Rating: 
Summary: Run! Don't walk..
Review: Bentley Little is able to take the tried-and-true horror formula and work wonders with it. In THE WALKING, he draws from witchcraft, ancient curses and evil revenge to weave a tale that is both creepy and fun to read.
Miles Huerdeen is a detective who takes on a seemingly typical stalking case only to find himself in the middle of some bizarre supernatural phenomenon that threatens to destroy the world. What he finds is a string of horrific murders as well as more than one walking corpse; all these events eventually tie together, and Miles plays a more important role than he ever could realize. Everything keeps pointing to Wolf Canyon which was once home to a thriving witch community but is now under water between two dams. Miles starts to uncover the government secret of the canyon as well as long-buried secrets involving his father and a vile curse spoken by an ancient being.
Reading any Little novel is always a roller coaster ride. He is quite adept at setting mood and pace, and his plots are typically imaginative and captivating. The Walking is a typical Little novel. Although the dramatic build-up leads to a somewhat anti-climactic ending, the book itself is quite simply a lot of fun and well worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling Horror
Review: Bentley Little is capable of writing brilliant, thought provoking social satire imbued with horrific elements. For this type of Bentley Little book, check out "The Store," or "The Association." But Little is also capable of writing straight horror, the type of horror that delivers the jolts while telling a great story with appealing characters and haunting atmosphere. For this type of Little story, look no further than "The Walking.""The Walking" is the story of Miles Huerdeen. Miles works at a private detective agency in Los Angeles, California. Miles's life isn't the most fascinating existence in the world. He gets to do some interesting work, but most of the time he spends his days toiling away on divorce cases. Miles is divorced from his wife Claire, a fact that his father, Bob, never lets him forget. Bob thinks Miles should get out more, but Miles is reluctant to change his routine. This all comes to a crashing halt when Miles takes on a new case that leads to a supernatural discovery: there are people who start walking after they die. While Little tells us the story of Miles and the walking dead, he also acquaints us with a spooky tale in the late 19th century. This account explains the formation of a town populated with unusual people. When the town welcomes a strange newcomer, all heck starts to break lose. The people rebel against this newcomer and her violent ways by committing murder. But murder sometimes isn't enough to stop the truly depraved. When the U.S. government destroys the town some years later, a series of events is set in motion that eventually reach out not only to Miles Huerdeen, but other people throughout the United States. This is a scary story with a lot of creepy atmosphere and gruesome deaths. The eeriest parts of the book deal with the walking dead. With unseeing eyes and cold, gray skin they continue to walk even when held or strapped down. Little creates a lot of good scenes with these grim zombies that definitely deliver the goose bumps. But it isn't just the walkers that scare; descriptions of a haunted canyon out in the desert are downright chilling, as are encounters with the strange force that seeks revenge on those who wronged it. Little is effective with his scenes because he doesn't try to explain every detail to the reader. In the haunted canyon, Little doesn't reveal what hides in the shadows or what instills fear in those who pass by. All that is shown is that something is terribly wrong. The build up to the finale is exciting. Regrettably, the showdown between Miles and the evil presence was a lot like watching the air leak out of a balloon. Nothing spectacular happens in this final encounter. It's not as though the being is some pencil necked geek because Little spends most of the book showing us the being's power. To dispose of the villain this easily makes the reader feel as though they were robbed. It is becoming apparent that Little does this frequently in his books: great build-up, disappointing come down. The unsatisfactory ending doesn't mean the book is not worth reading. Bentley Little is one of the premier horror authors producing works today. It is only a matter of time before we see a film version of one of his books. In the meantime, give this book, and his others as well, a chance.
Rating: 
Summary: A Walking Thrill-Ride!
Review: This was my first foray into the literary world of Bentley Little and I was uber-impressed. He kept me turning pages until I had paper-cuts! The mystery of the Walking Dead mixed with the horror of the past made this a compelling and gripping read!
Rating:
Summary: Slows to The Crawling near the end
Review: One of the things that I've discovered about Bentley Little's books are that he seems to have a hard time ending them. The story goes from start to about 90% in an enthralling read that pulls you along. And you enjoy every second of it. And then the ending comes along and all momentum is lost. Sure, it ends fine and makes sense; it just feels that the enthralling pull has kicked you off the train and you're left to walk the remaining mile to the final station. The Walking involves Miles Huerdeen who wants to find out why his father started walking once he died. The mystery gets more complex when he discovers that his father is not the only person to die but continue walking. This was another great book by Little and this time the ending wasn't quite as remote as in previous times. This time it was a little convenient but still thrilling. So instead of having to walk that final mile to the last station, we were dragged by train on one of those handcarts. Whatever the cause of the "bad ending" inflection, I hope that Little works his way through it and discovers those great endings because I really love reading the other 90%.
Rating:
Summary: Good read, but not Little's best
Review: Bentley Little has had around ten horror novels published in the past ten years. All but two of them have been entertaining reads that have held the reader from the beginning until the end of the book. "The Walking" is one of those two. Like all his novels, Little does an excellent job of setting up the story and develops it at a rapid pace. However, some of his works, including this one, tend to have only a so-so or rushed ending. This one definitely had a rushed ending. The story revolves around a number of people on a list that have died, but their bodies started and continued to walk after their death. A small group of relatives to the dead band together to determine why and to where these people are walking. The story flips from the present to the past a number of times. The present part of the story is excellent and the past is sometimes lacking. Eventually, Little merges the two at the ending. However, this ending did seem to be rushed and not as satifying as it should have been. If you're a Little fan, definitely read this one as it's still a good read. It's not up to par with his better works ("The Store", "The Summoning", "The Revelation"), but it is better than at least one of his other works ("The Town").
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a waste of time.
Review: I bought this book on an impulse at an airport, because the cover has quotes from Stephen King and Dean Koontz, saying how great it is. What a disappointment. The most glaring negative is the characters. They are all so phoney, predictable, and with all the depth of a pizza box. How can you get into a story when you don't give a damn about any of the characters? Skip this one, unless you are reeeeeaaally bored.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the Little I'm Used To
Review: This one is the fourth Bentley Little book I've read, and ranks last as far as my prefrences are concerned. It starts off great, switching back and forth through time, causing the reader to grow anxious. Unfortunatly, the second half turns into a lame, not-well-thought out blunder. This is not like the other Litle books I've read (The Association, The Mailman, and The Collection). His other books hooked me by displaying hilarious social satire, political incorrectness, weirdness, and extreme gore. In this one; however, it seems as though he wanted to pull off a "serious" horror novel, and in the process he kind of lost his identity.
I hope that he continues to progress, but by sticking to his original formula of satire and inconcevable weirdness.
It is still worth a read, as long as you don't pick it up with high expectations.
Rating:
Summary: A captivating horror novel.
Review: Bentley Little is one of the best authors in horror today. Even with his "slips", you're guaranteed a good read with in-your-face-horror and edge of your seat suspense. THE WALKING has an overt supernatural theme at it's core. (More so than THE ASSOCIATION and THE POLICY, to name a few.) And as a lifetime horror fiction fan, it's these kinds of novels that thrill me the most. THE WALKING has a brilliant premise: people are dying on their feet but they don't lie down. They are walking. Some force is pulling them like a magnet towards a lake in Arizona and it is terrifyingly powerful. It penetrates dreams, animates the dead, and seems almost omniscent. Only a few survivors, whose loved ones have turned into zombies, believe what is happening and follow the dead towards the evil behind the madness... THE WALKING is a brilliant idea, with a backstory that is almost more interesting than the present day tale. Little burns up the pages with a wildfire of an idea and although some of the characters were lacking in depth and credibility, I found myself thinking about the book in between readings; the mystery of it occupying my mind like some nightmare puzzle. (What the heck is going on? What is behind it all? How does all this fit together?) The first half of the book was 5 stars all the way. But after Little completed the backstory, it seemed to lose steam and even the author didn't seem to know how to sew the threads together and make it satisfying. In the last quarter of the book, it was almost painful. Little seemed to be trying to write himself out of a box; characters were wandering around and rehashing all the pieces of the puzzle, looking for a resolution. I hate to say it but the ending was pretty disappointing. For all it's power, The Evil was kind of a pushover. In spite of these faults, Little's imagination and love and understanding for the genre outshines the best. I'm giving this 4 and a half stars and to newcomers, I would recommend UNIVERSITY, THE SUMMONING, and THE MAILMAN. You'll appreciate his work more and be more forgiving after you read his more successful efforts. All in all, I love the guy and will continue to snatch up everything he has to offer. Keep 'em coming, Mr. Little.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Walkin' Here!!!!!
Review: This is the fourth Bentley Little novel I've read, and out of those four, two of them, The Ignored and now The Walking, have plots so strange they almost defy a quick back cover type summary. I can imagine how difficult they must be to market. Horror fans in the know are already aware that Stephen King was reading a Bentley Little book when he had his near-fatal accident, so if the most famous Horror author EVER is reading this guy, there must be something to him, right? Well, four books into the Little oeuvre, I'm ready to say: Yes, there is. While not the flashiest writer I've come across, Little DOES have some nifty ideas that aren't the makings of your run-of-the-mill Horror story.
Tha Walking concerns the living dead, but these ain't Night of the Living Dead type flesh-eating Zombies; These guys have been re-animated for a purpose. The problem is, no one knows what it is. Across the country, people are dying, then getting up and walking away. Private Investigator Miles Huerdeen's late Father is one of the Walkers, and so is the Father of one of his clients. As Miles tries to unravel the mystery, he becomes drawn into a centuries-old cycle of revenge, witchcraft, and an evil force so strange it defies classification.
Little's story unfolds in two different time periods, and the chapters alternate between "Then" and "Now"; I found the flashback sequences to be absolutely riveting, while for the most part Miles' present-day search for answers mostly had me skipping ahead to see how many pages were left until the next "Then". Little has created one of the most memorable Horror Villains in recent memory with the Witch Isabella, and the book rockets along at mach 10, until the ending, where Little drops the ball. While I admittedly enjoyed seeing the big bad supernatural being fall victim to a good old-fashioned ...whupping, the devices Little's intrepid band of Witchfinders uses to dispatch Isabella are pure Deus Ex Machina; It's almost like he painted himself into a corner by having a character so powerful that there was no way to defeat her, so he had to invent some powerful spoons and jars to do the job. I was also left scratching my head by the constant references to a dwarf he peppers the book with....But since there are also references to the Vampire from Little's book The Summoning (Far superior, by the way!), I'm thinking it may tie in with an earlier book of his I haven't read yet. The Walking is a fun read, but not as good as The Summoning or The Ignored. Well worth reading for any Horror fan, though!
Rating:
Summary: Three-and-a-half stars for this witchcraft novel
Review: The back of this book is irritatingly misleading-- this is *not* a zombie book-- the walking dead are a small aspect of the novel which has more to do with witchcraft and revenge than with zombies of any stripe. Think Eric Nylund crossed with Steven King and you'll get Bentley Little. Definitely more readable than the rest of the horror scribes. What's my beef with the book? Too slight-- the story should either be more dislocated (a la Tim Powers) or more epic (a la King). It achieves neither and ends up a little too forgettable. Still, better than most of what you'll find.
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