Horrorstör

Synopsis

The novel follows a group of people that have stayed overnight at ORSK to investigate strange acts of vandalism, store manager Basil and his employees Amy, and Ruth Anne. The book particularly focuses on Amy, who is unhappy because she views her work at ORSK as an unfulfilling dead-end job. During a patrol of the store Amy and Ruth Anne come across fellow employees Trinity and Matt, who have snuck into the store to record paranormal phenomena, and the homeless bum Carl, who has been sleeping in the store without anyone knowing. Although the group decides against calling the police, Amy reveals that she had called them earlier over some minor strange occurrences earlier in the night.

Trinity manages to convince the others, minus Basil as he has gone outside to wait for the police, to hold a seance. During the seance they make contact with Warden Worth, who possesses Carl and informs everyone that he will take them into his "Beehive" and cure them of their mental illnesses. Worth then slits Carl's throat. Basil returns and is horrified by the amount of blood, but points out that Carl's body is missing. The group decides to search for him and in the process find a door leading to an old asylum that no longer exists. Everyone is abducted and subjected to various cruel "treatments" except for Basil, who manages to find and rescue Amy. The two are separated after a group of Worth's inmates (all of who are ghosts) attack Basil and drag him off. Amy nearly succumbs to the temptation to continue Worth's treatments, as his earlier treatment had nearly convinced her that her life was worthless, but she fights off the urge after seeing Trinity put through a similar torture treatment. Amy frees Trinity, only for her to run off in fear, and Amy initially makes it successfully out of the building. She stops after she realizes that she is the others' only hope of escaping the building and that running away would mean quitting, which would prove Worth to be correct.

Back in the store Amy discovers that the land occupied by the ORSK store had previously been the site of an asylum that had been closed down due to Worth's cruel treatments, explaining why the ghosts were haunting the store. Amy is unsuccessful in rescuing Ruth Anne before the woman commits suicide but manages to free Basil and helps him keep his sanity by talking to him about his sister, for whom he is a caregiver. Before they can find the others and escape the two are confronted by Worth, who tries to trick them into becoming part of his Beehive and join his group of inmates. Amy manages to overcome him by successfully convincing the penitents that they are free and Worth has no control over them. The ghosts overpower Worth and destroy him, but instead of moving on to the afterlife the ghosts capture Basil and Amy in wardrobes and try to drown them. They barely manage to escape the store before it completely floods with water.

Outside the store Amy and Basil are treated by emergency teams, who inform them that they are the only ones who made it out of the store. ORSK's corporate people offer them both cushy corporate jobs in exchange for their silence, which Amy refuses out of disgust. Many months pass and during this time a new store, Planet Baby, is built out of the remains of the ORSK store. Amy successfully applies for a job and on the first day meets Basil, who reveals that he refused ORSK's job offer for the same reasons. The two make a vow to rescue Matt and Trinity, a task that Basil says will be made difficult because the penitents are less organized now that Worth is gone. The book ends with an advertisement stating that Planet Baby will hold a 24-hour sale, allowing patrons to remain overnight in the store.

Reception

Critical reception has been mostly positive and the Gazette praised the work for its social critique. The Boston Globe and Nerdist both wrote mixed reviews, with Nerdist stating that the lead character "keeps the book afloat with the promise of more horror to come, but like the IKEA furniture that inspired it, Horrorstor is brutally functional while losing out on some needed form." The Washington Post was more positive in their review, praising Horrorstör for its characters and its balance between comedy and horror.

Television series

In 2015, the Jackal Group announced that they had optioned the television rights to Horrorstör and that Fox had ordered a pilot episode. The project will be executive produced by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Josh Schwartz, with a pilot script written by Michael Vukadinovich.