The Collection

by Bentley Little

Signet, June, 2002.
Hardcover, 453 pages.
ISBN: 0451206096

The Collection by Bentley Little

This collection of horror short stories ranges from the bloody and gruesome to the peculiar and mysterious. The stories cover a range of unusual topics and characters, such as the insane phonebook man, a child raised in a family of devil worshippers, dangerous papers in an abandoned town, a live snuff snow, a deadly historical landmark, an alternative-history where George Washington is a cannibal, a living potato and a hitchhiker who leaves behind a trail of destruction. The stories are quite short, about 10-20 pages in length, so they are great for readers with little time to spare.

Unlike children's author Lemony Snicket, who warns his young readers that they may find his books unpleasant to read because of the terrible things that happen in them, Bentley Little does not offer his readers a personal warning. He probably should consider doing so, because his stories are very frightening and full of awful, horrible things. Children should certainly not read them and many adults should not either. Unfortunately, Bentley offers little warning other then the macabre artwork on the cover, a note from Stephen King who calls Little "the master of the macabre" and the blurbs from authors and reviewers on the back -- who all concur that Bentley Little writes horrifying tales. Perhaps this is warning enough. The Collection is a terrific collection of gruesome horror shorts for those needing a good scare.

The Collection is available for purchase on Amazon.com

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This review was published in the October - November, 2002 of The Internet Writing Journal.