As a consequence, the Orsk superstore still ‘echoes with the cries of the dead’. 2 In fact, the warden, called Josiah Wedgworth, submitted the inmates to inhuman treatment, making them toil to death, in the belief that ‘he could cure a criminal brain using forced labor, mindless repetition, and total surveillance.’ 3 When his abuses were exposed in a report which recommended closing down the prison, he decided to drown the 318 occupants. After meeting the ghosts of the prisoners, wards and warden, they understand that the prison is referred to as a ‘beehive’ because it ‘hummed with the sound of industry’. The names in the graffiti are those of former inmates and the durations correspond to the length of their prison sentences. They learn that the retail store was built on the site of a nineteenth-century prison, called the Cuyahoga Panopticon after the river by which it was located. Graffiti start appearing on the walls, mentioning names and durations next to the word ‘beehive.’ The book is centred on, Amy, an employee who is persuaded to stay overnight to investigate the cause of the daytime mysteries with a small group of colleagues. They start receiving ‘help’ texts on their mobile phones and come across an elusive intruder called Carl. 1 As the novel begins, employees start noticing odd phenomena: inventory mismatches, damaged merchandise, but also a strange smell and dark smears on the furniture.
Orsk is ‘the all-American furniture superstore in Scandinavian drag,’ which purports to offer ‘a better life for the everyone’.
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