The Resort

Lowell Thurman decides to try something different for a family vacation: an exclusive spa located in the Arizona desert known as The Reata. For five days, he wants to do nothing but enjoy the pool, the five-star restaurants, the peace and quiet, and everything goes according to plan until they return from dinner the first evening to find someone else has been given their room. Not too big a deal, as the management finds them a different, bigger room almost immediately. But Lowell, his wife Rachel and their three kids soon notice other strange things, like the Reata's activities coordinator who almost bullies and threatens the resort guests or the spot at the bottom of the pool that looks too much like a dead body or the creepy ruins of show more an old resort not too far from The Reata. As their vacation nears its end, the strange incidents become more frequent, more violent, and the Thurman's find themselves fighting for their lives against an ancient evil.

As a fan of horror stories and novels, I'm kicking myself for not learning of Bentley Little sooner. "The Resort" is the kind of twisted tale I enjoy reading. The nature of the resort and its workers is revealed in small doses, the terror and unease slowly building with glimpses into the true horror of events to keep the reader off kilter and not completely trusting all the characters. The story itself is also very original so I never quite knew what to expect. (The scene with the Thurman family's first -- and only meal -- in The Grille restaurant and what happened afterwards in the Thurman's room comes vividly to mind.) By the last 100 pages of the book, I found myself reading and faster and faster because I wanted to know how things would turn out.

My one gripe has to do with one character -- Patrick Schlaegel -- whose story mixes in every chapter or so. Staying at The Reata while covering a local film festival, he encounters a wild, loud party in the vacant room next to him, a gigantic spider-like creature hunting him in his own room and other hard-to-explain happenings. But toward the end of the book, Patrick's captured, and that's the last we see of his character. Not sure if he died, if he lived, if he wandered across the forty miles of desert to salvation. I would have preferred some kind of resolution to his part in the story because I enjoyed following his character.

"The Resort" delivers a chilling horror tale, sure to cause shivers to run up and down any reader's spine. A good book and highly recommended. show less

The Basics

The Thurmans decide to take a vacation, and what better place to spend it than a five star resort? The Reata has fantastic reviews, lots of activities, and reasonable rates in the off season. Then the inconveniences and the disturbances start to pile up, until it’s clear the Reata has a mind of its own.

My Thoughts

Sometimes you read a book because you want a good, gory time. I picked this out as part of my October reads because I had a feeling Little wouldn’t let me down on that score. I have a good track record with his books, and he always brings the most disturbing things he can to the table. This book went above and beyond. It was one weird, creepy, nasty set piece after another, and being in the perfect mood for it, I show more reveled in it. The spider scenes (you’ll know when you read it) especially got under my skin, as I have an innate fear of spiders. While I know that sort of thing, an author finding that spot inside you that makes you shudder and shriek, would make other readers turn away, it thrilled me to find a book that unnerved me on that level. That made me squirm as I read it and jump when he delivered the punch.

So that means I’m speaking to those horror fans. The ones that read horror because it thrills and chills and all those old movie poster highlights. The ones that declare, “oh, that’s so fucked up!” And then read on with glee. This book is for you. If you don’t read horror but you see this book and say, “oh, this sounds interesting…” Put it down. Back away. This isn’t for you. Readers who find gritty, down-and-dirty horror to be “disgusting” and “offensive” need not apply.

I’d like to bring up the fact that in so many cases like these, the splatterpunk stories and their love of nastiness, the characters feel cardboard and slim and like they might blow away in a stiff breeze. Little actually goes to the trouble of making you worry about the Thurmans, and the squirming grows exponentially due to this. It’s effective, and in my mind it’s what horror should be. Why would it scare you unless you were concerned about the victims? Little tends to agree, and we spend a lot of time in these character’s heads. Thankfully.

The escalation of the events in this book grows to epic proportions. Little has a tendency to do that, to take his books places that get absolutely and delightfully ridiculous, and part of the delight comes in knowing few authors would take these chances and get these wacky, awesome results. All around, this was an entertaining read that I sped through, and it made my Halloween that much more festive.

Final Rating

5/5 show less

I've now read enough of Bentley Little to realize I've read enough of Bentley Little. In Bentley Little-ese, this would translate as follows -- The Review: I've read enough of Bentley Little. The Opinion: I've read enough of Bentley Little. The Critique: I've read enough of Bentley Little. And just to shake things up: The Evaluation: I've read enough of Bentley Little. I'll be tempted because he's a compelling writer but his body of work amounts to little more than The Formula. If this is your first Little novel (and you're not off-put by an amped-up brutality) you will likely enjoy it. Just don't expect the next one to be better or different.

Little continues to do a great job with his "one word title" novels. And as an extra incentive for this book, Penguin Books (Signet's owner) gave the book a Great Read Guaranteed. Basically if you aren't happy with the book for whatever reason, send it back to Penguin and they'll refund your money. No questions asked. I have no idea how many people returned it but I know I didn't. It was a great read.

We get to follow the Thurmans as they go on vacation at this resort in the middle of nowhere. Almost from the start, little things start happening to make them uneasy and worried. And then the little things become big weird things that are very disturbing. In order to avoid the "why don't they just leave?" question from appearing to the show more readers, Little preempts it with a fog that overcomes the guests of the resorts. It actually addresses the guests leaving issue and is given a source of the resort needing to keep people there reason. Very deftly handled.

About the only thing that I wasn't too pleased with was the final confrontation and how the emotional depth wasn't handled as well as it should have been. By that point, I had a lot of involvement with the characters and the actions unfolding and things were tied up a little too quick for the emotion to hit. You'll know what I mean when you read it. And you should read it as soon as you get a chance. I too will guarantee your enjoyment! show less

Bentley launches another all out attack upon the senses with The Resort. A mysterious hotel in the desert welcomes sun-seekers yet never delivers its promises of relaxation and charming environments. Bentley wastes little time in suggesting that the resort is home to some malevolent forces and the players are introduced one by one, a spread of stereotypes with a pleasant perfect family at the forefront. With consummate detail the resort and its influence is described, ever escalating the mystery, tension and macarbre characterisations. Little has no fear of going too far and there are several moments that provide genuine shocks nestled amisdt that brooding tension that he delivers so well. This is Bentley on form.

I've said this at least a few times and I'm sure I'll say it more as I read more of Bentley Little's books, nobody does batshit crazy like he does. This one is not an exception to that either. You've got an amazing resort, weird activity directors, people missing, a fountain of youth, murder and mayhem. Be warned this book has triggers galore. However if you don't have any triggers give this one a shot. Just don't book a vacation any time soon.

Welcome to The Reata, a fashionably unique spa located in the isolated Arizona desert. Please try to ignore the strange employees and the unspeakable things in the pool. And when guests start disappearing, just pretend it isn't happening. Enjoy your stay, and relax. Oh...and do remember to lock yourself in tightly after dark.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The pace of the plot really drew me in, and although the book was so fast-paced, I took my time and really savored it. I give this book an A+!