The Policy

Rating:
Summary: Very weird..
Review: Bently Little has become my favorite horror author. This book was definitely not one of his best ones.

It's about an entity from the 7th level of hell - a multinational insurance company. And while the body of the book is great, the climax isn't anywhere near what it should be.

There is, however, one part that you shouldn't read if you're a new mother or expecting a child. I found it quite disturbing and really haven't enjoyed reading his last two books in their references to mutilating children (but I still thought The Revelation was a good book, ironically enough).

All in all, it's a good read. Especially if you're a BL fan and hate insurance companies.

Rating:
Summary: You never knew how important insurance can be...
Review: But then again, Hunt Jackson and his new wife and friends aren't plagued by a normal insurance agent. We're talking about a guy who suddenly walks out of your guest bedroom; a guy who seems to have a second personality hidden below his exterior smile...

And he doesn't work for a normal insurance company. The Insurance Group offers some of the strangest insurance policies known to man; policies, in fact, that seem to be invented due to whatever your current situation in life is...

And if you do not buy these policies, something will happen to make you change your mind.

For Hunt, it is imprisonment as a child molester. For his wife, it is the removal of her teeth. For his friend, it is a life-threatening accident at work.

And there seems to be not a thing they can do to stop it. Insurance, after all, is a necessity.

Bentley Little has been known to satirize certain aspects of American life. "The Ignored," for example, talked about a man who was so ordinary he simply disappears; "The Association" talks about a home owner's association that takes things to the max. Here, it is insurance and insurance policies.

And it is frightening.

Little manages to take mediocre plots/characters and combine them into something that no one else--not even, ladies and gentelmen, Stephen King--could write. Little's novels do not challenge you to think; they scare you. That is what a good horror novel should do, I think.

And Bentley Little's "The Policy" scares you. No doubt about it.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Little
Review: Exactly what I expected from one of today's finest horror novelists. Well written characters, bizarre situations, and a real sense of menace is what Bentley Little is all about. I recommend this book to newcomers as a good example of Little's style... setting an innocent family up against a seemingly unpenetrable force of evil. "The Policy" is totally entertaining and you'll find it hard to put down. If you enjoyed this book, "The Association" and "The Store" have very similar concepts. Every year around Halloween Bentley puts out a new book, so keep your eyes open for the next!

Rating:
Summary: The Satirist Returns
Review: I always wait with bated breath for a new Bentley Little novel. It's not that every book written by this master of horror works perfectly: a few of his stories don't work at all in terms of horror or satire, the two styles usually employed by this author. "The Policy," Little's latest, first crossed my consciousness back in April or May, and I've been waiting for it ever since. Now that I have read this book, it is an easy call to place this story about the evil machinations of the insurance industry squarely into Little's social satire cannon. This is a good thing because I definitely adore this author's jabs at American obsessions. "The Policy" covers territory instantly familiar to readers of "The Store," "The University," and "The Mailman." If you like to laugh until your sides ache, pick up a copy of this book or the other three I just mentioned. "The Policy" is vintage Bentley Little, from the increasingly bizarre occurrences throughout the story to the lackluster conclusion so dominant in this author's work.

"The Policy" centers on the character of Hunt Jackson, a newly divorced man lacking direction in his life. After losing his job at a big defense contractor on the West Coast, he decides to chuck the Southern California lifestyle and return to his childhood hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Hunt quickly reconnects with his grade school buddy Joel, now a professor at the local junior college who lives in town with his wife and daughter Lilly. Before too long, Jackson acquires a new job with the county trimming trees, and soon after this event he meets Beth, a business associate of Joel's wife. Moreover, Hunt makes quick friends with two men on his trimming crew, Edwards and Jorge. The only dark cloud on the horizon consists of a few unpleasant encounters with his insurance company, specifically over a cracked windshield and ransacked house. Hunt tries to put these unfortunate incidents out of his mind, instead wishing to focus on his new relationship and his new friendships. Eventually, Jackson marries Beth and moves into her house.

Jackson's insurance problems quickly escalate into the realm of the weird with the appearance of a strange man promising insurance policies of a most unusual sort. Other companies offer home, auto, and health protections, but this gentleman, working for an enigmatic corporation called "The Insurance Group," sells insurance guaranteeing protection from arrest, from losing one's job, and a life insurance policy with supernatural implications. Moreover, when this guy offers insurance, you better accept it immediately or face horrifying consequences. The Jacksons, and eventually everyone they know, learn the hard way that turning down a new policy from The Insurance Group translates into destroyed property, personal injuries, and the threat of serious prison sentences. Hunt and Beth rapidly begin to wear down under the hard sell tactics of this ominous figure. In order to combat the evil insurance agent, they must travel to an old city in Mexico in order to infiltrate the headquarters of this mysterious group.

The biggest difficulties of "The Policy" echo the problems found in other Bentley Little novels: plot threads that go nowhere and a conclusion that gives lame a new meaning. Several times throughout the story, Little describes in intricate detail that the guest room in Beth's house harbors a ghostly apparition, but this supernatural event never finds a place in the larger story. Another puzzling event involves Hunt's ex-wife Eileen. At one point in the story, Jackson notices his ex getting on a bus in Tucson, an incident that leads to a bit of soul searching on the main character's part. The next thing we know, his ex-wife is dead, killed in a rampage as part of an insurance policy Hunt and Beth bought from the salesman. What does this have to do with anything in the story? Good question. As far as I can tell, the reappearance of Eileen well into the story does nothing to propel the narrative in any meaningful way. Hunt never even meets his wife in Tucson.

The conclusion is more problematic than a few unfinished plot threads. Many of Little's books contain great build up, and then fade into banality in the end. The same problem plagues "The Policy." The final confrontation between the main characters and the evil salesman's company fails to convey even a modicum of interest, and at one point Hunt gets the salesman to do something that is so extraordinarily unbelievable that I snorted aloud. Repeatedly, the characters fighting the insurance company discover answers out of nowhere. Are we really to believe that it's this easy to defeat an evil from time immemorial? Little unquestionably possesses a fine imagination and apt writing skills, but he must work harder on constructing conclusions worthy of his ideas. Future failures in this area could result in a significant loss of his fan base.

Despite a few difficulties with "The Policy," the author still delivers several humorous situations. We've all dealt with smarmy insurance salesman and the rip offs associated with filing claims, but the people in this story face insurance problems firmly entrenched in the regions of the supernatural. Imagine discovering that an insurance company switched all of your household items with artwork depicting lewd imagery, numerous copies of Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life," and grossly inappropriate furniture. Moreover, imagine an insurance agent performing a physical exam on your pregnant wife, or having your real teeth replaced with solid silver plugs. At the very least, remember to look for these words for a good laugh: "the fall of Rome" and "nonpayment." If you cannot see the humorous implications of these situations, you probably ought to stay away from "The Policy."

Rating:
Summary: Insurance anyone?
Review: I am an avid Little fan and I love the way he can take an everyday, ordinary fact or occurance and turn it into a true work of horror. My favorite novel by Little is The Association, it just doesn't get any better than that. I believe it is his best work to date. With that in mind, I awaited the arrival of The Policy with bated breath and couldn't wait to tear into the pages. I was only mildly let down.

While the story is not as powerful as The Association, it didn't end quite as silly either. This book is about a group of people and how their lives are affected by the horrors of insurance salesmen, and what happens when certain types of insurance is declined or bought.

This was a really fun read. There was so much satire mixed in with the horror. One minute I was laughing and nodding my head, thinking to myself how many times I have been suckered into more and more "protection", the next minute I was riveted to my seat cheering for a character in the book to not open the door or go outside.

It is hard to talk much about this book without giving too much of the story away, but this book is certainly worth your time. Of course, the book would have been much shorter if the characters would have been offered insurance against insurance agents, but maybe that is another story for another time. Buy this book, you won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: funny and thrilling
Review: i found this book to be very entertaining. it reminds me of television show, "tales from the crypt" which used to air in early to mid ninties.

if you enjoyed shows like that or the, "twilight zone" youll enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: funny and thrilling
Review: i found this book to be very entertaining. it reminds me of television show, "tales from the crypt" which used to air in early to mid ninties.

if you enjoyed shows like that or the, "twilight zone" youll enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bentley's Best
Review: I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of this book, as I am a big Little fan, as many are. I quickly jumped into the book, and loved the character development, could easily relate to the Horror of dealing with insurance. I also enjoyed how the main character rebuilt his life. It was all going along quite nicely, until the horrid ending. I mean I have to say it was the worst ending of any of his books.
The ending did not take away the enjoyment of the book, and I can give the book a thumbs up by a narrow margin. I only hope that someday Bentley will write a book as brilliant as The Store or The Ignored, those are classics. The Policy unfortunately is not!

Rating:
Summary: More annoying than scary
Review: I'm a Bentley Little fan and I bought this book because of all the rave reviews I read here but I have to say I was quite disappointed. I love scary books and have read several of Bentley Littles, The Store, The Town and The House, which were good books. This book went nowhere. It just kept repeating itself. And I agree with one of the other reviewers who pointed out the things in the story that ended up going nowhere and had nothing to do with the story, such as the "haunted" guest room and the x-wife spotting in Tucson. I kept waiting for something to happen with her. She ends up dieing and that was that. I didn't feel frightened of this insurance guy, just annoyed. I found myself speed reading near the end just to get through it. This definitely was not one of his better books and I would not recommend it to anyone who likes to be scared because like I said, it's more annoying than scary.

Rating:
Summary: Predictable Virtues...and Flaws
Review: I'm a Bentley Little junkie. I know it's not good for me, know I should be spending my time in more elevated pursuits, but I just can't help it. I'm hooked.

"The Policy" reflects all the predictable virtues and flaws of Little's other books. Virtues? Over-the-top story telling (Little has no shame, bless him), intriguing plot and delightful satire (here of insurance companies; see other Little novels for the spearing of homeowner associations and megastores, among others). Alas, the predictable flaw is present as well: an ending that simply will not allow the reader to suspend disbelief. The ending of "The Policy" is Little's most ludicrous ever, as our heros and heroine navigate through the maze of the sinister insurance company and the evil critter at its heart.

But never mind. Be it predictable virtues or predictable flaws, Little never disappoints.