The Association (Paperback)

by Bentley Little (Author) "It's perfect!" Maureen announced..." (more)
Key Phrases: architectural committee, bridle trail, Bonita Vista, Jasper Calhoun, Article Eight (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
With this haunting tale, Little (The Town) proves that he hasn't lost his terrifying touch. Barry and Maureen Welch are thrilled to exchange their chaotic California lifestyle for the idyllic confines of Bonita Vista, a ritzy gated community in the unincorporated fictional town of Corban, Utah. But as Bonita Vista residents, they're required to become members of the neighborhood's Homeowners' Association, a meddling group that uses its authority to spy on neighbors, eradicate pets and dismember anyone who fails to pay association dues and fines. Maureen, an accountant, and Barry, a horror writer who is banned by the association from writing at home, soon find themselves trapped in the kind of deranged world that Barry once believed existed only within the safety of his imagination. The novel's graphic and fantastic finale demonstrates the shortsightedness of the Association and will stick with readers for a long time. Little's deftly drawn characters inhabit a suspicious world laced with just enough sex, violence and Big Brother rhetoric to make this an incredibly credible tale.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
"You must read this book." (Stephen King)

"Fast-paced, rock-'em, jolt-'em, shock-'em...terror fiction. Unusually clever." (Dean Koontz)

Barry and Maureen have just been approved as tenants by the Association. Pity they never read the fine print on the lease. It could be the death of them...

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Signet (September 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451204123
• ISBN-13: 978-0451204127
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (129 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #592,828 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For "Sale," and the Use of Other Four-Letter Words, July 19, 2003

By	TastyBabySyndrome "T(to the)B(to the)S" ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Let's face it. Homeowner's Associations can be a tool dispensing a veritable fountain of useful dictations - provided that you want to follow them. They, the police policing policy, look through all the little things we do and they create bylaws to keep them from becoming too overwhelming. In some cases, that means that you wouldn't be allowed to have a basketball behind your house, keep a flagpole in your yard, or build that utility shed you wanted. In others, it could mean fines because you paint your house some strange color or because you put too many plants in your yard. And some, as Barry and Maureen Welch soon find out as they acquire a home in Bonita Vista - gated community in the middle of nowhere (the ultimate desire of the extremely wealthy to either live or vacation in) -, go farther, making life a miserable little game of limb loss and bully tactics.

What begins with an infraction for having a yard sale soon introduces the reader to a world that isn't such a nice place. Here, an Association lords over everything, hatching sinister plots while using a tome of laws they use like some kind of suburban bible. It is suspected of poisoning animals, of making people leaving int he middle of the night, and other rumors are spoken of about people always watching other people. This makes the residents therein all distrust one another, all thinking they're quite possibly spies for the Association. But why? What horror could possibly motivate people to think like that? Well, in answering that, you need to add in townsfolk living outside of the gated community that hate the residents therein for their own reasons, cats stuffed into mailboxes and tales of a man named Stumpy because of his lack of appendages, and monstrosities.

Now, I'm a fan of Little's work, having liked his creation of The Collection and The Walking, and I expected a lot out of him. Well, after absorbing this book and the way it all came together, I would have to say that I walked away a little disappointed but that I got a nice laugh out of the way this was set up. I liked the fact that there was an Association of Homeowners becoming the pivot in the master plan for terror, and I loved the fact that it laughed at the life hidden behind those tarnish-proof gates.
My problem here came because the ending seemed rushed, like the bizarre was approached too quickly for a build that took quite a bit of time only to ultimately disappoint. It was a shame, too, because it seemed as if the story were going to go somewhere for a while, with the characters meshing well and Little's writing style panning out. Unfortunately, some of the description began to drag and the book began to drone a little, making me long for something to punctuate it all. That said, I was still hooked, wanting to know how the Association was going to try to up its hand and if it had a garden where it grew baby stumpies.
And, in a way, this compulsive "knowing" disease I've somehow acquired, the one that makes me keep reading, gave me some mixed emotions.

If you want some of Little's better works, you could try The Walking (although the ending is a little anticlimactic) or you could obtain The Collection first to see what you think on it. Personally, The Collection would be the choice I would recommend and I would say that you might want to work up to this piece, unless you can see the humor in the horror that an Association could provide.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Read this book with your doors locked!, June 25, 2002

By	"22sherry" (Southern Florida) - See all my reviews

Barry and Maureen found the house of their dreams in a gated community in Utah. At first glance, they both fell in love with the breathtaking scenery. It was perfect.
When you buy a home in Bonita Vista, you are required to belong to a homeowner's association. Slowly the association invaded their lives and Barry and Maureen learned that any infraction of the rules could result in fines, physical punishment or death.
This dark and evil excursion across the pages led to a terrifying conclusion. I reside in a gated community and after reading this novel, I check all the doors and locks every night. At least twice.
If you want the hairs on the back of your neck to stand tall, this book is for you. Bentley Little has the knack of making the reader leave the lights turned on . . . . long after the book has been closed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little's Take on Homeowners Associations, September 29, 2003

By	S. Sommerville (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoyed this book, and not just because I have some horror stories of my own to tell regarding those socialist homeowners associations. Little's take is exaggerated, weird, sick, outrageously over the top, satiracle and just plain fun.

We're talking about a group of older men who worship article 90 in the ccr handbook, who murder children, minorities and gays. An association that can watch your every move, that dictates not only which color you may or may not paint your house with, but that dictates who your friends are, how you are allowed to wear your hair, etc.

There are some gruesome butchery scenes described as well, and some loveable characters, like Stumpy, the limbless man who lives in the forest.

If you are familiar with Bentley Little, then I need say no more. If you are not, well all I can say is that you will most likely either love or hate him. His stories are extremely exaggerated, gory and full of satire. If you are easily offended, then you'll do well to avoid his works. If you happen to enjoy stories about talking macaroni, crazy James Dean cults and Wicked gated communities, then give his stuff a try, you'll be in for a treat.