Horrorstör

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix (2014) 243 pages

What if a large store with a huge winding showroom - say a store that's similar to an Ikea - was haunted? What if the store manager, whose store keeps having incidents of damage over the night hours, wants to find out what's going on, and tasks the deputy store manager to carry out a quiet investigation before the head honchos from corporate headquarters come to find out why this location has such high losses? Well, that's what Horrorstör is all about.

The book itself looks like an Ikea catalog, with the beginning of each chapter advertising a piece of furniture, dimensions included. The store is called Orsk.

Basil, the deputy store manager meets with two employees to ask them to stay with him and patrol the store from 10 pm that night until 7 am, to see if they can figure out what's going on, since security cameras have not recorded any of the vandalism. Ruth Anne is 47 years old, a longtime cashier who treats everyone well. Amy is 24 and somewhat miserable; life is not turning out as she'd hoped. She despises Basil, who is the embodiment of the Orsk culture, and she is afraid that he is close to firing her. The story is told from Amy's point of view.

Amy and Ruth Anne agree to stay for the night shift, especially when enticed with double pay. By the time 11:30 pm rolls around, some strange things are starting to happen. A couple other employees have snuck in with cameras and electronic equipment to track ghosts. Need to stop here to avoid being a spoiler, but both the front and the back covers show this horror story is encased in a framework of dark humor.