Rating: 
Summary: Not very good
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Just terrible!
Review: The only reason I finished this book at all was in the ridiculous hope that there might be some sort of redeeming ending. Not so! The beginning was bizarre and patched together with events that were never explained or even referred to again. Unless I missed a paragraph somewhere. The story line jumped around way to much. There were too many main characters. And the characters were drawn in an unconvincing manner that made it impossible to have any symphathy for them or their so called predicament. The use of a little girl as the "evil" character is not new and would have been an acceptable part of the story if not for the disturbing number of sexual references to her. Although on some level I understood what the author was trying to portray; the overt sexuality of this particular character, especially in addition to Nortons obsession seemed more sickening that supernaturally spooky. The only chills this book gave me was a feeling of nausea from those sorts of scenes. The ending seemed to be slapped together in a haphazard manner with no sense of completion or resolution. I've been a long time fan of any books dealing with the supernatural, especially those having to do with haunted houses. As long as they're well written! I'm only happy I borrowed this book from the library, rather than actually wasting my money on it.
Rating: 
Summary: Little's Best Novel Yet
Review: "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.
Rating: 
Summary: A pedophiliac's fantasy mars the book's few good ideas
Review: The best horror novels rely on subtlety for impact. We need to believe that the world the victims inhabit relies on roughly the same rules as our own.Which is why an army of supernatural midget clowns fondling a woman and bludgeoning her husband in the first 20 pages turned me off to this book. And that was before the pedophilia. The pages and pages of graphic pedophilia. I'm not a terribly conservative person, but I do feel that some subjects inherently require a degree of sobriety in their handling. Without going too in-depth, the book hinges on these scenes: you can't just skip 'em. Don't even start the book if this will bother you. The book's redeeming qualities included the explanation behind the haunted house, and the effective use of a very creepy horror device (think a primitive Chucky...). The mediocre-to-bad writing made it a fast read, but hardly memorable (aside from the afore-mentioned scenes that will forever be burned into my screaming subconscious!).
Rating: 
Summary: Another haunted house story with a twist....
Review: Bentley Little is a magician at writing truly sick and twisted novels. He doesn't let us Little-ites down here as he creates a house that borders this world and the next. Little does a credible job creating his characters in this novel(something he doesn't always do) and puts them in outlandish situations, especially here. However, in the beginning of this novel, he introduces us to some people who we never here from again. The guy living in the LAX airport was especially funny and enlightening. This is not his best, that would be the clever The Association, but is a good read. It bogs down just a little, but it doesn't detract from it too much. Little's writing often includes a social commentary and he is quite opionated on certian topics and some might be squeamish regarding the little girl in this book, but it is all fantasy, not the real thing. He is quite literally one of the best horror writers working today. He has simply no peer in the Scream Factory (and yes that includes the now retired Stephen King)!!!!
Rating:
Summary: A nice twist on the haunted house
Review: I'm already a big fan of Bentley Little's works and with The House he doesn't disappoint. Five complete strangers from different corners of the U.S. have similar erotic, violent dreams. Supernatural occurences plague each character's hometown. The only connection, unbeknownst to them, is the houses of their childhood, which somehow is the same for each. A large house, ominouse and forboding... This was a pretty good, original spin on the haunted house tale. Bentley Little knows how to write a fast paced, gore filled story that screams of B-movie. The house and everything else supernatural had a Lovecraftian quality and every action sequence was aptly detailed in Little's trademark, unflinching way. This book reminded me somewhat of William Hope Hodgson's "The House on the Borderland" which is also a great read. The use of dolls was a nice, creepy touch, especially when used as a murder weapon. Grisly, original death scenes kept the story moving. The only snags were in characters lacking dimension (which, in some way, is good) that may annoy readers. This is horror as it is meant to be, laughable, offensive, disturbing, under no circumstances to be taken seriously. The ending wasn't as good as I would have liked, but overall I was entertained. For serious horror fans only.
Rating:
Summary: good read
Review: if ur into horror stories this one is one for ur list
Rating:
Summary: It's not that good.... not that good at all.
Review: ...this "novel" was just a flop. No redeming qualities exist through all the pages (except for one, yes I repeat ONE paragraph in the epilouge, which actually is then overdone in the next paragraph) and I got nothing out of reading it; the story's so far fetched and there's such an incredible lack of build up and character development it's almost disturbing. This novel's suppposed to be shocking, ground breaking horror. The only thing I found shocking was how this got published. You just don't feel for the characters the way you're supposed to, or anything along those lines. All of the characters (with the exception of how a few start off) are poorly drawn and have such flat personalities. And, on top of that there are one way too many to even keep track of... it's crazy. Heck, if the lack of characterization and development weren't enough, all of them participate in some heavy pedophillia at multiple times in the book! I am not a very conservative person at all, not even one, but I do believe subjects like the said one have to be handled with a certian, I don't know, decent manner. The girl who does all the seducing of the main characters is also capital p Poorly drawn. Think of a badly done...version of Claudia from Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. And the story, dear God let's not get into the rushed along and generally bad story. The only reason I finished this book was because I thought the ridiculous story would have some point at the end-- something amid all the laughable "scares", but in the end I got nothing. Nothing. NOTHING!
And one final slab of beef I have with The House, it breaks the only rule I find essential to horror, all GOOD horror, and that is: YOU MUST START OFF IN THE SEEMINGLY REAL WORLD! When the world the characters are first shown in seems like ours, it naturally seems real and therefore that anything that happens, can happen. I don't care what you do after the start, but Bentley Little has a woman blugoned to death by a stampeding herd of supernatural midgets in the first twenty pages. Many other people die bizarre and unsensable deaths in the first 30 or 40 pages, and it's not even explained or refered to at ANY point thoroughout the book. ... I've never read any more of Mr. Little's novels, and don't plan to in the near future, but maybe; all author's have bad books. But, and that is one big BUT this book was exceptionally bad. You can't care for the characters, can't like them, can't believe the story, can't like the story. It's awful. Not a recommend at all. Pass on this one... Thanks for reading.
Rating:
Summary: Freaky!
Review: Bentley Little writes two types of books: the first type is the pure horror novel. "The House" falls squarely into this category, as does his novel "The Walking." These books rely heavily on gory scenes mixed with shocking glimpses into the supernatural world. The second type of story Little writes is social satire tales, such as "The Store," or "The Association." These stories often attack the mundane elements of life we Americans take for granted by taking events like shopping and creating stories that go way over the top, while still incorporating horrific elements. "The House" is a take on the haunted house genre. Certainly any author that attempts to tell a story in this genre is taking his or her chances. So many stories exist in this area that it is important to try and attempt something new. Fortunately, Bentley Little doesn't give his readers rattling chains or flying plates in "The House." What he does give us is a breezy ride of sickening horror designed to shock his readers into submission. In "The House," five seemingly unrelated strangers begin to discover that their childhood memories are disturbingly absent. As events begin to unfurl that bring back these memories, they find themselves drawn back to their childhood homes. But the homes, regardless of where they are located in the United States, all turn out to be the same type of abode. The houses are linked because they are the essentially the same place, a place that serves a very important purpose by protecting our world from unseen horrors. The houses are haunted, and as the characters return so does a long litany of suppressed horrors. As if some of the spooky events within the houses aren't bad enough, the characters are also reintroduced to two weird people who dwell in the house: Billington, a creepy butler, and Dawn, an evil child with an unusual (and sickening) ability to corrupt the inhabitants of the houses. A major theme in "The House" is that of the dysfunctional family. All of the characters had extremely unhappy childhoods in the houses due to the inability of family members to communicate to each other concerning the horrors they experienced. When the characters are grown adults, they get the chance to return to the past, so to speak, and mend the problems of their childhood, and to reconnect to their families. This is one of Little's sickest novels. Pedophilia is graphically presented through the Dawn character, as is murder and other unpleasantness. Those easily affected by such graphic displays may want to look elsewhere for their chills and thrills. It is likely that even iron stomachs used to horrific movies and other horror books might churn a few times over some of the scenes in this book. In short, be prepared. Once again, the ending leaves a lot to be desired. The build up is excellent, with characters both primary and secondary well drawn. The characters are actually likeable, something that doesn't often occur in a Bentley Little book. But by the time the end of the story rolls around, the story wraps up quickly with an anti-climax that is disconcerting. This happens often in Little's books, and is a problem that will hopefully be soon remedied. For Bentley Little fans, this is required reading. Those of us who admire his writing skills continue to look forward to new novels as they emerge (which is usually once a year, it seems). Even with the quick and unsatisfying ending, Little still writes stories vastly superior to the large amount of stuff floating around today. Little rejuvenates the horror genre, and for that those of us who like horror should be thankful.
Rating:
Summary: A slightly confusing but suspenseful haunted house novel
Review: 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 and one time despite their locations throughout the 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.
| 
