Bentley Reviews

This book is a collection of period magazine and newspaper articles about the Split-window style VW buses. They do a great job of showcasing the many different models which were available. It's a bit skinny at 100 pages, but one would have to sit at micro-fische for years to find all these old articles.

My two year old daughter loves this book. She helps me read by moving the flaps. The moveable mouse is a fun feature. I like how it is a short book because of a two year olds attention span.

I thought this book was helpful to students of any age who are interested in writing a "scary" story. How many children have made up scary stories? How did Stephen King get started? He probably wish he had had a book like this to rely on when he got started as an author.

I think kids need all of the help they can get to create a story. This book helps.

The first Bentley Little book that I read was The Walking...and I was less than impressed. I thought that it had a poor ending and that it didn`t really do anything but rehash already-done-a-thousand-times witchcraft themes. With The Collection, however, Little has made me a fan for life. Most of these 32 stories are so unique that at times I just had to shake my head. Some fall squarely into the horror genre, for example "Bumblebee" or "The Woods Be Dark." These make up about half of the book and should more than satisfy the traditional horror fan. The best stories, though, are the weird ones that make up the other half; the stories that say `what if` and make us think about ordinary life in a new and disturbing way. Little`s mini-intros succeed in putting the story into the proper context by letting us know how the story came about and what its intentions were. "The Phonebook Man," "Llama," and "Roommates" are great examples of these. While most of the specific situations are highly implausible (especially in "The Washingtonians" and "Colony"), they are fun to read and make you step back and think about the general themes. My favorite story has to be "Confessions of a Corporate Man," in which the intra-office skirmishes between coworkers are blown all out of proportion into something approaching WWIII. I literally laughed out loud BOTH times I read it. Some of the stories try too hard and read kind of thin, and so I took off a star. I thought "Lethe Dreams" didn`t make much sense and "The Mailman" was just dumb.

All in all, this is a great book and introduction to the author. It isn`t high literature with deep-thinking, conflict-driven super characters, but it does have a certain twisted intelligence that makes this book loom menacingly over a crowded genre. After reading this, I immediately started looking for other Bentley Little books to buy (next will be The Store I think), and to me this is the sign of an entertaining author.

"The Collection" is one of the very finest short story collections I have read in a long time. Bentley Little created each story with a deft hand at the frightening, giving glimpses into realities that are sometimes supernatural and sometimes common, never failing to cast a spell on the reader. You will meet some of the most freakish characters and things ever in this book. Its a journey through a world populated with sex crazy pillows, bizarre roommates, pulsating potatoes and a secret shrine to James Dean that you will never ever forget. Mr. Little has a way of looking at the world and seeing the possibilities of terror in every thing he sees.

There isn't a bad story in the collection, but I do have some favorites: "The Mailman", "The Idol", "Full Moon on Death Row", "Bumblee" and "Maya's Mother" stand out in particular, but as I said all the stories are good in different ways. Here there are psycho papers, conspiracy theories and secret lives of housewives.

If you are offended easily this might not be for you. Nothing is sacred in these stories including children and animals. The queen of England is even assaulted in this book! However, Bentley has a wicked and warped sense of humour and he pulls off the stories with finesse.

All in all, this is for the open-minded who love great horror. Take a ride in Bentley Little country, see the sights and forget the world. Great!

The best short story collection I've read in years. Scary, funny, thought-provoking. Everything mainstream horror used to be but is no longer. I have seen the future of horor and its name is Bentley Little

i think this was the all time most stupid thoroughbred book yet! the end was soo horrible! if Wonder and Pride couldn't win the TC then Champion sure shouldn't. i mean he's just a super duper horse taht will only run for a spoiled super-kid called Cindy. he's barely able to run in a straight line then all of a sudden he wins the Triple Crown? yea right! i think this book is horrible and no one should even consider reading it!

I liked this book pretty well. I think a lot of people are being to harsh on Karen. She was much better than what's coming out now with Christina. I do like Christina alright, but I don't believe she's deserving of the main character. Melanie has great potential because she may bring the books back to RACING!!! I do think it's unrealistic that Champion wins all the time, but I also like the fact that he wins the Triple Crown...he's Whitebrooks first you guys! Give it a little chance. I'm glad Champion won the Triple Crown, way to go Champion... he deserved it. I do admit that the style of writing has changed drastically with the absense of Joanna Campbell, but Karen is doing pretty well. I liked Glory alright, but he was getting old. It should tell a little more about problems and have Champion lose a little more except for the Triple Crown. I'm also glad we've got some more of Wonder's bloodlines in this book. In the recently written books the star racehorses are like Leap Of Faith, which is o.k., but she's not related to Wonder. I know Christina (stupidly) traded Legacy for Sterling, but horses like Pride and Mr Wonderful sire race horses too! This book is much better that the ones where Christina is the main character... Please begin RACING again! GO BABY GO!!!

This book is so awesome! Whitebrook has been wanting a triple Crown winner for, like, so long! Wonder won the Derby and the Belmont, and Pride won the Derby and Preakness, but they have never bred and trained a Triple Crown Winner. Until Wonder's Champion. Cindy helps Champion to over come his problems with other horses, and it pays off! after battling through temperment problems and a hoof injury, Champion shows the world that he truly is his name. U have to read this book!

I really miss Ashleigh and Samantha, what's with cindy? I mean she was okay in the start, though I could tell something wasn't right, then I found that Joanna had stopped writing and it was someone else! that's where the difference came in, it wasn't Joanna's writing style at all, thought I'm sure Bentley did her best. It's just that Cindy seems so...I don't know snobbish? I mean, every good horse has to be her's. And I thought thi series was about Ashleigh? Then Samantha? when someone starts focusing to much on one character like Cindy, it throws the whole thing off. The series started with Ash and Sammy, I thought Sammy and Tor would get married! (Though in Super Addition Samantha's Journey, I find out that they do!) Anyways, I just wish more of the stories could be focused back on the favourites.
Thanks, Kee

Good show, Syrinx. As always you just have that right witty remark to say -- I could just see Champion as Cindy's personal guinea pig (Too bad he wouldn't do what some g. pigs do and bite ) but aye, there's something too freaking abrupt in the beginning of the story -- Arabian Challenge is like that too -- where all of a sudden, something is happening. And BOOM, just like that, you're thrown into the plot without any clue of what just is happening except some freakish accident. After all, a clue about why Honor might be going spazzy wouldn't have been too much trouble... but there's Bently for you. And what's with Jeremy? He didn't really seem that bad, but of course, he just /had/ to be Lavinia's cousin which made him an automatic jerk and a 'bad guy'

O.k. i don't know about you but this whole entire series is based on racing. I have know idea where eventing came into play. If I wanted to read books about eventing I would of. I don't. Cindy acted like a major idiot in this book. And ashleigh would of never acted like that. Something wasn't right in her dialog. They also took all the focus off of Ashleigh, Mike, Samantha, Tor, and some of the others to only focus on Cindy. They should have an over-view saying where each character is and what he/she is doing. Because i have missed Tor. I thought he and Samantha would get married. What happened? The books are going no where. They need to stop focusing on one character for too long and they don't need to go into show jumping. That's too girlish. I mean, i'm a girl and i like the fact that women are allowed to do the "man-sport" of racing. Its dangerous and exciting. I know that when i start reading the parts about what's happening on the track during the races i get very excited. I think they should keep it focused on racing. If Joanna Campbell is reading this or will be reading this, if amazon can send her the fan's comments, i truly believe that you are headed to a dead end. The reason why this series has grown so much is because of the racing and the favorite and beloved characters. Don't take that away from us. Please. Thank you.

~Nicole~

I have read several book written by Bentley Little (The Town, The Store, etc.)and have enjoyed them immensely. The Association, however, falls far short of what I'd come to expect from this fine author. In the fictional town of Corban Utah there is a gated community known as Bonita Vista. If one chooses to live there, they do so with the understanding that they must adhere to the rules and regulations of the Home Owners Association. The house and the panoramic views on the property are enough enticement for Barry and Maureen to purchase their new house for a song. Now starts the horror. The Home Owners Association, you see, is unlike any you have ever experienced. The restrictions they impose are so severe that this reader thought the Welch's must be dreaming the whole thing. These restrictions are so severe and so unbelievable that it spoiled the book for me. If you have a bald head you can't walk freely throughout the community without a toupee. You cannot walk out to pick up the morning paper in your bathrobe. The Association has the right to walk into your house uninvited and unannounced at any time for a full inspection of the way you live. These are but a few of the restriction imposed by the Association and you, have no recourse. In fact, if you break any of these rules you could be fined into ruination, or worse, dismembered. This was just to unbelievable for me to give this book a good rating. In any horror story there must be, at least, some plausibility. Or some childhood memory that makes you want to face the horror and come out in good stead. This book offers none of that.

This kind of book is what Little has done best in the past---remember "The Store" (an obvious attack on Wal-Mart) and "The Mailman," and others. He takes one of those annoying little life necessities (such as a Homeowner's Association) and turns it upside down, blows it completely out of proportion, and adds all kinds of sexual and pseudopsychological trappings, and voila, out comes "The Association." Barry and Maureen are both frustrating and likeable; whiny and proactive; snooty and self-absorbed. Although the novel takes it time in reaching its totally whacko finale, it held my interest mainly in the fact of all the stupid rules the Association came up with. Definitely, read your association's bylaws before you sign that dotted line. I wish I could have a more tangible feel for exactly who the Board of Directors were, but suffice to say, they do get their just desserts, and unlike many of Little's works, there is an upbeat ending.

I throughly enjoyed Bentley Little's "The Association". You wouldn't think a book about a homeowner's association would be so terrifying but it is! It gets off to a scary start with the dead cat stuffed in the mailbox and just keeps on going!

The main character, Barry Welch writes horror for a living and finds himself living the worst nightmare of all. You can really identify with the primary characters as they experience the terror of the association, who if anyone tries to cross them or break the rules, come up missing or deformed.

I've read this book twice within the last nine months and will definitely read more of Little's work!

I am not impressed with Mr. Little. This is my second attempt at reading his material and I seriously wonder how this man ever got a book deal. ..... To sum it up, every 100 years the devil tries to come back to life and this time he targets a small town that harbors a secret sea of graves from unwanted/ill children. Basically, evil babies, big and small, dig their way out of the mass graves to mutilate adults and children alike until they bring back the devil to rule through the "one" child. The book is full of disfigured, oozing babies trying to take a bite out of anything that moves. Am I the only one who finds this absurd???? After a few of the townies start shooting giant, green oozing babies I came to the conclusion that Bentley Little books should be dumped into mass graves instead.

Bentley Little's novels are widely available in paperback, and my curiosity got the better of me. I decided to pick up "The Revelation" after discovering that it won the Bram Stoker Award. I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't completely sold on this novel either.

Randall, Arizona has become a target of vandals. One of the local churches has been desecrated, and there have been several cases of livestock mutilation. Sheriff Jim Weldon begins looking into the crimes, wondering whether they are crimes or fraud since the Reverend of the defiled church has disappeared. A young boy finds himself involved in Weldon's investigation, and seems to have information he could not possibly have regarding the Reverend.

Meanwhile, local man Gordon Lewis and his wife Marina are expecting a child. Complicating this is the disturbing fact that several women in the town have suffered miscarriages, and Marina suspects there's something in the water. Or worse.

A lone Preacher comes to town. Brother Elias is his name, and his mission is clear: The End is nigh, and the sinners shall suffer...

The story picks up from there, with no shortage of shocks and thrills. Little is adept at bringing together a wide variety of workable characters into a bizarre situation. There isn't too much here that would be unfamiliar to a veteran horror reader, but that's part of the novel's charm. As others have pointed out, this story follows along with a "B movie" quality about it. I couldn't agree more. I felt like I was reading a tale along the lines of the movie "Tremors", complete with desert settings and over the top action sequences. The gore is plentiful, yet never outrageous. The pacing is quick, and the shock factor kept me turning the pages. Little speaks with a quick wit and describes the goings-on with gusto. I liken his writing style to early Robert McCammon.

The book is not without its flaws. There are times where Little stumbles, and dishes out bits of unnecessary violence. The kitten incident is a prime example; check the other reviews for a synopsis. The ending is a lot of fun, but the horror seemed suspended in favor of a near-cartoonish bloodbath.

I found out later that this was awarded the Stoker for best FIRST novel, which explained everything. For a first novel, Bentley Little scores big time. I'm going to pick up a few more from him, as he can only get sharper with his writing. I'm going to give "The Revelation" 3 1/2 stars rounding up to 4 for sharp, entertaining horror, shocking shocks, and being a quality debut that has me craving more.

Bentley Little's novels are widely available in paperback, and my curiosity got the better of me. I decided to pick up "The Revelation" after discovering that it won the Bram Stoker Award. I wasn't disappointed, but I wasn't completely sold on this novel either.

Randall, Arizona has become a target of vandals. One of the local churches has been desecrated, and there have been several cases of livestock mutilation. Sheriff Jim Weldon begins looking into the crimes, wondering whether they are crimes or fraud since the Reverend of the defiled church has disappeared. A young boy finds himself involved in Weldon's investigation, and seems to have information he could not possibly have regarding the Reverend.

Meanwhile, local man Gordon Lewis and his wife Marina are expecting a child. Complicating this is the disturbing fact that several women in the town have suffered miscarriages, and Marina suspects there's something in the water. Or worse.

A lone Preacher comes to town. Brother Elias is his name, and his mission is clear: The End is nigh, and the sinners shall suffer...

The story picks up from there, with no shortage of shocks and thrills. Little is adept at bringing together a wide variety of workable characters into a bizarre situation. There isn't too much here that would be unfamiliar to a veteran horror reader, but that's part of the novel's charm. As others have pointed out, this story follows along with a "B movie" quality about it. I couldn't agree more. I felt like I was reading a tale along the lines of the movie "Tremors", complete with desert settings and over the top action sequences. The gore is plentiful, yet never outrageous. The pacing is quick, and the shock factor kept me turning the pages. Little speaks with a quick wit and describes the goings-on with gusto. I liken his writing style to early Robert McCammon.

The book is not without its flaws. There are times where Little stumbles, and dishes out bits of unnecessary violence. The kitten incident is a prime example; check the other reviews for a synopsis. The ending is a lot of fun, but the horror seemed suspended in favor of a near-cartoonish bloodbath.

I found out later that this was awarded the Stoker for best FIRST novel, which explained everything. For a first novel, Bentley Little scores big time. I'm going to pick up a few more from him, as he can only get sharper with his writing. I'm going to give "The Revelation" 3 1/2 stars rounding up to 4 for sharp, entertaining horror, shocking shocks, and being a quality debut that has me craving more.

This is the fourth Bentley Little novel I've read, and out of those four, two of them, The Ignored and now The Walking, have plots so strange they almost defy a quick back cover type summary. I can imagine how difficult they must be to market. Horror fans in the know are already aware that Stephen King was reading a Bentley Little book when he had his near-fatal accident, so if the most famous Horror author EVER is reading this guy, there must be something to him, right? Well, four books into the Little oeuvre, I'm ready to say: Yes, there is. While not the flashiest writer I've come across, Little DOES have some nifty ideas that aren't the makings of your run-of-the-mill Horror story.

Tha Walking concerns the living dead, but these ain't Night of the Living Dead type flesh-eating Zombies; These guys have been re-animated for a purpose. The problem is, no one knows what it is. Across the country, people are dying, then getting up and walking away. Private Investigator Miles Huerdeen's late Father is one of the Walkers, and so is the Father of one of his clients. As Miles tries to unravel the mystery, he becomes drawn into a centuries-old cycle of revenge, witchcraft, and an evil force so strange it defies classification.

Little's story unfolds in two different time periods, and the chapters alternate between "Then" and "Now"; I found the flashback sequences to be absolutely riveting, while for the most part Miles' present-day search for answers mostly had me skipping ahead to see how many pages were left until the next "Then". Little has created one of the most memorable Horror Villains in recent memory with the Witch Isabella, and the book rockets along at mach 10, until the ending, where Little drops the ball. While I admittedly enjoyed seeing the big bad supernatural being fall victim to a good old-fashioned ...whupping, the devices Little's intrepid band of Witchfinders uses to dispatch Isabella are pure Deus Ex Machina; It's almost like he painted himself into a corner by having a character so powerful that there was no way to defeat her, so he had to invent some powerful spoons and jars to do the job. I was also left scratching my head by the constant references to a dwarf he peppers the book with....But since there are also references to the Vampire from Little's book The Summoning (Far superior, by the way!), I'm thinking it may tie in with an earlier book of his I haven't read yet. The Walking is a fun read, but not as good as The Summoning or The Ignored. Well worth reading for any Horror fan, though!

The back of this book is irritatingly misleading-- this is *not* a zombie book-- the walking dead are a small aspect of the novel which has more to do with witchcraft and revenge than with zombies of any stripe.

Think Eric Nylund crossed with Steven King and you'll get Bentley Little. Definitely more readable than the rest of the horror scribes.

What's my beef with the book? Too slight-- the story should either be more dislocated (a la Tim Powers) or more epic (a la King). It achieves neither and ends up a little too forgettable.

Still, better than most of what you'll find.

The problem with most contemporary horror is the absence of realistic characters with whom the reader can identify. One author who shall remain nameless always has main characters who are sex-obsessed simpletons, one has every character be an unbelivable action hero. But Little's characters are always quietly believable, with vivid internal lives. We get to know these people, and we care about them. Often, they remind us of people we know. THE WALKING is no exception. Miles Huerdeen has a stereotypical job but is anything but stereotypical. Even the way Little describes the detective agency at which he works is original. And his relationship with his father and his ex-wife ring very true to me as someone who's been there. Couple this with astounding imagery and a plot that unfolds slowly and carefully (although too many jerks have given it away here), and you have the best horror novel I've read all year.

This is the only book by Bentley Little which is in myPublic Library and I can understand why. I have read this and The Store and since I thought the Store was so good, I couldn't wait to get the rest of his books. If The House was the only one the Librarian read, I don't blame him for not wasting his budget on any others. Somebody out there tell me what the first few chapters were supposed to do. I thought the man living in the airport was fascinating and worthy of more, but none of them ever surfaced again so excuse me, what was their point? Why kill one of the nicest people? I could not write a book, but I would not want a character as unlikeable as that horrid little girl who kept cropping up in everybody's world. I have spent a bunch of money at Amazon.Com on other Little books. I hope I haven't thrown my money to the winds. PS, to Amazon.Com: One of your reviews for The House was not for this book.

If you get offended easily and don't like sick, twisted stories, then this book's not for you. But if you can let your mind venture into another world, then be sure to read The House. Bentley Little has one heck-of-an imagination. At least, I hope it's his imagination. This book has five main characters (Norton, Daniel, Stormy, Mark & Laurie).You really have to be a power reader because each chapter is that character's story. So you have to remember what Mark was doing four chapters ago. Other than that, you really have to read this book for a good ghost story!

"The House" is quite possibly the best horror novel I have ever read. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys the psychological horror genre. This book is unique in that it doesn't deal with the traditional horror scene, which is part of what makes it so scary. It does however involve homosexuality and pedophilia, so if you're someone who finds that sort of thing 'distasteful' you might want to avoid this book.