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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Those with weak stomachs will want to skip Little's latest shocker (after The Burning), which dishes out blood, bowels, mutilation and rape with an unsettling knack for the truly repulsive. Parallel stories revolve around several bloody episodes in which previously respectable California businessmen turn into raving killers, torturing and slaughtering their families. Heroes Brian Howells, a journalist investigating a blood-stained letter from his estranged father, and Carrie Daniels, a social worker looking into a series of beastly birth defects, team up to find out what's behind it all. As Brian and Carrie unearth the secrets of families and friends, flashbacks tell the story of a 19th-century would-be gold prospector who discovers primordial, succubuslike beings swarming the Californian backwoods, beings that now stalk a present-day family on vacation. Little's swift prose jumps from one gut-twister to the next, providing an engrossing if familiar romp that ends in a messy Lovecraftian climax, which may prove too absurd for some readers to swallow. Despite shortcomings, Little again displays, with a plethora of gore and perversion, his robust ability to disgust (and delight) even the most seasoned horror enthusiast. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
In Beverly Hills a businessman slaughters his entire family and leaves behind a video of the massacre and a cryptic message: "this is where it begins." Sure enough, it is only the beginning. Children everywhere are either being killed or are disappearing. Social worker Carrie Daniels wants to know why. God help her when she finds out.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
CHILLS AND THRILLS...,
By
This review is from: The Vanishing (Mass Market Paperback)
This Bram Stoker Award winning author hits it out of the ball park with this latest offering. This is a genuinely creepy horror story by one of the best authors in the genre. I simply could not put the book down, finding myself compulsively turning the pages of this book until the very end. Once again, the author manages to hold fans of the horror genre in his thrall, making the reader believe the unbelievable.Why is it that wealthy men are suddenly running amok and slaughtering their dearest and nearest? What is the meaning of the cryptic messages they are leaving behind? Why are some children that resemble little more than beasts being born? These are some of the mysteries with which reporter Brian Howells and social worker Carrie Daniels grapple. This book is really two stories, each of which takes place in California, one in the nineteenth century and the other in the present. Both are compelling stories that are inextricably interwoven and intertwined. The author seamlessly weaves these two tales together, creating a highly inventive and entertaining story. As the connection between the past and the present is made clear and the two stories meld into one, the reader is kept spellbound. Although the ending is the weak link in the book, as it is with so many of this author's other books, it will not diminish the enjoyment that the reader will get in reading this latest offering. The enjoyment lies in the journey to the end. Fans of the author will especially enjoy the author's sly introduction of his old pen name, Phillip Emmons, as a minor character.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
2.8 out of 5 stars (45 customer reviews) 4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
CHILLS AND THRILLS...,
By Lawyeraau - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Vanishing (Mass Market Paperback)
This Bram Stoker Award winning author hits it out of the ball park with this latest offering. This is a genuinely creepy horror story by one of the best authors in the genre. I simply could not put the book down, finding myself compulsively turning the pages of this book until the very end. Once again, the author manages to hold fans of the horror genre in his thrall, making the reader believe the unbelievable.Why is it that wealthy men are suddenly running amok and slaughtering their dearest and nearest? What is the meaning of the cryptic messages they are leaving behind? Why are some children that resemble little more than beasts being born? These are some of the mysteries with which reporter Brian Howells and social worker Carrie Daniels grapple. This book is really two stories, each of which takes place in California, one in the nineteenth century and the other in the present. Both are compelling stories that are inextricably interwoven and intertwined. The author seamlessly weaves these two tales together, creating a highly inventive and entertaining story. As the connection between the past and the present is made clear and the two stories meld into one, the reader is kept spellbound. Although the ending is the weak link in the book, as it is with so many of this author's other books, it will not diminish the enjoyment that the reader will get in reading this latest offering. The enjoyment lies in the journey to the end. Fans of the author will especially enjoy the author's sly introduction of his old pen name, Phillip Emmons, as a minor character. 6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
I wish I could say it was better but,,
By Guy Smiley "Mr Fixit" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Vanishing (Mass Market Paperback)
Bentley Little writes 2 types of books. Horrific satires of modern institutions, and ultimate evil books. The satires (The Store, The Mailman, The Policy, The Ignored, The Association) are excellent. The others (The Return, The Revelation, Dominion, The House) have some kind of ultimate evil that doesn't feel familiar to the reader. These don't usually come out too well and this is one of those.I've read almost every one of his novels and I recommend many of them to anyone who won't get offended by taboo subjects in the name of horror. Also a warning about his endings. No matter how good the rest of the book is, the ending always falls apart. He just can't write endings that live up to the rest of the book. But his great stuff doesn't really need a good ending. I'd go buy The Store, or The Walking (about witches and zombies) if you haven't already. Save this one for later if you want to read everything Little. 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Chaotic and strange,
By - Kasia S. - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Vanishing (Mass Market Paperback)
An epidemic of sorts has broken out across California, the rich and wealthy men, respected in the society until now have all gone mad, committing atrocities and slaughtering their own families. No explanation is given other than their sudden change into animal like behavior followed by the use of some ancient alphabet in which messages have been crudely written in the homes of the families that perished. The men also display psychical changes, growing fur or scales, slowly transforming into something grotesque, resembling something out of a dark dream. Somehow all this is connected with deformed children that Carrie Daniels is starting to notice in her field of social work, as a middle aged lonely woman too busy to date she finds herself charmed by a man at an event that could be tied to it all as well and eventually runs into a reporter, Brian Howells, who's family is being stalked by their estranged father who has ran away twenty years ago, now back and acting like a wild creature, leaving strange letters and corpses around their home. Together they start to investigate and connect dots that form a horrible picture, one they don't really want to see but have no choice if they want to live in peace. The story had plenty of flashbacks into the 1800's about some of the first gold seekers that came into California and their encounters with strange creatures that inhabited the dark forests and lived in huts made of human bones. Somehow that is connected to the tale, modern day people who have money are tied to those first settlers and their hunger for gold, I will not say more, surprise is vital but sadly it doesn't save the tale.I really liked Bentley's writing style, it was my first time reading his work and I have tons of his other books, but overall this was not a great tale. Mainly because the story was interesting about half way only to take a deep dive into kinky and strange without much explanation as to why. I felt that a lot of things happening were left without any conclusion, I mean lots of things, what happened to the priest and why, the way the past and present tied together was done in a spider web fashion, with lots of holes, I think the author took too big of a chunk out and didn't get to connect all the dots. I enjoyed aspects of it and can't wait to read more of his stuff, but this was not my favorite, not to mention it took me forever to figure out how the title tied into the story. I do however like the author's writing, I simply think this wasn't something I would recommend to my friends simply from the chaotic story line, so I know it's not a book I love. - Kasia S. |
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