Product 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #200476 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 400 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780451221858
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

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.)
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Customer Reviews

Not exactly recommended...
Being a fan of most genres of literature and a high school English teacher, I try to read as many authors as I can to have a wide range of knowledge. I consider myself a huge horror fan and this was my second book by this author.

I can't really recommend this book but I wouldn't say it was a waste of my time. It took me about 100 pages to start getting into it and after that time was invested, I thought it moved quickly and kept my interest. I liked the Brain and Carrie characters. I hated Andrew though (I guess that's good writing).

This book really isn't scary so much as it is disturbing. From the fathers killing their sons at the beginning to the "organic Milk" farm, it was pretty gross (again possibly because of good writing).

I wouldn't recommend it to my high school students to read, or my son for that matter who I give most of my books to read afterward.

Last note: If I was a distant relative of John Sutter, I would sue! :)

I wish I could say it was better but,
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.

CHILLS AND THRILLS...
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.