A demonically funny novel that turns midnight shopping into a hellish experience.
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
- Fun factor: ★★★★★
- Monster factor: ★★★★★
- Demons factor: ★★★★★
- Supernatural factor: ★★★★★
- Originality factor: ★★★★★
The Graveyard Shift is the fist book of a hilarious book series about a loser who accidentally comes to work for the devil to do good, with some help of a kick-ass girl and a cockroach and an angel living in a magic eight ball. Prepare for some demon fighting and a lot of gooey stuff.
It consists of 214 pages.
Plot
Lloyd Wallace is a 21-year-old loser who is in debt, who dropped out of college, can’t pay his car insurance, has been kicked out by his girlfriend Simone and is currently living in his parent’s basement, mostly playing video games. His luck is about turn for the worse and the better as he is at the 24/7 Dairy Mart to get a slushy and to see his blue-haired crush DeeDee.
What he doesn’t know is that after midnight the Dairy Mart turns into the Demon Mart where a gate to hell is located and where demons come in and out controlled by DeeDee and manager Kevin, who is a cockroach. This all unbeknownst to Lloyd, that is until a giant monster turns up in the store and Dee Dee is fighting it! Lloyd is involuntarily included in the fight and with sheer luck defeats the monster. For his courage and because the latest employee is now fleeing the store, Lloyd is offered a job by Mr. Faust. An offer he can’t refuse, because he’s in so much debt. But he doesn’t know what he is getting himself into. If only he had read the store manual.
Continue reading below this announcement.
Did you know I also make Art & Designs.
This design of a Red Bug-Eyed Alien is made with pen and alcohol markers. You can buy this design on a Unisex T-Shirt and other apparel and on other various products in my shop at Redbubble.
Short Review
We experience everything that happens through Lloyd’s eyes who is telling us his ordeals in the store. He has a immature male voice, that of a typical loser and someone who doesn’t think with his brains or at all. Although it’s a story with a male gaze, Lloyd doesn’t come out as the hero, although he accidentally gets things right.
The real hero is Dee Dee who is a kick-ass demon fighter, who stays calm, has plan A-Z all figured out and has a big pure heart. That last thing she has in common with Lloyd who’s also pure of heart, but that’s all they have in common. Kevin is a 57-year-old cockroach who once was a human, but shit happens at the store and sometimes you just have to be glad you’re alive.
The story jumps right in and immediately we are in a lot of chaos and weird monsters and all sorts of crazy stuff is happening all at once. It is full of monsters trying to escape the gate, but also sophisticated demons, and full of magical doughnuts. It’s fast paced and there’s always something happening, most of it not good, with evil tentacle monsters and other dangerous things with eight legs or one giant eye.
As the story progresses we learn more about the characters and more characters are introduced. The world building, that only takes place inside the store is creative and very fun and imaginative. The store is a magical place that Lloyd is slowly discovering. He would know everything a lot faster if he would just read the manual, a running gag that luckily for us, keeps Lloyd into trouble and has to get himself out of it in the most creative and unconventional ways.
If you are in for a horror comedy adventure then this is a great read. And the best part is that after this one, Lloyd, Dee Dee and Kevin have a lot more to deal with in the sequels. There’s even a Christmas sequel that takes place at Lloyd’s house with his family and of course all hell breaks loose, but they can’t let anyone know. It feels like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation but with monsters and demons that have escaped hell.
The Graveyard Shift is a great introduction of a fun horror comedy series with likable characters and a lot of chaos and a monster demon mashup with gore, goo, and creative problem solving.
You might also like:
- The List of Comedy Horror Books
- The Stranger Times (C.K. McDonnell, 2021) book review
- How to survive Camping: The Man With No Shadow (Boonie Quinn, 2025) book review
- Welcome to Night Vale (Joseph Fink & Jeffery Cranor, 2015) book review
- The Gates (John Connolly, 2009) book review
- The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett, 1983)
Did You Know I Also Make Art and Designs?
you can buy my designs on apparel or stationary, mugs and more. You can learn more about it on my art & design shop page or go directly to one of my shops.