About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

COLLECTION, THE
by Bentley Little
Signet, June 2002
449 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0451206096


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

One cannot call oneself a true horror fan without having read a Bentley Little novel or short story. The thing that makes his writing so unique is the way that he takes a social problem and creates a scary novel with a message. The Association dealt with petty tyrants who become self-important in residential communities. The Ignored is about people whom we really do not care about until they become completely invisible to us. They will strike back when you least expect it. Finally, his greatest work is clearly The Store, a tale in which the author takes extreme measures to show how big chain stores are taking over all the Mom and Pop stores across the nation. It is clearly a horror novel but the moral in the story is quite clear.

The Collection is an anthology of previously published material, as well as some the author had stored, grouped together in one volume. He challenges our view of American history with stories like The Washingtonians and Colony; he gives life to inanimate objects in Paperwork and Pillow Talk; and he has a story titled Blood with the scariest thing known to man. No, it is not Spam, but the evil macaroni and cheese. No topic is off-limits, no story to silly to create.

Fans of Little’s social horror stories will not be disappointed. The evils of recycling is demonstrated in a story called Life with Father and office politics are explored in Confessions of a Corporate Man. It is clearly not a Dilbert cartoon. The book also has straight-out violent and shocking stories like The Sanctuary, Skin, and The Show, but clearly here is a word of warning. This book is not for the squeamish. It is gross, disgusting and at times appalling. Just the way we like it. Moving on.

Out of the thirty-two stories grouped here there were two that stuck out, Lethe Dreams and The Idol. The first one is probably the tamest story in the book but one of the most disturbing. It is a story of a loving couple and their infant child. While you are reading the story, if you have read the author before, you are wondering what the story is doing in the collection. It is not until the last paragraph that readers will be left shell shocked. Others might think it is funny, but to me it was sad. Finally, the last story to be reviewed here is one called The Idol, where the concept of fan adoration is taken to the extremes. Though there is no blood or gore in the tale, but it will freak readers. This particular yarn was originally printed in a publication called Twisted. No argument here.

As a bonus to fans, Bentley Little explains the inspiration to each story at the start of each tale. Not many authors would spend the time doing that, but the author does a great service. Some of the stories might be silly but once you learn how the story got conceived, you cannot help but respect an author who has the guts to tell it how it is. For that, thank you.

Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, March 2003

This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]