Bentley Little

“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 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?… (more)

Death Instinct is terrifying, terrifyingly close to being absurd. Well, obviously I’m not reviewing Sigmund Freud’s work. This is Bentley Little’s horror novel with the same title. However, some may claim to have found similarities between the two authors.
Okay, let’s get serious. This is an odd one out for sans any of the supernatural, Death Instinct is as much crime mystery as it is horror. Even so this, then, seems more grounded in reality, Bentley little does even here walk, write close to a thin line that is merely one step, one mad scratch away from entering the territory of the absurd. However, no matter how preposterous and inane his propositions , and this time he was truly blowing the horn of plenty, he manages never to overstep. I mean seriously, a talent for murder from the the most unlikely suspect. And when I say most unlikely, I mean so unlikely it is borderline absurdity. But then again, Bentley pulls it off, somehow. I really want to say more here but then I would have tick tick spoiler alert. So I will leave it at at.
Death Instinct is amazing and in my humble opinion one of Bentley Little’s best.… (more)

Of the 13 Bentley Little books that I've read, the majority tend to be less than interesting and enjoyable experiences (see The Return, The Town, The Burning, Death Instinct, and The Waiting). Why do I keep going back to his books, you ask? Well, there have been a few really good ones in The Store, The Association, and The Policy that found themselves in between the duds. Sadly though, this book falls (flatly) in the first grouping.
The Vanishing is a goopy mess with a slow, convoluted plot and less-than-memorable characters. I wasn't sure if I was reading a novel with a plot dealing with aliens, the paranormal, or just the freaky. And, I still don't understand why it was titled The Vanishing.
This might be the final straw for this reader's following of Bentley Little novels. There are too many books and not enough time to invest in something like this.… (more)