Rating: 
Summary: You Can't Change the Past...
Review: And that's the really scary theme at the heart of this book.On the surface, this is a fairly gory ghost story about five strangers, who are compelled by paranormal events that disrupt their lives to return to their haunted childhood homes. There's an excellent, original idea behind why they must return, and what the houses represent, that I won't spoil in this review. I enjoyed the book at the surface read, though not as much as I'd shivered over King's famous "The Shining," but unlike that work, I found myself thinking about this book and sort of worrying it in my mind for days after reading it. After some thought, I finally realized what it was about the symbolism used in this book that really got to me: it recreates the frightening vulnerability of being a child. Each of the five main characters is asked, at some point in the book, to review their childhoods, and I also believe that it is no accident that their nemesis takes the form of a child. There is simply no more vulnerable position to be in, both physically and socially, than to be a child in the hands of incompetent caretakers. The characters in the book find themselves confronting their childhoods - I won't give away precisely how - and having to make peace with those memories, though not always to purely satisfactory ends. King uses this theme in his works as well, and to greater effect in terms of pure entertainment value and maybe with a bit more heart, but Little's treatment of this theme is poignantly honest in its way and well worth a read in its own right.
Rating: 
Summary: (In a Scooby Doo Voice) HUH??!!??
Review: I read "The Store" by Little and hoped this book was be just as compelling. NOT!!! The prologue made absolutely no sense, the characters were dry for the most part (like watching a soap opera w/ no sound), the sequence was irritating and none of the loose ends in the book are tied up. This novel would've ran better if he had followed things up in more sequential order, and explained the butler/gatekeeper and the girl, but the way it isn't just isn't worth sloshing through. My head hurt at the end, and I felt cheated with what all was left out. This premise had possibilities, but for the most part, feels "phoned in": even his most hardcore fans wouldn't feel this book, I dare say. If you're new to Bentley, this book does him NO justice. Pick up "The Store" instead. If you still feel compelled to read it, check it out like I did or borrow it so you won't waste your money, well up with fury and go on a Bentley Little book-burning rampage. Like a broken pencil, it has no point.
Rating: 
Summary: ZZZZZZzzzzzzz
Review: I've heard good things about the books written by Mr. Little. Since I love anything involving haunted houses, I decided to make this my first venture into Bentley's world. I must say, I wasn't impressed with this book. I found it a bit boring, and for me, a struggle to get through. I was also a little disturbed with the sexual nature associated with the little girl in the book. I think the premise was great, but it got muddled along the way. Unfortunately, I've not had the inclination to pick up another Little book since this one, and have no immediate plans to give him another shot. My suggestion, if you're going to give Bentley a try, pick another book to start with!
Rating: 
Summary: Scary and original
Review: Haunted houses have to be the hoariest horror conventions in the world. But Bentley Little revitalizes the genre with this boundary-busting ferociously original novel. Warning: this is not for the faint-hearted. Lilly-livered readers who don't like hardcore sex and violence should stay away from this one. Readers with a pair should love it, though.
Rating:
Summary: Bad, Bentley!! Bad!!
Review: This is my 4th Bentley Little book, and for the most part, I do enjoy him but this book just plain bad...
The disgusting and quite unnecessary pedophilia scenes aside, this book had no beginning, middle, or really end for that matter. I was to attached to absolutley none of the characters, because we knew nothing about them. The story meandering here and there, and never really amounted to anything. It's like the book is a great outline, but that was it. Horribly underwritten to the point of laughable. Did Bentley write this in high school english class? It sure seems like it. Usually, I can blow off reading a bad book, but I was pretty disappointed I wasted my time on this. Avoid it even if you're a die-hard Little fan. It stinks.
Rating: 
Summary: The House-Bentley Little
Review: Didn't like this one as well as I've liked most of his
other books. For me it was a strain to get through. I
had a hard time keeping the characters straight. The only
other book of his that I didn't like was The Ignored. The
rest of his are great if you like weird, off-beat stories.
This one just didn't grab my interest.
Rating:
Summary: Like a ghost train
Review: I got lost somewhere around page 120 and didnÂ't find my way out again - and, to be frank, I didnÂ't bother. The book is a veritable ghost train, with horror paraphernalia jumping at you from every corner, dark houses, mad butlers, walking dolls, evil children a.s.o. a.s.o., and the five characters and complicated plot disrupt the tension continuously. And there is a streak of sadistic pedophilia in the book that I disliked enormously. The only scene I really liked was the making of the doll which I found really frightening exactly because it was so plain and simple. But the rest ... no.
Rating:
Summary: Little's The House is on Fire
Review: Bentley Little's The House builds to an extremely disturbing scenario, and, as is usual with Little's fiction, it's a page-turner that goes through landscapes and situations sublime and surreal...and terrifying. Also recommend: The Walking, The Store, and The Ignored.
Rating:
Summary: True Horror!
Review: There've been a lot of complaints about this novel from prudish lily-livered readers who obviously aren't interested in true horror, but from this hardcore fan's perspective, Little has created what is by far the most original and provocative haunted house story in decades. I also found his characterizations to be right on the money and both liked and believed in all five main protagonists (although, being a teacher myself, I wasn't thrilled with his treatment of the high school instructor). This novel also had a lot to say about recovered memories, the influence of the past on the present, the importance of individual choice and the lingering effects of the holocaust. Little is a major talent and this is an extraordinarily strong novel. As for those who complain about the graphic violence and sexual content of this work--that's why it's called "horror." Go read mysteries if you want your sex and death diluted into tame family fare.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time!
Review: Don't waste your time reading this ultimately uninteresting,unhorrific (because it's just too off-the-wall and silly) book. In no way can this book be likened to either Turn of the Screw (the best book ever written in the supernatural genre) or The Haunting of Hill House (also excellently written). Mr. Little has no grace as a writer, and although he is extremely imaginative, he doesn't bother to develop his characters, concentrating instead on a hard-to-follow plotline. Five characters all experience frightening supernatural occurences, but they do so, each in their own chapter, and then we go on to the next character's experience in another chapter. Every five chapters, the story moves ahead. I found it necessary to look back every five chapters to review what had previously happened. Maybe other readers are better at remembering what has gone before, but for me it was an inconvenience. The best part of the book was the very first little anecdote in the Prologue--a teasing bit of intrigue never again referred to. Altogether a big disappointment--in fact, this book was so bad, I skimmed the last third, having ceased to be scared long before.
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