The House

Although sometimes it did seem Bentley did try for shock effect a little too much, this book was still unique, creepy as hell, and will never be forgotten by anyone who reads it. The little girl is chilling and just plain nasty...I felt like a good long shower after reading this one. The plot is a complex maze you won't be able to figure out until the ending. Characters seemed genuine. The atmosphere was just plain dark and almost...forbidden. The pages are almost visually covered in grime and nastiness.

Sixty pages in and already too many instances of sexualizing an adolescent girl for my taste. The fact that it’s described as “sensual” is grotesque. Not the kind of horror I’m interested in. Closing this one unfinished.

Now this is some seriously trashy paperback horror. The structure is ingenious - five strangers, each of whom grew up in a big creepy old house, each of whom parted with their families under bad (often gruesome) circumstances, each of whom knew a creepy little girl when they were growing up. It's all the same house, of course, and all the same little girl. And then good-versus-evil, end of the world scenario, etc. etc. Unfortunately after a while the author gives up on being scary and settles for high-stakes adventure and plain disgust.

Like so many of his other novels, Little does a great job of bringing forth some frights, this time through a house. While not as scary or frightful as I had hoped it would be, the novel makes up for it in being a solid and interesting story.

Not quite a haunted house story, the novel involves a pulling that five different people have towards the house that they grew up in. As they arrive there, they must get locked away from the "real" world and face the evil that they all grew up with.

One of the things I did like was how the novel kept to the rules that it established despite breaking the rules as we know them. For example, the five people are all pulled together in to one house at one time despite their locations throughout the show more country. However there was also a confusing factor to the story in the way that it was written. Each chapter focuses on the story from one person's point of view which is fine but I had the hardest time identifying the characters. Sure, the chapter states it with the title of "Daniel" or "Mark" but it took me most of the book before I would remember that Mark was the one that hitchhiked across the country while Daniel was the one that was married and living in Philadelphia. Other than that, the novel was pretty damn good and is recommended to those desiring a bit of suspense in their lives. show less

Review: The House by Bentley Little.

I enjoyed the book. The story was somewhat graphic at times but entertaining. The first half of the book was intriguing and getting to know the five characters didn’t take long to figure out how they were connected. The second half was a little slower pace because the action was spread out through to many pages and the ending just jumped right out at the reader and the book was finished. Plus, throughout the story there were a few unanswered questions I was left with but nothing really to hinder the book.

The characters were introduced in the story as strangers and I don’t think they ever made a real connection to each other even though they were kept together for some time in one house or show more houses…. I thought it lacked the bonding people make when trying to escape the paranormal aspect in a haunted house or houses…The theme of past events was describe well and understandable. I guess the plot was more identifiable by the cause, the past, and most of all the butler and the little girl who haunted the characters throughout the story were more important then having the characters bond in some way. Even at the end the characters were more disinterested with each other that it felt like they just walked away from the story….”The End” feeling.

The story was weird but like I said, it held my interest. There were some graphic disturbing scenes, frightening adventure, paranormal insights, and one house becoming five houses, one death, and past events to be redirected to break the spell that kept the character locked together into a house of horrors to die together or to allow them freedom to live their lives. show less

Bentley Little writes the kind of books you want to keep hidden and under lock and key. They are gory, graphic, defiant, nasty, horrifying, and weird as hell. That being said, once you start a book of his you don't want to stop until you read the last line of the book. Triggers: child abuse, sexual deviance and gore.

Five complete strangers from across America are about to come together and open the door to a terror they couldn't even begin to imagine. Inexplicably, four men and one woman are having heart-stopping nightmares which revolve around the houses where each of them were born. When terrifying events occur, each person is drawn to their identical childhood home to confront an ancient evil that dwells in a place they all call home - a sinister supernatural presence which has pursued them all of their lives, and is now closer than ever to claiming their souls.

I must say that after reading The Resort by Bentley Little, my expectations about reading this book were quite high. Perhaps they were slightly too high. Not that this book wasn't show more tremendously frightening - it certainly was. I just found that the story couldn't quite sustain the fear enough for me throughout the entire book. I think I would have preferred The House to be about fifty pages shorter. I give this book a B+! show less