Good But Not Great: Horrorstor

I like very few contemporary horror writers. Very few. My tastes run more toward the 1970s and 1980s all the way back to the gothic period, so when something like My Best Friend's Exorcism comes along, which does classic things in a fresh way, of course I'm going to have my eye out for other works by Grady Hendrix. Naturally, Horrorstor had been on my bookshelf very soon after it came out - it had been on my husband's radar first. So while I'm waiting for the next book which promises Southern vampirism, I read this book about a haunted Ikea-adjacent store.

It was good. But it wasn't great. The characters were okay, but there wasn't a whole lot of establishment of them or their environment before they (we) are thrown into the horrific situation of a haunted building built ontop of another haunted building that might have gateways to alternate, horrifying dimensions. The horror elements were fine, good even, but they didn't carry the compelling weight that I would expect because there just wasn't a strong enough connection to the characters experiencing this horror or the place itself. The concept of a place that is designed specifically to disorient you is really interesting, but I don't think it was utilized to its full potential, which is a shame.

What makes me happy is that the next effort was a million times better, and I hope that these southern vampires are everything I'm dreaming of.

K Rating: 3/5