The Mall
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From South Africa comes a truly creepy horror debut, widely praised for its originality, social commentary, and roller coaster twists
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This debut collaboration of South African writers Sarah Lotz (The Three) and Louis Greenberg (Dark Windows) squeezes two young protagonists between dead-end realities and a horrifying if gratifying fantasy. Rhoda, losing track of her child at the Highgate Mall while buying cocaine, coerces bookstore worker Daniel at knifepoint to help search the service corridors and back entrances. Their journey rapidly goes south as seemingly familiar territory becomes more and more bizarre. Fleeing through flooded tunnels and decoding a deadly elevator trap, they escape into an altered version of the mall where sales staff are chained to their stations and emaciated and amputated models flaunt the latest fashions. Grey has fun with the misshapen reflection of consumer culture (bookstores offering Jesus Wants You to Be Pimp-Rich and arched eateries named McColon's) but also has the sensitivity to allow characters to react naturally and to change from their experiences. Horror fans will enjoy this surreal and disorienting dream quest.
