13 Retail Horror Book Recommendations
Is it worth bargain basement prices if it’s going to cost an arm and a leg … literally?
We hear of retail horror stories all the time, but never ones quite like this.
Here are 13 retail horror book recommendations that might make cement a preference for online purchasing.
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Table of Contents
Mall Priest – Chris Heinicke and Kate Reedwood
Supernatural retail horror
A priest, a rock star, and a demon walk into a shopping mall… and then the apocalypse begins.
Christmas Eve, 1985.
Shoppers flood the aisles of Mallzilla, Springfield’s largest shopping mall. But when Abaddon, one of the Devil’s deadliest soldiers, is unleashed, the mall becomes the epicenter of a battle between good and evil.
As Abaddon recruits an army of possessed mall-goers, a group of unlikely heroes, led by Father Sam, the mall’s resident priest, band together to stop him. As the body count rises and the stakes get higher, the mall becomes the last line of defense against Abaddon’s quest for world domination.
“A priest, a rock star, and a demon walk into a shopping mall…”
Shop 'Til You Drop – Kelvin V.A. Allison
Revenge retail horror
Ever worked in retail?
Ever dreamed of getting revenge on the customers who make your life a misery?
For some lucky staff of the Galore Supermarket franchise, that dream has become a reality as each of them is given three golden tickets to hand out to their most hated customers, inviting them to a late night of shopping they will never forget…or survive…
“Clean up on aisle three!!!!”
The Terrible Thing That Happens – Carlton Mellick III
Post-apocalyptic retail horror
There is a grocery store. The last grocery store in the world.
It stands alone in the middle of a vast wasteland that was once our world. The open sign is still illuminated, brightening the black landscape. It can be seen from miles away, even through the poisonous red ash.
Every night at the exact same time, the store comes alive. It becomes exactly as it was before the world ended. Its shelves are replenished with fresh food and water. Ghostly shoppers walk the aisles. The scent of freshly baked breads can be smelled from the rust-caked parking lot.
For generations, a small community of survivors, hideously mutated from the toxic atmosphere, have survived by collecting goods from the store. But it is not an easy task.
Decades ago, before the world was destroyed, there was a terrible thing that happened in this place. A group of armed men in brown paper masks descended on the shopping center, massacring everyone in sight.
This horrible event reoccurs every night, in the exact same manner. And the only way the wastelanders can gather enough food for their survival is to traverse the killing spree, memorize the patterns, and pray they can escape the bloodbath intact.
“The hills were made of bone and metal.”
Blood Mall – Craig Wesley Wall
Supernatural retail horror
When gunmen storm the Applewhite Mall and seize hostages, security guards Phil Connolly and Jefe Diaz are trapped inside along with two more of their crew, unarmed and helpless.
But little do the guards realize, the crazed marauders are the least of their worries.
Evil has come to Applewhite, Washington. A town famous for one thing: a deranged religious cult that murdered homeless women in the 1970’s. And someone is hell-bent on fulfilling the sect’s diabolical prophecy, the hijacked mall the venue for the sacrificial ceremony.
Now, four mall security guards and a motley group of allies may be the world’s only hope of thwarting the demonic ritual and preventing Hell on Earth.
“After that first visit, she’d prayed to a god she didn’t even believe in.”
The Store – Bentley Little
Supernatural retail horror
Juniper, Arizona, is an off-the-map desert town the retail giant called The Store has chosen for its new location. Now everything you could possibly want is under one roof, at unbelievable prices. But you’d better be careful what you wish for. This place demands something of its customers that goes beyond brand loyalty. At The Store, one-stop shopping has become last-stop shopping.
Bill Davis is the only one in town who senses the evil lurking within The Store. But he can’t stop his two teenage daughters from taking jobs there and falling under the frightening influence of its sadistic manager. When Bill finally takes a stand, he will get much more than he bargained for.
“She stared hard at the door, trying to see into the store, but she could make out nothing.”
Kill the Mall – Pasha Malla
Psychological comedy retail horror
After writing a letter in praise of “malls,” our eccentric narrator is offered a “residency” at a shabby suburban shopping centre. His mission: to occupy the mall for several weeks, splitting his time between “making work” and “engaging the public,” all while chronicling his adventures in weekly progress reports.
Before long, a series of strange after-hour events rattles our hero, and he sets forth on a nightly quest to untangle the mysterious forces at play in the mall’s unmapped recesses. Things quickly get hairy, and our narrator’s optimism about his mall residency descends into doubt, and then into a full-blown phantasmagoria of horror and (possibly) murder.
With the aid of a weird and wonderful cast of mall-dwelling misfits, our narrator is forced to conclude that the mall may not be the temple of consumer bliss he initially imagined, but something far more sinister. And who, or what, is benefitting from its existence?
“Even in the abstract, ‘engaging the public’ was a source of distress…”
The Mall – S.L. Grey
Supernatural retail horror
Dan works at a mall bookstore where nothing ever happens. An angsty emo-kid selling mid-list books to mid-list people for minimum wage, he hates his job.
Rhoda has dragged her babysitting charge to the mall so she can meet her coke dealer. Now the kid’s run off, and she has two hours to find him. She hates her life.
Rhoda bullies Dan into helping her, but as they explore the neon-lit corridors behind the mall, disturbing text messages lure them into the bowels of the building, where old mannequins are stored in grave-like piles and raw sewage drips off the ceiling.
The only escape is down, and before long Dan and Rhoda are trapped in a service elevator, and it’s not stopping at the bottom floor. Plummeting into the earth, Dan and Rhoda enter a sinister underworld that mirrors their worst fears.
They finally escape, but something feels different. Why are the shoppers all pumped full of silicone? Why are the shop assistants chained to their counters?
Just when they think they’ve made it back to the mall, they realize the nightmare has only just begun.
“I know I shouldn’t have left him. But I only thought I’d be gone for five minutes.”
Black Friday – James Kaine
Survival horror
Logan Talbot is no stranger to war. Retired from the Marine Corps, he watches as his best friend now fights a different kind of battle against a deadly illness. A fight that requires more money that either of them have.
When Logan is approached by a stranger with an offer that seems too good to be true – a chance to win millions of dollars in cash on Black Friday – he knows it’s his only chance to help his friend. What he doesn’t know is that he will find himself locked in a shopping mall with dozens of other desperate contestants.
And the only way to win is to kill them.
As well as Logan, a single mother, an online model, a crooked cop and a college student join the throngs of players that will be forced to turn to savage violence. Not just to win, but to survive a game orchestrated by a madman. A contest broadcast for the entertainment of the sickest, most depraved individuals on the dark web.
“The mall doors are locked and there’s only one way out… over a pile of dead bodies.”
The Night Manager – Jeff O'Brien
Cosmic comedy retail horror
Doyle has quite a day of obstacles ahead of him at the grocery store – particularly terror from the sky and a world overrun by cannibalistic monstrosities.
But he’s ready for it.
He’s just been promoted to Night Manager.
“I remember it like it was yesterday. Probably because it was.”
The Night Stockers – Kristopher Triana & Ryan Harding
Splatterpunk retail horror
The employees of the Freshway grocery store aren’t too happy about having to do an overnight shift, but they’re about to be even unhappier. Their rival store, Devil’s Food, is about to lay siege upon them with extreme prejudice. This is no ordinary grocery chain. Devil’s Food is run by a cult of murderous Satanists committed to killing the competition – literally.
Armed with hatchets, knives, maces and motorcycles, they enter the store and start picking off their victims in the most ghastly and depraved ways possible. The Freshway’s only chance of survival is to fight, and this leads to a bloody battle royal of crazed cashiers, knife-wielding demo ladies, brutal butchers, and teenage clerks determined to make their favorite death metal albums come true.
“The service in this grocery store was simply the worst.”
Horrorstör – Grady Hendrix
Supernatural retail horror
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.
“Later they’d be resurrected by megadoses of Starbucks, but for now they were the barely living dead.”
Night of the Prowler – Jon Athan
Slasher retail horror
Assist the customers. Stock the shelves. Sweep the floors. Take out the trash. Survive the night.
Zoe Doyle, an eighteen-year-old girl saving up for college and her first car, is working the night shift by herself at a secluded gas station for the first time.
Her hopes for a normal night quickly diminish as she meets the local creeps, but she perseveres. Then she hears a news bulletin on a radio: A suspected serial killer undergoing a psychiatric evaluation has escaped from a nearby mental institution. Alone and afraid, her imagination runs wild.
Unbeknownst to her, her thoughts are correct. The Prowler is heading her way.
“You’re saying I’m working the night shift alone?”
Meat – Michael Bray
Splatter retail horror
Welcome to Grueber’s, the brand-new all-night supermarket chain with a difference.
For its unfortunate customers, the ordinary looking store could be the last trip they ever make because its shelves are stacked with horrific delicacies made from human flesh, and the store boasts a Meat aisle that has to be seen to be believed.
An unlikely group of unwitting shoppers come together to not only survive, but to try to find a way to escape from the store, and the inhuman staff who are keen for them to stay… forever.
“All thoughts of replenishing the milk were gone, and he discreetly looked around trying to put some kind of rational context to the situation which might enable his mind to cope, but the rest of the supermarket look perfectly normal…”
Published: 4 December 2024
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