Rating: 
Summary: A disappointed Little Fan
Review: I a major Bentley Little fan but must say this was a major disappointment to me. Cant jump on little too harshly however cause every writer is entitled to a howler once in awhile. A prime example of that is Koontzs "Tick Tock" and unfortunately "The Return" seems to be Littles blunder so far, lets hope his next one will be a major improvement from this. I really enjoy Littles down to earth style of plotting and story advancement, wherein hes always been more interested in furthering a highly entertaining story with thrills and suspense moreso than trying to be poetic or flowery in his prose like certain other horror writer seem to be these days. Cmon folks, this is horror fiction, not poetry or great american literature, lets keep it to the fun, escapism kinda genre its meant to be. NOrmally LIttle does just so, but this time, he rather dumbs it down a bit too much. its just hard to believe or be thrilled by walking and attacking pottery shards or really believe anyone could be so terrified of walking artifacts as some of the characters were in this novel. LIttle stretches it a bit too much this go around, and turns ina surprisingly tough book to try to keep involved with. Needless to say, ill definitely be looking forward to his upcoming novels, still a fan here, but not gonna include "The REturn" in my Bentley Little collection. If you want to become a fan, stick with "The STore" or "The Association" instead.
Rating:
Summary: Great Start But Credibility Dimnishes Quickly
Review: I bought this book on impulse. I like a good horror novel and have grown tired of everyone's teeth falling out as they do in most Stephen King novels. What's up with that anyway?The Return starts out well with a mid30's man who leaves his job in search of something "new." He finds it in Arizona. Strange things are happening with Indian relics that are being uncovered all over Arizona. This was pretty good until people started disappearing in a "vortex" and relics start "walking."...I am still finishing this book and hope it improves. The best I can give this book is a 2. Maybe it will improve. I just bought The University because I am willing to give Bentley another chance.
Rating: 
Summary: One Great Book!
Review: I bought this novel because I was so impressed with THE COLLECTION, Mr. Little's book of short stories. I am blown away by this man's talent. Not only does THE RETURN contain some of the creepiest imagery in recent memory (I don't think I'll ever forget the shaking creature hiding beneath the butcher paper), but it has a lot to say about the colonization of America and the British-centric lense through which our history is perceived. Scary yet serious, this is one damn good book.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW
Review: I cannot believe this book was even able to get published. Although this was the first book I read by Little, I am sorry I did.
The book starts out with a man who leaves his life to find a new one. He does by stumbling across a group of college students digging up the remains on some Anasazi Indian culture. First off all, the author used a lot of Native American Indian terms, and if you don't have a clue into the history of Native Americans, you will be at a lost. The author really needed to explain what some things were in the novel, such as certain artifacts, but instead he decides to draw out a scene where a couple searches for a lost mummy. ... It was like enough already!
Also, I know this is a horror book, and horror books are usually far fetched, but this novel I found ridiculous. The way characters reacted to certain scenes was not typical. [It] made me feel like I was reading a 10 year old cartoon. ...The author wanted to make it seem like the rest of the U.S. could care less about the west, which was also far fetched. ... Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Bentley Little is the King!!
Review: I don't know how he does it, but for the past decade, Bentley Little has been turning out the best and most underrated horror fiction on the planet. Hot on the heels of THE COLLECTION, his sublime book of short stories, comes THE RETURN, and epic tale of vanished civilizations, the rape of the West and one of the most original horror creations I've ever read. If the monster is dispatched a tad too quickly (a Little trademark, unfortunately), the rest of the book makes up for it with compelling characters and some truly creepy setpieces. Besides, as wiser men than me have said, it's the journey that's important not the destination. More superficial readers may be put off by the abruptness of the ending, but it's nowhere near as bad as King's IT, where, after a thousand pages, the reunited heroes gangrape a girl and kill a giant spider to save the world. THE RETURN is another in Little's increasingly impressive ouevre.
Rating:
Summary: I Loved This Book!!!
Review: I don't know why so many readers are dissing "The Return." I thought it was wonderful. Bentley Little is an original and supremely talented writer. I'm a 22-year old African-American woman from Detroit, but he made me sympathize and care about a middle-aged white man from California who is going through a mid-life crisis and is lost literally and figuratively in the wastelands of Arizona. Unlike some other readers, I found the sentient Native-American artifacts VERY scary. And I will never forget a chilling surreal scene where a young boy searches for a way out of his suddenly deserted neighborhood and ends up in his own house with his mother's tooth. This is the best book I've read in a long time, and I'm eager to read the rest of Bentley Little's books.
Rating:
Summary: The Orange Hair Monster
Review: I hardly ever review books, but after reading a few of Mr. Bentley's books I felt the need to say this.......I am a HUGE fan of writers that are not afraid to think and write outside the box. I happen to love books where the bump in the night actually is a monster, and not your typical bad guy. But, there is one thing that keeps Mr. Bentley from being on my "keeper" shelf with Dean Koontz, James Rollins, Matt Reilly, etc. AND that is his obsession with having depraved sexual scenes and acts in every book he writes. To me this does not enhance the story, it just seems nasty. I am not a prude and love to read a good sex scene as well as the next reader, but to me he gets just a little too explicit. If I remember correctly there were 3 women in this book that were raped with foreign objects. His books are great reads and I will not quit reading them, but I think his talent is in his storytelling, not his shock paragraphs. If you read this Mr. Bentley, please don't believe I think myself capable of judging your writing technique, I just don't understand the need for it.
Rating:
Summary: Quite a letdown
Review: I have read all of Bentley Little's books except for "The Association" and "The Policy," which probably explains why I stuck with this book until the end. I seriously considered stopping around page 150 because the book was just a random series of events happening to characters that I really didn't care about. "But," I thought, "Little's done it before," so I kept going, hoping that either a plot would show up or that things would be explained. Well, no plot ever showed up, and things were sort of explained, but it came late and you REALLY had to suspend disbelief to accept it. And at the end, I still didn't care about any of the characters, but by the time I was really set to give up, I only had about 75 pages to go, so I just finished it. If you haven't read Little, read "The Store" instead of this.
Rating:
Summary: Quite a letdown
Review: I have read all of Bentley Little's books except for "The Association" and "The Policy," which probably explains why I stuck with this book until the end. I seriously considered stopping around page 150 because the book was just a random series of events happening to characters that I really didn't care about. "But," I thought, "Little's done it before," so I kept going, hoping that either a plot would show up or that things would be explained. Well, no plot ever showed up, and things were sort of explained, but it came late and you REALLY had to suspend disbelief to accept it. And at the end, I still didn't care about any of the characters, but by the time I was really set to give up, I only had about 75 pages to go, so I just finished it. If you haven't read Little, read "The Store" instead of this.
Rating:
Summary: THE RETURN OF WHAT?
Review: I have read most of Mr. Little's books, and found most of them to be entertaining, although some (Like "The House") have been mundane at the least. "The Return" is perhaps the most ridiculously plotted horror novel I've read in years. People are introduced (Like Bonnie and Richard) and we never hear from them again. The leading characters are as cardboard as they can get. Glen Ridgeway is such a superficial, self-centered loser. Melanie is almost as bad. The professors are dumber than most students, and to top it off, we get a barbecued child (?); people going crazy and doing really dumb things, towns disappearing, volcanoes arising out of nowhere, and so much padding, it felt like a Depends. The only scene that was original and quite funny is when the mayor of a town that is preparing to battle another town, walks into his office, finds his secretary [making love]on the floor, and tells her to stop it and come take minutes. That is funny.
Unfortunately, Little tries to equal the expanse and depth of Stephen King's "The Stand" and "It", and Little just can't match the master. This book was ponderous and I had a hard time finishing it, and then kaboom, it's over---...BR>NOT RECOMMENDED. UNLESS YOU NEED A SLEEP INDUCER OR ONE GOOD LAUGH.
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