Bentley Little

The first true porch book of the summer! I love Little's books. No surprises, just a roller coaster of weird monsters, squicky gore, evil humans, red shirts and mayhem. Fortunately it's wrapped up in competent writing. His plotting and timing may connect from book to book, but his characters and devices change up enough to keep the entertainment level high. So much fun.

And, fan service: We know that The Store is always lurking just around the corner, no matter where you travel.

On the surface, The Summoning is a vampire story, and a pretty good one, at that. In a small Arizona town, bodies start showing up - completely dessicated bodies. And it becomes pretty clear pretty quick that there's a monster on the prowl. But Bentley Little does us a real favor by rethinking the classic vampire and presenting us with a monster that's well beyond Dracula or his descendants. This is an ancient evil that doesn't obey the usual rules.

But there's more to the story than just a show more good monster hunt. Little touches on blind religious thinking and the ways that the essence of a person - whether good or bad - are brought to the fore by events.

Little keeps the action moving with a crisp plot, and I liked the way his characters respond to some very abnormal experiences. All in all, it was a fun read that I'll recommend. show less

“The fact is, no one cares about supporting us local businesses.”

Man, ain’t that the truth! This book was written in 1998, before Amazon.com became what it is today, but 'The Store' on these pages sure reminds me of what Bezos has done to small towns and businesses today! Except for the killings and baby snatchings of course. So far...

Basically, The Store moves into Juniper, Arizona and quickly takes over the town and all of its services, as well as bankrupting all the local show more businesses. I think the author based it on Wall Mart, but really, in 2024, it is what Amazon does. Creepy that Bentley Little was 26 years ahead of the game!

Great opening prologue and I really liked how the part two of the epilogue called back to it! I personally have great disdain for big boxes, Amazon, and the like, so I really liked the themes of this book, even if it does go off the rail at times!

One question though - um, what happened to Sam? show less

The Ignored is Bentley Little's most unusual book that I've read so far. It's a bit like Fight Club, but written to include everyone in the social horror of it all.

All of his books are a commentary on modern life and our disturbing lack of a cohesive communities. In his other books, it's only when the family and community put modern life aside can it defeat the horror. This book turns that concept sideway. The cohesive community, based on modern life, is the horror show. It's the dark side show more of finding others, just like you, that live in the modern world as an average American to the degree that you become unseen and unheard except as a point on a graph or a percentage point.

The book is set in the 1990s, so it's a bit easier to glide into the set-up and pay-off with a nascent personal computer industry and online world. If written today, it would be far more complex.

Little's writing is good. Really good. He writes provocatively and smashes you over the head. I love him because he does it so competently. Most writers can't do that without treating the readers like idiots. Bentley works it into the story naturally. It's on full display here. The line "On the day of the murder I went to work in a clown suit." is perfect. Exiting one part of the book and entering another while examining all that came before in one small sentence.

So yeah, loved this book to pieces. I couldn't put it down.

To prevent this book, put the stapler in some jello. show less