Aisle Nine

by Ian X. Cho

Overview

It’s Black Friday—and the apocalypse is on sale!

Ever since the world filled with portals to hell and bloodthirsty demons started popping out on the reg, Jasper’s life has gotten worse and worse. A teenage nobody with no friends or family, he is plagued by the life he can’t remember and the person he’s sure he’s supposed to be.

Jasper spends his days working as a checkout clerk at the Here for You discount mart, where a hell portal in aisle nine means danger every shift. But at least here he can be near the girl he’s crushing on—Kyle Kuan, a junior member of the monster-fighting Vanguard—who seems to hate Jasper for reasons he can’t remember or understand.

But when Jasper and Kyle learn they both share a frightening vision of the impending apocalypse, they’re forced to team up and uncover the uncomfortable truth about the hell portals and the demons that haunt the world. Because the true monsters are not always what they seem, the past is not always what we wish, and like it or not, on Black Friday, all hell will break loose, starting in aisle nine.

Rising star Ian X. Cho delivers an unforgettably freaky and hilarious YA debut with Aisle Nine, perfect for fans of Grasshopper Jungle or The Last of Us.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063206823
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/24/2024
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	13 Years

About the Author

Ian X. Cho lives on Australia’s sunny Gold Coast. He writes fiction for young adults and works as a freelance graphic designer. In his free time he enjoys creating 2D pixel animations.

Editorial Reviews

07/08/2024

Portals to hell have become commonplace since thousands of them appeared two years ago in Cho’s satirical workplace-apocalypse horror debut. Now that the portals—and the demons they unleashed—are mostly under control thanks to Vanguard, a weapon and surveillance manufacturer, humans have adjusted to a new normal. Meanwhile, Jasper, 17, remembers nothing about his life before the amnesia-inducing head injury he sustained five months ago. The humdrum of his everyday is only broken up by the portal in aisle nine of Here for You Mart, the big-box discount store where he works. He’s also been shoring up the courage to talk to taciturn 17-year-old Kyle, who is a part of the Vanguard that oversees the portals. When Jasper starts having nightmarish visions of an upcoming apocalypse, the normally disengaged teen finds himself leading the charge to stop doomsday. Cho skillfully builds a bizarre world grounded by contemporary ideals; the absurdity of Jasper working retail in dystopian circumstances serves as a piercing commentary on capitalistic values, resulting in a quickly paced, laugh-out-loud read. Kyle is Taiwanese American; Jasper has “floppy dark hair and darker eyes.” Ages 13–up. Agent: Dan Lazar, Writers House. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

An intriguing corporate military state apocalypse fueled by nightmares and served with a side of romance.” — Kirkus Reviews

"Regardless of the reader's age, the call to fight hopelessness and change the world, even when obstacles seem insurmountable, is one that will resonate." — Booklist

From the Publisher

09/01/2024

Gr 9 Up—It's another boring day for Jasper at Here For You discount mart. It might seem that's the only chaos in the life of this teen, but it's not. Not only does he deal with severe amnesia, but at any moment there might be a mess in Aisle Nine. This rundown store is just one of many sites all around the world with a portal to Hell that opens and spews out demons. Helping to combat these demons is Jasper's crush Kyle, who might have been a part of his life before amnesia, and the other members of the mysterious Vanguard Corporation. How did the world get like this? Cho's debut captures the mundane humor of a dead-end job, the chaos and panic of a world where random demonic attacks are commonplace, and all the drama of young adult love, set against the backdrop of an oncoming holiday shopping season. Comedy and horror go hand in hand, and Cho provides readers with a cast of characters whose range can handle both genres, while remaining relevant to the everyday lives of this novel's readers. VERDICT This book will delight readers with its dark comedy, but also provides enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing. A perfect release for the upcoming spooky season.—Adam Fisher

School Library Journal

2024-07-04
In this debut, a 17-year-old store clerk tries to avoid the hell portal in aisle nine.

After sustaining head trauma, Jasper wakes with no memory of the past. He finds evidence that his parents died on Hell Portal Day, which fell on Christmas nearly two years ago, when tens of thousands of portals to hell suddenly opened all around the world. Jasper stumbles back into his job at Sundown City’s Here For You mart, the site of one particularly menacing portal. The portals periodically spew out more violent demons, which are barely kept at bay by the Vanguard Corporation. All of this has become quite normal for the general public, but Jasper is haunted by a recurring image of four wraiths—and a sense that things are about to get worse. Humor and late-20th-century pop-culture references lighten the tone: Jasper’s roommate is a talking cat plushie, for example. As is often the case with this genre, plot takes precedence over character development. Jasper is understandably something of a blank slate, and the rest of the cast is filled largely with stock types. Still, the plot twists are clever enough to keep the pages turning. Kyle, the main girl character (and potential love interest), is Taiwanese American; Jasper has “floppy dark hair and darker eyes.”

An intriguing corporate military state apocalypse fueled by nightmares and served with a side of romance.(Fiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews