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A review by skylarkblue1
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix
5.0
To start off this review, this book isn’t for the light heated. It gets pretty damn dark and disturbing so just keep that in mind if you don’t handle graphic descriptions well.
Horrorstör I first thought was just going to be a satire on retail work, horror and generally just a comedy parody book. I was wrong, but I was wrong in the best way. As I read through this book, I had no idea what the next page would be about, the pacing well reflected the anxiety, the claustrophobia and panic that the characters were feeling. The descriptions made my body tense up, my toes curl, my heart race.
Is the base concept for this book unique? Not quite, as the description itself says it’s just a “traditional haunted house”. What is unique however is Grady Hendrix’ use of the world around the characters, descriptive language and making me scared to go into an IKEA now. Even just the cover alone is super unique and interesting, heck, it’s what grabbed my attention on a shelf in the shop.
I thought I’d hate all the characters at the start, but by the end I was rooting them on. So much so that I’d adore a sequel, even if this story doesn’t really need one (plus this was written in 2014 and to my knowledge, I don’t think there’s ever been a follow up!). The character development felt really good and natural to me, the story felt realistic to me in a way which I did enjoy. Amongst all the chaos, they were still human.
I don’t fully know how to put this book into words without spoiling it all, I can just recommend that you read it for yourself. Once shit hits the fan, everything hits the fan and it just keeps on going until the final page.
Horrorstör I first thought was just going to be a satire on retail work, horror and generally just a comedy parody book. I was wrong, but I was wrong in the best way. As I read through this book, I had no idea what the next page would be about, the pacing well reflected the anxiety, the claustrophobia and panic that the characters were feeling. The descriptions made my body tense up, my toes curl, my heart race.
Is the base concept for this book unique? Not quite, as the description itself says it’s just a “traditional haunted house”. What is unique however is Grady Hendrix’ use of the world around the characters, descriptive language and making me scared to go into an IKEA now. Even just the cover alone is super unique and interesting, heck, it’s what grabbed my attention on a shelf in the shop.
I thought I’d hate all the characters at the start, but by the end I was rooting them on. So much so that I’d adore a sequel, even if this story doesn’t really need one (plus this was written in 2014 and to my knowledge, I don’t think there’s ever been a follow up!). The character development felt really good and natural to me, the story felt realistic to me in a way which I did enjoy. Amongst all the chaos, they were still human.
I don’t fully know how to put this book into words without spoiling it all, I can just recommend that you read it for yourself. Once shit hits the fan, everything hits the fan and it just keeps on going until the final page.