The House [Paperback]

Bentley Little (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1999

A Bram Stoker Award winner. Five strangers from across America are about to come together and open the door to a place of evil that they all call home. Inexplicably, four men and one woman are having heart-stopping nightmares revolving around the dark and forbidding houses where each of them was born. When recent terrifying events occur, they are each drawn to their identical childhood homes, only to confront a sinister supernatural presence which has pursued them all of their lives, and is now closer than ever to capturing their souls.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bentley Little, then The House will give you the perfect opportunity to get to know this fine sorcerer of horror. Haunted houses are an endless source of fascination for writers of the macabre--Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and Henry James's classic The Turn of the Screw are excellent examples. But Bentley Little still manages to add something new to this well-trodden territory--and The House will scare your socks off.

Five strangers simultaneously experience terrifying nightmares and strange hallucinations. These unnerving events reacquaint each of the individuals with a childhood they would rather forget and memories long repressed. It soon becomes apparent that each of these four men and one woman once lived in identical houses--right down to the arrangement of the furniture. Each character must return to that childhood home to confront the demons of the past and liberate their souls from the shackles of despair. Reading this battle of good versus evil is a nail-biting experience. For more of the same by this author, try The Store and The Ignored. --Naomi Gesinger

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Signet (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451192249
• ISBN-13: 978-0451192240
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (102 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #239,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Occult

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ORIGINAL AND HIGHLY CREEPY..., September 23, 2006

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The House (Paperback)

This author, touted as a "master of the macabre" by no other than Stephen King, is one of the most inventive writers of the horror genre today. A Bram Stoker Award winner for his horror novel, "The Revelation", he does not disappoint the reader with this one. This is the third novel by this author that I have read, and I will continue to seek his others, as the ones that I have read, thus far, are generally well-written and have had highly original twists. While they have all seemed to have some sexual themes running through them, it has not been inordinately graphic nor has it supplanted the horror at the heart of the always inventive and genuinely creepy story the author has written.

I really loved this one, as the author took a familiar theme, that of the haunted house, and brought it to the next level. Five strangers are each having a major upset in their respective lives. That catalytic event is causing each of them to remember something they would rather forget: their childhood and the strange home in which they each grew up. Compelled to return to their original homesteads, they discover that it is the past that is governing their present. Five separate homes, five separate childhoods, yet, they are all distinctly similar and similarly creepy with memories that each of those who lived there would rather forget. These strangers will be brought together in a way that none of them would ever have imagined.

This book will give one the heebie jeebies. The descriptions of the events propelling the story are genuinely eerie and create the right amount of tension. Some of the odd characters in the book create a sense of dissonance and a creepy atmosphere, while others are downright chilling. This was simply a book that I could not put down, as I was riveted to its pages until every last one was turned.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 1st Half was Great, but the 2nd half......, July 28, 1999

By 

Daniel (PIEDRA, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The House (Paperback)

This is the first book of Bentley Little I've read. I was pretty impressed. Part 1 of the book that brought the five charcters together was intense. I think what made it so intense was the fact that we (the reader) slowing began to realize, at the same time as the characters, what happened to them in that house when they were children.

That little girl scared the hell out of me.

I thought that when the five strangers actually reached the house(s), that the suspense would intensify even more. The opposite occured. The book slowed down to a crawl. It took me only two days to read the first 200 pages. It took me almost a week to read the last 160 pages.

Perhaps, the first half of the book raised my expectations too hight for the 2nd half. Not that the 2nd part wasn't scary, there are some absolutely frightening scenes. But it took too long getting there.

Another problem was that the book left alot of unanswered questions. Too many unanswered questions. About the house, the ghosts, the butler, the girl, the 'Other Side'... I know that alot of the things that scare us are the unknown. But damn, he couldn't just thrown in a little more detail instead of vague answers.

And the ending came so suddenly, I couldn't believe the book had ended. I was thinking to myself, "That's it????"

However, their were too many good, scary, horrible scenes in the book to ignore Bentley Little. I just bought 'The Store' which I'll be starting soon. His a good writer and those who were unhappy with 'The House' should give him another try.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Original!, October 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The House (Paperback)

It's been a long time since I read a good haunted house story. Even longer since I read an original one. In his novel UNIVERSITY, Bentley Little revealed his knowledge of this horror sub-genre, and in this novel he makes use of that knowledge, avoiding the common pitfalls and charting territory through what could have been a minefield. Filled with graphioc sex and extremely disturbing imagery, this one is not for the faint-hearted but should please fans of King, Barker, et. al. A great book.