A review by mburnsides
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 Hendrix’s novels tend to start slow and end fast as the action begins. The characters in this book are constantly being thrown into a new and life threatening situation that fails to allow the reader to breathe. Overall, I liked the book (and the formatting of the physical editions) but disliked the characters.
They are so dumb and make infuriating decisions. No one cares that much about coworkers they aren’t friends with to endure torture, injury, and almost death, when given the chance to leave.
Amy could have left and gotten help when she had escaped and the whole thing would have been over quicker. There was no reason Amy, of all characters, would have gone back so determined to save everyone on her own because some asshat ghost tortured her. She didn't even succeed in saving most of the cast!
And Basil *insert eye-rolling emoji* got on my nerves so bad. Despite the contrary, he continued and continued to deny the reality of their situation until he could no longer “logic brain” Amy and the others. And his d*ckriding of Orsk… I hate that there was any attempt to justify his desperation to be loyal to the company.

Other than the annoying characters, the horror was decent. I wasn’t a fan of the Warden and his torture of the cast because it felt so cheesy and took me out of the scariness of the body horror. The rest of the ghost stuff was scary though.

 
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