I saw this book in my local Foyles about a year and a half ago. The thing that drew me to this book was that:

• It was square, which is quite unusual for a book
• It looked like it was set in IKEA
• It had pictures

I didn’t actually buy the book until a year later, and then it took me another six months to get around to reading it.

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking.

To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

This book may be one of the strangest things that I have ever read. I am obsessed with IKEA. That makes me sound like a weirdo, let me re-phrase: as I get older, the more enjoyable the experience of IKEA becomes, so when reading a book about an alternate version of the furniture store, I was all here for it.

To start off, we are guided around the store of Orsk by one of the associates, a witty, sarcastic young woman. Throughout the beginning of the book, we learn that weird things have been happening in Orsk that no one can explain. The boss of the store asks three associates to do a night shift and find out what is going on – and it’s waaaayy weirder than I expected! There’s possession, ghosts, and things that I don’t even think have a name yet. There were these weird beings that were like ghosts but weren’t? I don’t even know… The mind of Grady Hendrix must be a peculiar one.

“They said she could do anything she set her mind to, they told her she should shoot for the moon because if she missed she’d be among the stars, they made movies tricking her into thinking she could achieve heroic things. All lies. Because she was born to answer phones in call centers, to carry bags to customers’ cars, to punch a clock, to measure her life in smoke breaks.”

― Grady Hendrix, Horrorstör

Accompanying us along the journey through the maze of Orsk are pictures, documents, associate files, and (sarcastic) information about the products that describe how dangerous and gruesome they can be.

If there is one film that I would adapt to a movie, it would be this one. It has so much potential to be this amazing horror film with a slight dark humorous twist. I feel like it needs to happen and I bet that it would be a huge success!

The book was gripping, tense and scary. The weird thing about this book is that the storyline itself isn’t that great. It’s quite a flimsy plot but it’s just so well written that you don’t notice whilst reading. It was only on reflection that I realised that the plot was weak.

BUT THE ENDING?!! I MEAN, COME ON! WHERE IS THE SEQUEL? And if we don’t get a sequel, can we at least get a novella? PLEASE?!

Overall, this was a really good book and I absolutely devoured it. It took me three hours to read it and I didn’t move off of my sofa until I had finished it. I just couldn’t put it down, it gripped me. I thoroughly recommend this book if you’re looking for a strange horror read that is unique in its format and plot.