Horrorstor, by Grady Hendrix

Here's my review in a "tweet" (140 characters or less):"5 stars for the unique catalog concept. 1 star for the anticlimactic ending +senseless gore/cliched horror movie tropes. Let's settle on 3."

I judge a book by its cover: Okay, the cover is neat. The beginning reads like an IKEA catalog. The chapters start with ORSK item pages, which look like autocad/google sketchup renderings, complete with unique names and charming descriptions.  However, the story lacked substance and was as hollow as the fake computer monitors on the desks at ORSK.

The plot (no spoilers): Amy works at ORSK, an IKEA-knockoff store, She is disillusioned by her job in retail, but needs the pay, so she miserably sticks around.  Strange things are afoot when Amy and her fellow employees find broken furniture in the store every morning.

Since the store cameras don't track what's going on between 2AM and 7:30AM, Amy and her friends decide to take on the night-to-dawn shift to do floor sweeps and check things out.  There's double-overtime pay involved, and it shouldn't be too hard.  This is a smart decision, yes?

NO, because there is a sliiiiight possibility that you will end up as a victim of the cliched "no wait, I thought I was just getting paid to stay in this haunted house overnight and it did not occur to me that I could die of supernatural stuff" plot.

As a reader, you are subjected to many of the tired horror movie tropes:

• creepy messages scratched into the wall
• clanking metal
• rats running away from something
• privileged-rebel-goth girl holds a seance
• "wait, I've never seen this door before... let's open it"
• "let's split up"

So. If someone asks you to do something at 2AM, refer to Ted Mosby's hard-learned lesson.