Can you imagine how terrifying it is when the ordinary furniture becomes a torture tool?

The novel "Horrorstor" is set in an American furniture superstore.  Every morning, employees kept finding broken furniture, scattered glass and signs that someone were hiding inside the store through the night.  But security footage revealed nothing.  Three employees volunteer to work overnight shifts to investigate the mysterious occurrences. Joined by other two fellow employees, they eventually uncover the dark secrets of the store.  Could they survive the night?

You will not find graves, castles, haunted houses or isolated villages which are common elements found in traditional ghost stories in this novel.  Instead, this is a modern fast-paced suspense horror novel with a mixture of scare and humour.  The highlight of this novel is the book design and presentation. It looks like a product catalog.  Each chapter starts with a description and illustration of a furniture item sold in the store and it has a connection with the story.  As you get further into the book, the products in the catalog get increasingly weird and twist as torture devices.  The design of the book really matches the story.

All the characters have their own flaws and strengths.  Amy was an unhappy employee as her tasks were monotonous and she was looking for a purpose in life whereas Basil was loyal to the company but too pushy to subordinates.  Anne was a strict person who treated her job very seriously while Matt possessed laid-back attitude and lacks ambition.  These characters reflect the reality most people are facing in their career and life.

Another impressive character in the book is the ghost Warden Worth who run a prison in the 19th century.  Being portrayed as a villain who tortured hundreds of prisoners, he truly believed what he have done was just curing his prisoners.  There is a link between the conditions of the people who work in the prison and the people who work at the furniture store.  Corporate exploitation is not surprising in the real world.  Some people may act like the characters in the book who dedicate their lives to company for limited return.

In addition to scaring readers, this novel also touches on the importance of courage, teamwork and resilience in overcoming adversity.

I would recommend this novel to those who work hard at their jobs at the sacrifice of rest time. It won’t cost you much time since this novel has only 240 pages with large font.