Rating: 
Summary: bentley little-the store
Review: this was the first bentley little book i read & i really
enjoyed it. this book is for those who like to read
horror stories. it is not for children becuz it has some
explicit sexual descriptions in it. one of the reasons i
enjoyed it so much is becuz it could very well be depicting
a very well-known business. can you guess which one?
i've been a bentley little fan ever since i read this one
but have not necessarily liked all his books. hope you
enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad. So bad. And not in that good meaning of bad. Just bad.
Review: From the very beginning, I was astonished at how bad this book is. It was not believable (I refrain from using 'unbelievable' so no one gets confused). I just couldn't finish it. I tried, I really did, but by the time a young mother was punished by the store for not paying the payments on her microwave, I'd had enough. It was bad. It was so bad. I can't emphasize that enough.A quick note: just repeating that something is creepy, does not make that something scary. I've read many excellent horror novels, such as 'It' and 'The Shining', and this was just bad. If you must read it, be sure your book store has a return policy before you buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Creepy!!!
Review: I found this story really chilling, and I couldn't put down this book. It's also quite thought provoking, which is unusual for this kind of book. While the idea is excellent and the story gripping, the last few chapters are disappointing and definitely not at the same level as the rest of the book. Definitely worth reading though.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the Price of Admission
Review: This is my third Bentley Little book, and I come to realize what attracts me to his work. He's entertaining. He's no Hemingway, nor Steinbeck, and never will be. He's a writer with a twisted and off-kilter perspective on our society. He doesn't seem to take himself seriously, which is a good thing. The Store is a great little diversion for a few days, and it's worth the seven bucks. You can do much worse with the money. Like going to see any movie in the theaters these days.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: I picked up this book because I the title intrigued me, and I could not put it down! I am not one for horror stories, but this story was more than a horror story. It had a well developed plot line and believable characters. I live in a small town, much like Juniper, and I could picture these characters living in my little town! I am now hooked on Bentley Little and plan to read all of "his" novels.
Rating:
Summary: Thrillride
Review: I have just finished "The Store", my first foray into the world of Bentley Little, and found it an extremely engaging tale. Anyone who is from a small town understands the hold that the only large store has over you. Everyone has to shop there, work there....there's no getting away from it. "The Store" seems to add a bit more to life than the customers are looking for! Anyone who is a fan of a quick read horror novel should enjoy this one!
Rating:
Summary: Darkly satirical, completely twisted fun.
Review: It's a tie with me between Little's The Ignored and this one--Both are great horror novels. The Store is a demented "Little" read, guaranteeing that the reader will NEVER look at a Wal-Mart store the same way again. Unlike some of the other readers who've critiqued The Store, I thought the ending was just. The hero, faced with the ruined remains of his family and hometown, makes the inevitable, logical decision that completely breaks him as a man (and as a father)...but destroys the nemesis in the end. Most horror novels relate to that very classical theme of good vs. evil. The Store's ending, ultimately, worked. I also liked the gradual buildup of the horror. From the dead animals on the site to the disturbing denouement with the hero. The best bits, in my opinion, were the ones involving the various customers, the salespeople and the "buys" (i.e. for those that have read it...the kids and the items on the bottom shelf...need I say more?). Every time the hero had to come in to buy something, the scenes would become more and more demented... A good horror read over a weekend...Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: A fast, fun read
Review: Little is definately a welcome change of direction from the other authors I've been reading lately. He doesn't try to be eloquent or bog his stories down with overdescription--with brick by brick architectural rundowns of every house on the block and expatiations on the area's plant-life. He just tells a scary (and thoughtful) story in a direct, fast style that doesn't seem contrived. I got through this one--at over four-hundred pages--in a single day. On average, a book of that length takes me a good four days. If that's any indication of just how good this book was, then it deserved the rating I gave it. But... ...even though I gave it five stars, I do have one minor complaint. For others who read this: do you remember the chess games that Bill and Street had? How Bill would always win the computer games and Street the board ones, and how that streak eventually flipped? What was the significance to that? If it was ever explained or had some pertinance to the story, I missed it. Sometimes, when writing, one toys with an idea that never really goes anywhere. That's what the rewrite is for--scrapping that kind of stuff. As for one other complaints that others have had, I LIKE an abrupt ending, in the tradition of Poe. And, while some of the stuff in the book did seem unrealistic, (like The Store getting away with selling illegal stuff,) remember, books create an alternate universe. It was realistic within the context of the story. Little's style is refreshing and I'd highly recommend this, (and his other works,) to anyone who likes horror and can take a little shock-value.
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading.
Review: The Store is a very well written book and reads very fast. I got caught up in wanting to read it every free moment I had. Bentley Little has written a book that will make you question every new "major store" that enters your area. It is so true how stores like Wal-Mart and Barnes & Nobel take over our cities. It makes you even look at what Disney World has done to Orlando. I also found it quite interested that my local Barnes & Nobel store had every book Bentley Little has written except THIS book. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story spoilt by rushed ending
Review: This overall was an enjoyable horror story that was spoilt by a rather rushed ending. Like another reviewer when I read the blurb on the back it sounded very much like a Stephen King Needful Things rip-off. Luckily it turned out to be totally different. Like a good horror writer Little has taken a common fear, in this case, big business pushing out small, and multiplied it to the Nth degree. This is where my opinion diverges from other reviewers who somehow think that much of what Little has written is somehow a realistic portrayal of future economic trends. While some of the early parts of the novel are not implausible, for example the insensitivity of the Store to local environment laws, the compliant city council that exempts the store from taxes and promises other improvements it can't really afford to get it in the town, and the impact on SOME of the small businesses in the town, it quickly elevates beyond this more realistic scenario to a fascist nightmare. Little uses the supernatural elements to paper over the less plausible aspects. Why for example would the store bother to kill off the competing retailers who were just about to go out of business anyway. We find out what they do with them towards the end. The compliance with which the council does things like agree to sell the police, fire department and school district to the Store and the mute silence this is greeted with by the majority of the populace (one of the least realistic aspects of the non-supernatural elements of the story) is made to seem plausible by the cult-like effect the Store has on people associated with it. Up to the last part of the novel, Little does a good job in showing the creeping and insidious influence that the store has on the town and the sense of isolation that the main characters feel. He seems to have run out of stamina toward the end though. The ending seems rushed and perfunctory and the ease with which the hero eventually comes through seems a bit ridiculous when you consider what he is up against. The big shock at the end for the hero is delivered with such timing that he can't really dwell on it the way you would think someone would in that position. He simply has a few paragraphs to describe his shock and then gets on with winning the battle so to speak. I rarely say this about a book but it could probably been a couple of hundred pages longer. Little has shown he can sustain interest for three hundred odd pages, it seems he has to learn to do it for 500+ if we are to get good endings from him. Overall an entertaining page turner just let down by the ending.
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