I wish Bentley Little would learn how to write an ending. I've read probably most of his books by now and I can't remember a single one that had anything other than a mediocre, clearly half-assed ending. If he could just learn this one vital skill of storytelling, his books would be a hell of a lot better. This one is better than most, genuinely creative and amazingly enough, not following the typical cookie-cutter plot you're used to seeing with Bentley Little. But again, no ending, so I can't in good conscience rate it higher than 3 stars.

The first Bentley Little novel that I had the pleasure of reading. Little pulls you into his twisted world and makes you want to find every book he has ever written.

Dark fantasy/horror novel about a man who has the gift of writing letters that have supernatural power and influence. This gift can be used for good or evil. Eventually he is offered a job by a secretive Company, which plans to use his letter-writing gift for their own purposes. But who are they, and why does he feel he's being controlled by them?

This was well-written and character-centric, with alot of the main character's background shown from childhood to adulthood. Some readers might find it a bit long, but events and people from his past do play a part later in the story. It also helped me to see him as a real person and care about him. I started reading this thinking it'd be light trashy horror, but was pleasantly surprised.

This was my first Bentley Little novel. He's a "big name" in horror, so I felt I should give him a read. My verdict- I won't be searching him out at the library, let alone the bookstore, anytime soon.

Which isn't to say I hated this book, or his writing. The prose is clean and the story moves along. Little is obviously a skilled craftsman who knows how to churn out 300-400 pages that will sell enough copies to keep his name in print.

But...for me, there's just something lacking. Like eating empty calories, except the junk food itself doesn't even taste that great. Nothing memorable stands out- no image, no idea, no use of language, no character. Even worse, the story itself becomes ridiculous and Little doesn't have the literary prowess to really sell it to me as a reader.

Something else that bothered me- as another reader has pointed out, the premise and story is very similar to Stephen King's Everything's Eventual. Which in-and-of-itself is fine, it happens. But I've also just finished reading the horror anthology 999: Twenty-nine Original Tales of Horror and Suspense, and Little's contribution feels like a third-rate rip-off of one of Ramsey Campbell's old stories. So these two things combined have kind of put me off Little as an author, which I know may very well be completely unfair of me.

I'll probably give Bentley Little another bash someday, maybe The Revelation, which won the Bram Stoker Award. But after the disappointment of Dispatch, not not a priority.

This book felt a lot like Little's 'The Ignored', mostly by the narrative, I think, but overall a more satisfying read, IMO. 'Dispatch' follows Little's normal tendency of real world, mundane things going wildly, vividly, fantastically, and horrifically out of control. This is what places Little firmly near the head of the class when it comes to good, fun, deviant horror.
Few writers can go from a typical, normal moment to jaw-dropping, shiver inducing anxiety quicker.

In the style of Bentley Little's earlier work, THE IGNORED, this refreshingly original novel is not really a work of horror as much as a creepy and ingeniously crafted supernatural tale. If you buy into the premise, you'll have a great time. Bentley's main character is fantastically real -- flaws and all. The story is clever, bizarre, and mysterious. This is definitely a contender for this year's Bram Stoker award. DISPATCH has all the ingredients of a great novel. If you want something a little (pardon the pun) different out of your horror novels, give this a read.

It's a horrendous book.

The main character is completely unlikeable. Nothing redeems his selfishness, cruelty and sexist attitudes. The book is over written with zero atmosphere added to make it creepy and enjoyable. There's a hell of a lot of dithering thoughts the protagonist (I use that word lightly) has that bloats the book horribly. The author often undercuts what the protagonist is saying or thinking. Main character reads like wish fulfillment for sad little men. It's a very slow read.

What really ticks me off is the recycling of ideas. Recently, I picked up a handful of Little's books for cheap from a used bookstore. Read The Association last week and there's a hell of a lot of boring ass parallels in the book. The association there and the company in this book. The bullshit ending of the main character avoiding a true fight - quoting laws in the other book, cutting up letters in this book. Ray and Stan might as well be the same characters. It's such a complete waste of time. I'm not even going to get into how arrogant the author comes across in this book.

Hoping the next Little I read will a more successful read for me.

Great premise, so-so execution. Our hero has the ability to influence world politics with a mere stroke of his pen - basically, anything he writes has a profound influence on the intended recipient. In-between strange interludes where he ruins his marriage and plots the murder of a childhood pen pal, he meets others with similar abilities and finds himself manipulated by supernatural forces. So much potential here.

Great idea (and definitely a product of a Gen-X writer) that mostly holds up. There are a few gaps in logic, the main one being no real explanation of why him. That is, unless this is all a metaphor for mental illness. But all that aside, this is a very enjoyable yarn.

This book sucked. There I said it. The protagonist is scum. The villain is a joke. The story was oddly paced and bizarre. I like weird, but there is only so much I can take. I was tempted to put this down less than halfway through, but I didn't. Can't really say that was a good decision.

Another one I've read but didn't remember, so giving it 3 stars.

Chris
IP Address: 69.420.666.007
The Internet

Dear Goodreads,

Whasssup Dirty Dawgs! It’s been a while since I’ve been around, and I just wanted to say yo. Not much going on over here, I’ve just been reading and shit, you know the drill. So, since I’ve got nothing else to rap about, I might as well tell you about the last book that I read, seeing as that might pique your interest, you know, since you’re on goodreads and all…

tI wish I had something positive to say about Dispatch, the first novel-length story I’ve read by the much-heralded Bentley Little, after all, I did neglect actual responsibilities in life to make time to read this drivel, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to find a new author that I like whose body of work will entertain me for years to come. Last year I read a book of Little’s short stories (The Collection) and wasn’t very impressed, but figured that maybe the guy just needed a little more time developing the story to produce an engaging work, so when I came across this used copy I figured I’d give him a second chance. And isn’t that what it’s all about; forgiveness and understanding? So I’m told; hell, I just got my driver’s license re-instated last week after 6 long years, in light of a varied record of alcohol-related arrests beginning at 15 and culminating with drunk driving and aggravated battery of an officer. So, shit, this is like my 14th chance, the least I can do is give Bentley Little a 2nd chance to sway me into declaring him a worthwhile storyteller, right? That’s called Paying It Forward folks, that’s how civic-minded people like myself operate.

tAlas, there will be no recommendations from me encouraging you to waste your time in a similar manner; you’d be far better off spending your time inventing a language consisting strictly of tongue-rolls, hisses, and coos with which to communicate with your cats more effectively. This isn’t hyperbole; Dispatch is pretty piss-poor despite the “Guaranteed Great Read” offer from Signet advertised on the cover. Let’s face it, that’s a pretty low ploy to shill your wares, with the time spent mailing it back and the associated costs of doing so complete with a S.A.S.E. for them to refund your money (and then potential check-cashing fees) you’re not even close to breaking even. Of course, these guys know a lot more about marketing then I do, so I am going to steal that idea for my own diabolical ends when I feel so inclined.

tAs for the story at hand, it’s got its fair share of drawbacks. The protagonist, allegedly the character we’re supposed to shown concern for, Jason Hanford, is no more than a flimsy archetype; the generic, nondescript, faceless gen-x slacker made a social pariah by a hostile, drunken father and a bitchy, uncaring mother. Not only has this sort of character long-ceased amazing me, but I couldn’t pick him out of a line up, I couldn’t get any sort of visual idea of what he looked like. Perhaps Little didn’t provide a description of Jason to broaden future casting options when Lion’s Gate decides to make it into a blockbuster film, seeing as I sadly noticed some studio actually made a film adaptation of his unimpressive short story “The Washingtonians”. Anyway, it’s apparent that unless something significant happens, Jason is obviously destined to be ushered into the routine of a dead-end life, drearily plodding along the road to nowhere, and guess what, something does come along to spare him this lowly fate.

tAs a child, Jason had a Japanese penpal named Kyoko, and in his letters to her he decided to fib a little in regards to his life; his parents were successful, respected, and caring, and he himself was a fantastic athlete and the most popular boy in school. His ongoing bullshit eventually led to declarations of love from Kyoko and a naughty photograph of the girl, instilling Jason with the belief that his written words had power. However, Kyoko’s father eventually discovered the seedier side of their correspondence and made sure that shit came to a stop. It would be a while before Jason resumed crafting missives for his unscrupulous gains, which were generally harmless complaint letters to local businesses which were rewarded with free meals and tickets to movies and amusement parks. Eventually, he gets involved in a local rezoning debate, and when he somehow manages to turn public favor against the proposed gentrification, this confirms that he’s got a real gift, and the world is his to shape as he sees fit. While this sounds pretty solid, don’t be fooled; his unnerving talent serves as little more than transparent wish fulfillment on the author’s behalf; if Little was a smidgen as competent as his character, I would have liked the book. The writing itself is pretty crappy, both the book and Jason’s letters within, and that makes it somewhat hard to believe that his correspondence is taken seriously outside of an junior high debate.

tWhile I speculated that Little might need more time to develop his story and characters based on his short story work, I certainly don’t think he utilized the benefit of 300 additional pages very well. Jason’s uncanny ability doesn’t need much elaboration and Little spends way too much time and writing on unnecessary examples of this power in action. The fact that his family is a bunch of assholes could have also been handled in half the time he took reiterating it. So with a dime-a-dozen character you can find in any story written by a 20something author and 120 pages detailing his woeful formative years, it’s time for Bentley Little to get into the thick of the story; blindly ripping motherfuckers off. Even though the story up to this point has been some half-assed paint-by-numbers shit, Little now moves into the shameless territory of borrowing generously from previous work and repackaging it as his own output.

tOnce Jason begins using his power to their fullest, Dispatch is basically a watered-down version Stephen King’s short story “Everything’s Eventual”, and the character isn’t really a whole hell of a lot different. This was somewhat bothersome, but Stephen King reuses enough of his own ideas that cats stealing his shit doesn’t offend me too much (at least not on principle). But that’s not the ultimate insult. Jason eventually joins the ranks of a nameless Company whose ultimate purpose is unknown, and now plies his craft at their behest along with countless other Letter Writers. Beginning with his first visit to the company, every element of his curious employment is completely stolen from the TV show “The Prisoner” (aka the best fucking thing ever aired). A few instances: after being drugged he wakes up in an exact replica of his room, the company is directed by an unknown, unseen, omniscient presence (Number 1, herein called The Ultimate), his neighborhood may or may not actually have people living in the homes, he has no idea if his co-workers have allegiances to himself of to the Company, and his first conversation with his boss steals lines directly from the Prisoner episode “Arrival”. Upon reading that part, I told my girlfriend that this was a total rip-off and she said it’s probably coincidence. Thirty three pages later my suspicious were confirmed when Jason is told by his pal Stan “You’ve got two choices: accept the status quo and live out your life as a letter-wrting drone or put on your Patrick McGoohan Number Six face and try to find out what the hell is behind all this.”

tDispatch is little more than what I’d imagine if Stephen King had written an episode of “The Prisoner”. But with a really bad ending, and I mean REALLY fucking bad.

tAnyway, I hope this letter finds you well and in good health, and I’ll talk to you later. And it probably wouldn’t kill y’all to drop me a line either once in a while. Bastards.

Kind Regards,
Chris

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