The Town (Mass Market Paperback)

by Bentley Little (Author) "Lawn grass, freshly cut..." (more)
Key Phrases: Owner of the House, Southern California, Bentley Little (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A pregnant woman gives birth to a cactus, a small church grows hair and bleeds, a man sprouts an umbilical cord and, one by one, residents of a tiny Southwest town die violently. These and other bizarre events begin occurring shortly after Gregory Tomasov returns to his old hometown of McGuane, Ariz., with his wife and three children. The old adage "You can't go home again" has perhaps never rung more true, as Bram Stoker Award-winner Little (The House) draws upon elements of religion, the supernatural, sexual fantasy and psychological horror to create a modern-day ghost town. Almost immediately after they unwittingly move into an old farmhouse where a deranged man once murdered his family and committed suicide, the Tomasovs are transformed. The two younger children become obsessed with the shadows inside the home's bathhouse, shadows that eat dead animals, torment children and kill mercilessly. As the deaths mount and small-town life becomes more dangerous and freakish, residents begin to blame the Tomasovs, whom they believe carry some kind of curse. Not until the terrifying finale, which takes place during a sandstorm and blackout, does everyone realize the evil's roots. What, in a lesser writer's hands, would have been an obvious conclusion remains a mystery until the end. While reminiscent of Dean Koontz and Stephen King, Little crafts his own vivid landscape full of dark corners, twisted characters and a gruesome plot. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
You think your hometown is scary?

Wait until you read the new shocker from the man Stephen King calls "a Master.

Bentley Little recently made the national news when Stephen King revealed he was reading Little's latest novel. But critics and fans have known for years that Little is one of the hottest horror writers in the business. And now, with his newest novel, The Town, Little brings the horror home to a small Arizona town.

Because home is where the heart is...ripped out.

Bentley Little is:

"A master of suspense."--Stephen King

"Inventive and chilling."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Nightmarishly brilliant."--Publishers Weekly

"A must for those who like horror with a bite."--Richard Laymon

"If there's a better horror novelist than Little...I don't know who it is."--Los Angeles Times

Little is a winner of the Bram Stoker Award

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Signet (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451200152
• ISBN-13: 978-0451200150
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #405,434 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Definitely read better, May 30, 2000

By	"scoobydon" (Waseca, MN USA) - See all my reviews

I'm a fan of horror, no doubt about it. Just about anything remotely creepy, even when tinged with humor or silliness gets my attention. It's only when something ends up being silly, while not origially intended to be, is my faith in the genre shaken.

"The Town" is the first book I've read by Little, and though it is entertaining throughout its first 200 odd pages, it slowly becomes silly and seemingly hurredly summed up.

My gripes: 1) Little throws in characters from literally no where (where the hell did that Mormon shooting spree come from in the last 30 pages?) and then either drops them out of the story, or slaughters them 5 pages after he introduces them. It tends to not make me really care about what happens to them anyway, which leads to my second gripe. 2) The main characters tended to not gain my support. Gregory is a jerk, Julia is a snob, Babunya is overly religious/superstitious, Sasha is a brat, and the other two kids are just OK. Adam ended up a fully rounded character and I gained some respect for Julia and Babunya, but by page 250, I was looking forward to seeing some of these people get eaten, or whatever. Put them out of my misery.

I see great writing in some areas, and the descriptive passages (what there are of them) are nicely done. But some analogies clunked big time with me (i.e. "Like an alcoholic, she took it one step at a time.") Blah.

I will read more of Little's work. I don't dismiss an author with his growing reputation lightly. Even King, Rice, McCammon, Koontz and Straub have their stinkers.

Unfortunately, that is what "The Town" is in my book. A stinker.

My opinion, take it for what you will.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good solid horror!, May 7, 2000

By	mellion108 (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

I devoured this one in one sitting. Little strikes again with a pulse-pounding thriller set in the small Arizona town of McGuane. The Tomasov family hits the lottery, pulls up big-city stakes and returns to the hometown of the father, Gregory. But like every good horror thriller, the family fails to heed the warnings of the elderly wise woman, Babunya (the Tomasov matriarch). What could go wrong if the family failed to invite the Owner of the House? Gregory and his wife, Julia, shrug this off as another of Babunya's silly superstitions. Unfortunately for everyone, when the Tomasov's arrive, the town becomes more and more crazy. Bizarre deaths, strange sightings, and more than one thing that goes bump in the night plague the citizens. (Wait till you see what Gregory's friend, Odd, has waiting for him at home.) Throughout is an undercurrent of mistrust for anyone who is considered different; the Tomasov's are Molokans, a Russian religious and social community, and this group has historically been scapegoated within the larger McGuane community. Several themes are at work here: our natural distrust of change and difference, faith, evil, revenge, and on and on. I found myself alternating between cheering for and booing various characters; as each faces the evil let loose in the town, he/she begins to change. All I can say is, don't get too attached to some of these characters!

I've now read 6 of Little's novels. I've liked each one for different reasons. However, I've often gotten to the end of his novels thinking "Big build-up, let-down of a climax." I'm happy to report that THE TOWN delivers all the way to the end. It's a fun read (with very disturbing issues), it's a quick read, and some of the everyday objects turned into the macabre were enough to give me goosebumps! I recommend this one to anyone who likes good, chilling horror. After this, you might want to check out THE IGNORED by Little.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not as Bad as People Think, June 9, 2003

By	Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If you have never visited the strangely warped worlds of Bentley Little, but avidly wish to do so, you might want to start somewhere else than "The Town." Or, maybe you could start with this book; it might help you better appreciate his other books. For me, a Bentley Little completist, I cannot say this is his best effort to date. I also cannot claim that it is his worst novel, either. Many lambaste "The Town" for its forced and tepid dialogue, pancake flat characters, and a plodding plot. To some extent, many of the flaws found in "The Town" invidiously wind their way through most, if not all, of his other novels: subplots that go nowhere, unbelievable situations even for a horror novel, and unsatisfying conclusions. Yes, some of those flaws are here, but this tale is nowhere near as bad as many claim.

Gregory Tomasov and his family (wife Julia, daughters Teodosia and Sasha, and son Adam, along with Gregory's mother Agafia) should be riding as high as a balloon. Gregory won the California lottery and receives a cool $80,000 a year for the next few decades, which promises to make life very sweet and easy for a long time to come. Greg decides to take the money and literally run, from gang filled Southern California to his long forgotten childhood home of McGuane, Arizona. McGuane is a rat hole in the desert slowly dying out due to indifference and unemployment. But most importantly for Gregory and his mother, this little town still serves as a center for a Molokan population. Molokans are an obscure Christian sect from Russia that emigrated to the United States and Mexico to escape Tsarist persecution. Members of the congregation practice extreme pacifism with an almost mystical belief in the gospels and prayer. While Gregory and his wife are Molokans, their beliefs are at best extremely dubious and at worst lapsed. Their children have even less interest in the beliefs and rituals associated with the sect.

Things start to change quickly when the Tomasov clan arrives in McGuane. It turns out that the house they moved into was the scene of grisly murders and the rest of the town thinks the house is haunted. Then the killings start, gruesomely hideous crimes that set the town people on edge and stir up latent prejudice against the Molokans. Top that off with the slow disintegration of the Tomasov family, eerie supernatural events, and a 200 year old Russian prophet and you have the essentials of "The Town."

Little indulges in some of his usual unbelievable events. Take the disaster at the coffee shop for starters. It is difficult to imagine this store is big enough to hold that much equipment or that the ceilings are high enough to cause that type of damage, especially in a small town. Moreover, what exactly is the population size of McGuane? The back cover says there are roughly 300 residents, but from the events in the story it seems as though there must be thousands of people. How else could there be a high school and a junior high school full of students? Some of the internal thoughts of the main characters also pose serious problems. Towards the end of the story, Agafia and Julia spend more time wondering why they do stupid things than in trying to do anything else. It seems as though Little is trying to cover plot problems when he has his characters indulge in these inner dialogues. Overall, these aren't fatal flaws, but they are noticeable.

At least the ending is better developed than some of Little's conclusions in other books. I saw somewhere that Little doesn't like to spend much time wrapping his stories up. This is a big problem for horror fans, who always want to see a cataclysmic ending with lots of explosions, gore, or startling revelations. Well, there are some of those characteristics at the end of "The Town," and they do generally work well in the context of the story. Believe me when I say that "The Town" has a better ending than some of Little's other books. If you don't believe me, read "The Return."

"The Town" isn't Little's best effort, but it is far from his worst. The introductory chapter to this story sets an eerie tone, many of the murders are well thought out and gruesome, and the usual Little theme of a family slowly falling apart under the duress of external evils is well done. For more entertaining Bentley Little stories, turn to "The Store," and "The Mailman." Those two books fuse social satire with horror and give much more to the reader than what is found in this tale. After reading "The Town," I can safely say I am still a Bentley Little fan. I eagerly await his new novel arriving in stores later this year.