Did you ever have a job where you thought “What the hell was I thinking?” Well, the characters in the following books all regret their employment decisions. This is a mix of books I’ve read and books on my TBR. Some are older and some haven’t been released yet. But all twelve involve evil bosses, haunted offices or just plain deadly jobs. I’ve linked these to either my reviews or Goodreads, and I’m listing them in alphabetical order:
Abyss by Nicholas Binge. Poor Joe just landed a job at Ponos, a large corporation hiding some big secrets. Joe immediately regrets taking the job, as he soon discovers that it’s almost impossible to leave the office. This book is the ultimate work nightmare, a fever dream about your worst workplace fears.
The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer. Macy needs money so she answers an odd employment ad in the paper. All she has to do is take care of an elderly gentleman while his wife visits family for a couple of days, but the actual job turns out to be a nightmare. This is a bizarre and horrifying story!
Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer. Ruth was fired from her job at the craft store New Creations because her boss found out she has a girlfriend. Now she has to venture back to store buy some yarn for a project. But when she gets there, she ends up having to battle an evil entity for her life.
Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin. Shell is looking for a job and spots a Help Wanted sign in the window of a flower shop at the local mall. What she doesn’t know is that hidden away in the atrium is a very hungry, giant orchid…
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. Amy works a minimum wage job at an IKEA-like big box store, and one night her manager insists she work the night shift with him in order to catch some culprits who have been vandalizing the store at night. Unfortunately, they get way more than they bargain for, when they discover the store might be haunted.
I Hope This Email Finds You In Hell by Mackenzie Reed. (To be released in September 2026) When staying late at the office leads to witnessing an exorcism, Brie Benson’s mundane life takes a hellish turn…literally.
Lakewood by Megan Giddings. A woman drops out of school in order to support her family, and ends up taking a job with a company that is doing mysterious (and possibly dangerous) human experimentation.
Messy As Hell by Mark Waddell. (to be released January 2027) “CAUTION! All employees must correctly dispose of otherworldly biohazards found on Dark Enterprises property. Failure to comply may result in one hell of a mess…”
Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer. An out of work horror book editor finds a job at a creepy publishing house, complete with a crumbling Gothic-style building, but she soon realizes things aren’t quite right there…
Startup Hell by Caitlin Rozakis. *This was a DNF for me, but plenty of readers love it. A junior sales associate at a tech startup has to save a demon while trying to make her quota.
The Store by Bentley Little. Two teenage girls take jobs at retail giant the Store, only to discover that something evil lurks within.
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. Two women in different timelines take on the nightshift job at the Sun Down Motel, where the restless ghosts of murder victims haunt the hallways.
This is a fun topic idea! I DNF’s Secret Santa last year but I think it’s because the audio version wasn’t catching my interest, maybe I should try it in print. Workplace horror that comes to mine for me is the short story by S.K. called Graveyard Shift where they work in underground mines full of large rats.
Thanks! Graveyard Shift is a great choice!
Love this list! I have only read The Caretaker and if I was in Macy’s shoes, I would have done a better job lol.
LOL so true!
What a wonderful idea for a list. I’m gonna post something later today but I’m not sure what yet. I’ve read Secret Santa and Eat the Ones You Love (which honestly, I wanted to love more than I did). I can’t wait for Hope This Email Finds You in Hell. The title alone is awesome. Thanks again for hosting and I’m actually sad we are near completing the first month of Summer of Horror!
I feel like June went by so fast! And I feel like I’ve barely started on my own Summer of Horror books and lists. Sigh. At least we have two more months…
I want to get to Start Up Hell soon, given I enjoyed her previous – hope I like it more than you? And HorrorStor has been on my ereader for a while, I really want to compare it to Finna by Nino Cipri, given it has the same base premise.
I hope you do like it more than me! I just got tired of all the “corporate speak.” And Finna would have been a good one for the list too.
What a fun topic! The only one I’ve read is Horrorstor — what a trip! Work places can be full of horror even without actual horror elements — such a great place to set terrifying tales!
LOL so true! Some of these made me anxious because of my job, although obviously nothing terrible horrific takes place there:-)
Horrorstor was great. I’ve reread it a few times. Eatthe ones you love makes me think of Little Shop Of Horrors. Thanks for sharing these. I’m going to check them out!
Eat the Ones You Love definitely has some things in common with Little Shop of Horrors!
I loved the Sun Down Motel! Lakewood is also a good one but the rushed feeling reveal made my head spin a little. Horrorstor is my tbr pile with too many other things. I need to dig it out and finally read it.
Horrorstor is a little crazy but so much fun:-)
Well, I don’t read a lot of horror so unsurprisingly I’ve only read The Caretaker but it is the perfect choice for this theme.
Lynn 😀
It’s one of the first ones I thought of:-)
What a fun topic! Crafting for Sinners sounds pretty good! Gotta love craft/demon cross overs!
It was such a unique idea for a horror story!
The Caretaker is the one I thought of as soon as I saw the subject for this list. Sun Down Motel and Eat The Ones You Love are two others I really want to get to. And I’m adding Secret Santa to my TBR, Christmas horror isn’t really my thing but a gothic setting always catches my eye lol. I’d add Wolf Worm with the bug based horrors involved there.
Wolf Worm is a great choice! I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it.
Yes, I have read Horrorstör! It was a crazy ride but I enjoyed it.
It was crazy! Sort of silly at the end, but still very good.
Horrorstor immediately came to mind when I saw the title of your post, lol!
Ooo this is a good list theme!! Several of these are on my potential TBR!
I’m very happy to see Crafting for Sinners and Horrorstor on your list! 🙂 I’m also really looking forward to reading I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell and Messy as Hell too. 🙂
Haha, the first book that came to my mind when I read the prompt was actually Horrorstor! Had a feeling I’d see it here and was not disappointed 🙂
Great list! I haven’t read any of these, but I’m curious about Startup Hell. And I agree with the comments about Finna! (And its sequel, Defekt.)
Fun topic! I remember when Horrorstor came out and how the book was shaped like an IKEA catalog. Thanks for sharing all of these, some I didn’t realize what they were about.
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/07/04/e-galley-review-the-lure-of-wolves-and-whispers-the-martyred-isle-1-by-amanda-connolly/