far reached ;)

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  7. What a quirky idea! Might need to check this one out!

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  8. This sounds like such fun! I'd definitely have to get a physical copy to really enjoy it though.


    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

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  9. The more I think about it.. the more I realize it was a little campy. I guess like a scary campy. I did enjoy it though.... I think I found out about it from your blog actually!

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  10. It was a good story.. not spectacular though. Just a quick scary read. If anything.. check the book out from the library and just look through the book. I think the inside looks neat.

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  11. Yeah... the graphics didn't pull over at all. Such a bummer. But after finishing I went onto the PDF copy and looked at the graphics there.

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  12. OMG OMG!! I love love so much! Of course I am a cat person so this commercial is perfect for me.

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  13. HAHAHA! I love that you thought this was one for home decor book. This is really the first ARC book I have reviewed other then graphic novels. So it was a fun experience.

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  14. I can't wait to read your review Ryan!! I really want to know what you thought. I still wish I would've had a physical copy of this book.

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  15. HAHAH! Ok that's funny!! Reviewing an IKEA catalog might be fun though.

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  16. It was neat!! I had to pick it up just because it was so different from anything I've read before.

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  17. It was fun... though I only gave it three stars. Still super creepy.

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  18. Okay, yes this does sounds EPIC! Need to read this! Super unique.

    Nina from J'adore Happy
    Endings

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  19. Omg, the FIRST thing I thought when I saw the cover was: is that an IKEA catalogue?! Hehe. So that is quite unique and intensely cool. I don't think it's my style of book though. Pity the images didn't transfer. Ugh! That must've been disappointing!

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  20. It was very unique. I am glad I took the time to read it. Though I wouldn't read it again.

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  21. I like that it looked like an IKEA catalog. I thought that was neat and different.

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  22. This book looks so fun! Great review. I'm not usually into horror but if it's funny then I might try it. :)

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  23. Haha, that cover really threw me off guard! Definitely not something you'd see regularly. Would you believe I've never been to an IKEA store? O_O I don't know if we have it here in the Philippines to be honest... it's probably in the more well-off areas I suppose. And I'm for one who loves horror and humor, so it would be refreshing to see them both together in a book! Gonna check it out :3

    Faye at The Social Potato

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  24. I haven't been into horror lately. I have just been reading so many other books. But when I read what this book was about I was IN! It was very entertaining too. I liked it a lot.

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  25. I hadn't been to an IKEA store till about 5 years ago I would say. One was built in Utah and I got to visit. Now there is one here where I live so I can go at any time. It typically is in huge cities. I think each state only has like one store unless it's a really populated state (like California). I am glad to introduce this book to people who hadn't heard of it before. Just really unique.

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