Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #422716 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 48
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Customer Reviews

You'll Never Complain About Your Neighbours Again!
This has to be up with the best of Bentley Little's horror novels - in fact, it might just sit right at the top of the pile, in my opinion. A stunning, and disturbing, piece of horror fiction. The author's books can generally be split into two types - one branch deals with the usual elements of horror, such as vampires ('The Summoning'), zombies and witches ('The Walking'), or demonic goings on ('Houses'). The second type of Little's work delves into the everyday hum-drum things we take for granted... and then twists them into something uniquely terrifying. A whole community powerless against someone as innocuous as their postman ('The Mailman'), or people coming face-to-face with the realisation that their entire town has become reliant on the whims of the local superstore, which has managed to run all of its competition out of business then employed 90% of the township ('The Store').

'The Association' falls neatly into the second category. But rather than having a community that finds itself insidiously taken over by an outside force, Little turns things on their head, and here it is the community itself which is warped, and it is into this that a normal young couple find themselves trapped by something as seemingly harmless as a homeowners' association. One which is determined to make their new neighbours conform to its peculiar - and rather sinister - standards.

If you're expecting buckets of blood in your horror, then this one is definitely not for you. But if you want a book that will make you see just how, with just a little twist, the normal day-to-day things in life can become more terrifying than any werewolf or vampire, then you need to have 'The Association' on your bookshelves. I really can't recommend this book enough.

Un-put-downable
I have only read one of Little's books before, and that being the Mailman, which was very good, so I thought I'd try this one, I really enjoyed it, and I don't agree with another review that the characters didn't have realistic thought processes, I thought that they were people just like you or I and they behaved in ways we might - given the same circumstances. I found it very creepy and very threatening with lots of surprises round each corner. Can't say if it's one of his best as i haven't read enough, but I can say that I will be buying some more on the strength of it so that tells you something. As good as King or Koontz I'd say!

Brilliant!
Bentley Little's horror is of a very modern persuasion, dealing as it does with contemporary social issues, and in this fascinating and horrifying work, he delineates the terrifying conformity of the modern community. This is witty and frightening at the same time. An excellent novel.