Horrorstör

By: Grady Hendrix

Narrated by: Tai Sammons, Bronson Pinchot

Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland. 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 encounter horrors that defy imagination. Along the way, author Grady Hendrix infuses sly social commentary on the nature of work in the new 21st-century economy.

A traditional haunted house story in a contemporary setting, and full of current fears, Horrorstör delivers a high-concept premise in a unique style.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 Grady Hendrix (P)2014 Blackstone Audio

Welcome to ORSK!

This book was fantastic. I was never bored, always engaged. The scary scenes were real good. The story was fun. The characters were great, basil was my favorite. I highly recommend this book to anyone that's looking for a fun horror novel. Just sit back relax and enjoy the ride.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great Story, Even Better Read

Unique story with some insightful moments. It's playful, funny, and scary! It's read wonderfully, and put together well for an audiobook experience.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

For Those of Us Who've Spent Too Much Time in IKEA

Does anyone else out there have an aversion to IKEA? Like, someone suggests we pop over there real quick, maybe bribes you with coffee and cinnamon rolls, and then BAM. The whole Saturday has mysteriously disappeared? Wait, what just happened to me this past weekend?

Horrorstör is one part Office Space, and one part haunted house story. Thankfully, the haunted house in Horrorstör is essentially an IKEA.

I’m thoroughly enjoying Grady Hendrix’s Great Stephen King reread over at Tor.com (please note the presence tense, and my faith it’ll one day continue), and thought his White Street Society short stories exquisite dark humor, so when I heard he had a novel set in a Haunted IKEA (or, more accurately: ORSK, an IKEA competitor), I knew I had to check it out.

I’ve been to IKEA way more times than I’d like, and while I don’t have the Chuck Palahniuk/Fight Club aversion to it that some do, it does feel a bit like a gauntlet at times — winding around those labyrinthine aisles. Hendrix does a solid job of bringing us in from the street level with Amy, a young woman just barely getting by, and coming to the horrific realization that she really has no plan on where her life is going. But there’s been a lot of weirdness happening at ORSK, and when Amy’s offered a late night shift by her boss Basil along with three other employees, she really can’t turn it down. Things go downhill fast from there, in something of a creepy yet kind of hysterical way. There’s a nasty little seance scene that felt like something straight out of a Sam Raimi film, and I couldn’t stop laughing while listening to it.

But about two-thirds through the book, the story less somewhat less funny and more straight-up horror, and my interest waned a bit, and the ending seemed a bit sudden. Still, Hendrix does a good job with next-door characters that seem like they could’ve walked out of a Stephen King novel. Amy is easy for just about anyone who has been hard up for cash to relate to, but Basil — the African American store manager whose name evokes Basil Rathbone and who is evangelical about all the corporate propaganda — is particularly strong. Hendrix knows his horror tropes, and does a good job subverting them.

Tai Sammons does the heavy lifting narration-wise in Horrorstör. She’s got a solid, no frills everywoman narration that nails the protagonist pretty well, and gets by okay with the rest of the cast. Bronson Pinchot is essentially reading the chapter headers, and you can tell he’s having a blast. Together, they’re a winning combination.

I could be convinced to head back to Horrorstör one day, mostly for the first half and the solid narration. It left me a little cold in places, but generally I imagine I’ll have a lot more fun whenever I go back to IKEA thanks to Hendrix’s book.

Also, the coffee and cinnamon rolls.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Not as scary as it thinks it is.

I really, really wanted to like this book. A great premise which floundered in its execution. It tries it's best, but it never gets beyond the initial elevator pitch of a haunted IKEA. It has some neat ideas that I wish we'd explored more. This book would be great if it were double the length and it gave itself time to dig into the characters, the setting, the store and the haunted stuff. This feels too rushed.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Super easy read for a single afternoon.

Very easy read, not that detailed of a story. Fun if you need to kill a few hours in an afternoon, but for those looking for Horror you will not find it here. That doesn’t mean it’s not a well written story, but I think it would have worked better as a short story to be published in an anthology or collection by the author, as this one tends to run out of gas while flying across the Atlantic Ocean, so to speak. It all ends in a watery grave-like mess – literally and figuratively, (kind of, I’m not spoiling anything that isn’t directly obvious for those who’ve already ready the synopsis & a couple of these reviews.)

If you want a GREAT work of literary horror genius, I recommend John Langan’s “The Fisherman.” But Before you dive into that gold standard for contemporary horror lit, (for me it’s like the film, “The Shining,” in that it has VERY few equals in its artistic field – yes, “The Fisherman” is that freaking horrifying and how it hooks you in so many ways and doesn’t relent even long after you’ve read it multiple times is so genius, just as its author is a genius), anyway, if you’re taking my advice and checking out that beast of pure primal terror told by one of the best narration characters I’ve ever encountered, I’d strongly suggest priming your senses and anxieties with some short stories by Laird Barron, or basically almost anything by Stephen Graham Jones and Adam Nevill(!!!). Those three authors alone, Lagnan making four to be precise, are the top of the top of the top when it comes to, ‘Who are the most intelligent, accessible, and extremely innovative/ground-breaking Horror authors working today?’

I would’ve also suggested Paul Trembley’s “Head Full of Ghosts,” but brother, if you don’t know about that book or author yet, then I don’t think you’re ready to dive off into the deep end of such literary nightmares that the aforementioned authors have been cultivating. Their work makes everything you’ve ever read from authors like Stephen King look like newspaper comics...from both a narrative & horror qualitative analysis.

Note: If you enjoyed Horrorstör, but don’t usually like horror or reading the genre, a MUCH better and more creative novel you should seek out that balances its charm & humor deftly with its rogue waves of “HOW DID THAT JUST HAPPEN I NEED A HUG AND TO TAKE A BREAK FROM READING FOR A WHILE AFTER THAT” moments, (which never feel cheap or for the sake of trying to make you squirm, but rather because you actually care about the characters since they are written to come to life...something Horrorstör didn’t give much effort in doing or perhaps the author was just not interested in the characters, I mean, what’s there to like about them? Or dislike? But I digress...), anyway – GO CHECK OUT, “HEX.” You’re welcome.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Campy Horror Story

Despite the fact that this book ended up being completely ridiculous - just like so many of its horror movie counterparts - I still liked it. The creative use of the Orsk advertisements throughout the book and the use of the Orsk Handbook to guide Basil in his by-the-book approach to management - even when faced with evil apparitions attempting to kill him and his staff - added humor to the story and made it clear that the author wasn't taking this horror story too seriously. So, yes it was ridiculous, but possibly it was meant to be.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

UGH!! To be continued...?

The concept of a haunted "Ikea" was great (especially since I grew up near the haunted Toys R Us".
Tai Sammons did a great job and Bronson Pinchot's chapter introductions was wonderfully cheeky!

As I mostly listen in the car, I didn't see the PDFs until after I was done with the book...they definitely add comedy horror to the book!!

My only delta was the "to be continued" ending.

fun ride that needs a follow up.

loved the chapter breaks. done in a way that could only be accomplished with audio books.

Good Read! <br />

A fun story with a creative plot and likable characters. Overall it's a good read.

Super satisfying

This book has a slow start but it's one of the better horror stories I've listened to in the last couple of years!

Well worth it

I got expecting a ok story set in retail and was left pleasantly surprised. Loved the setting and the main character though the story itself was sort of a mix of Hellraiser and Silent hill. But what really popped for me was the little item descriptions for things in the store that punctuate each chapter. The other reader and the fact that as the story grew darker these description mirrored them was a refreshing change from the norm. If you like horror fiction I would suggest this is a good book to add to your collection.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Horrorstor

I LOVED this story- so unique and with so many twists. Interesting characters and great narration. Highly recommend