Horrorstor is a dark macabre horror parody of...you guess it, IKEA. Although the event itself didn't happen in IKEA, but ORSK. ORSK, to quote the book, is "the all-American furniture superstore in Scandinavian drag, offering well-designed lifestyle at below IKEA prices." So, basically, they are IKEA-dupe, located in America. This book have many pamphlets, information, suggestions, terms and conditions, with the tongue-in-cheek tagline "if you don't know what to do, just ORSK." Hendrix clearly did his assignment to understand how IKEA operates and make fun on it. Each chapters will have a brochure contains ORKS furniture with its description clearly written by a copywriter. But, near the end, the brochure not only suggest what ORKS furniture that will be suitable for your needs but become more sinister. More macabre. Delightful.

Like your usual horror movies, Horrorstor have 5 protagonist, plus one (un)lucky man. What supposed to be an overnight shift to investigate what happen to ORKS, a store partner Amy, together with her coworker Ruth Anne and her supervisor, Basil find that their night will become a night that all of them will soon not forget. Not only those three, but their other coworker, Trinity and Matt decide that they want to sneak into the ORKS store at night to film their own ghost investigation. Add with Carl, a homeless man that caught in the web of the horror, soon Amy and her cohorts found themselves ensnared by malicious ghost from the past that want to "cure" them of their predicaments. What happen to be a paranormal activity investigation at first become a survival thriller if Amy and co want to come out from ORKS unscathed.

I'm regret my choice to read this title at night because I'm too much chicken when it comes to ghost. Turn that, it's not that bad, lol. All of the characters have flaws, its hard to relate with them at first. Especially Amy. This book follow her PoV, although it's told from 3rd PoV, but it's apparent that the MC is Amy. We will read about her struggle and her sarcastic remarks that I found, it's hard to warm toward her. But, with story progress, we will follow her character development. Another is Basil. It's easy to hate Basil because he's the epitome of a worker that held his job as a sacred things. Like with Amy, we will know that he's actually care and took his job as a supervisor seriously. Not just a mindless drone that want to climb on the management ladder. Sadly, the other three is not fleshed out thoroughly. 

The book itself end with a kinda happy note, if only I can said that is happy. But, like a horror book, there will always some casualties. While I said happy, actually the book end with open ending. Horrorstor is a standalone, but if Hendrix will write the continuation of the story, I would love to read it. Although, if he decide that the end of Amy and co is just like in the epilogue, than it's okay. I can always assumed that they all will make it in the end. 

Not like The Southern Bookclub Guide to Slaying Vampires (that I read first) that happen in spanning of years, Horrorstor only happen in one night or just 7-8 hours to be exact. It have so many horror movies element, more likely the stupidity of their characters that want to go separate ways, make me want to scream like "no, no, no! You all must stick together!!" and many others. Not only horror elements, but Grady Hendrix also input his social commentary especially about work habits, in which he constantly mocking ORKS's company policy via Amy and how he portray the mind of the ORKS worker to the "bee hive". A brochure of furniture in each chapter is not random either. If you pay closely, those furniture will be featured in the story or will become an important item later.

The length of Horrorstor is more like under 250 pages, so this title is perfect for a one-sitting read, if you happen in the mood to read a horror with some survival thriller elements.