A Frightening Look Inside "The Store"

There are many horror writers that have tingled the spines of so many readers. The biggest name among them, is Stephen King, and justifiably so. His work has been the ultimate escape for me as a reader and inspiration in regards to my own goals as a fiction writer. However, with all of this being said, there is a name that has in a short amount of time become another inspirational outlet. His name is Bentley Little, and he makes King’s feel like something out of Disney when it comes to disturbing the reader. King would likely agree, since he himself has dubbed Little “the horror poet laureate.” Now let’s talk about why.

The most recent book by Little that I’ve picked up is The Store, which tells the story of a small town when a well known retail chain decides to open up one in town. It’s simply called The Store. For this town it creates job opportunities and shopping conveniences with it being near the townspeople and the discount prices. However, it becomes quickly apparent that there’s something deeply wrong with this retail outlet. Strange things begin happening. People who work for the new discount store begin acting differently, over time becoming unrecognizable. People begin disappearing. Most of them being people who are against The Store. It doesn’t take long for The Store to take over everything in this small town. It becomes a frightening, paranoid place to be for all its inhabitants, as the intentions of the founder of The Store become more and more clear in a frightening conclusion.

I have to admit, when I saw that there was a novel in Little’s body of work called The Store where the horrors surround a literal store, I rolled my eyes. If one thing is known about Little’s novels it’s that he often goes with what may seem like generic titles. For example, there’s The Store, The Mailman, The Town, The Resort, The Handyman, you get the idea. Sure, anything can be made scary, and I knew he would have some powerful things to say. But what could possibly be scary about this concept that would surpass the disturbing prose of his other books I’ve read? Which I might add, had their own generic titles. The House, The Summoning, The Influence, clearly he has a theme going here. My doubts were completely washed away once I began reading the book. What Little does with this novel is create a disturbing atmosphere of tension, unease, and growing paranoia. As you read, you know there’s something wrong with the store, and you’re consistently guessing what exactly it is. While I won’t say exactly the direction it takes, I will say it took something that might be considered predictable into something that lives completely in a league all its own. So many points of this book left me feeling extremely uncomfortable, like I was standing in the middle of one of The Store’s aisles naked, with a bunch of prying eyes staring at me. As I will go into with more pieces discussing his body of work, Little has a knack for going to a dark place of the soul that also has a strange sexual spin to it. A spin that’s both repulsive and in a strange way, even enticing. This on its own is enough to make you ask yourself “Is there something wrong with me? Is there something about myself that I don’t know about that I need to address with a therapist?”. These are the kinds of questions I love being forced to ask as a reader. It makes the reading experience more challenging, forcing one to think critically, while also feeling that you’re being forcibly held with your skin pressed against a stranger who both disgusts you, but you’re desperate to know more about.

Stephen King writes in a similar fashion, where you’re asking many of the same uncomfortable questions. However, the difference between these two writers, for me, is that King’s voice feels more like the good friend you’ve known years telling you dark but funny stories over a nice steak and lobster dinner, whereas Little feels more like the man who enticing you into helping him, even though crutches that hold him up a fake and take you off your guard. Or, a simpler example. King makes intense passionate love with his stories the way everyone longs for. While Little fucks you from behind hard enough to almost hurt while still being pleasurable at the same time, with his fingers wrapped around your face and probing into your mouth. Both are intimate. Both are intense. Both of them have their own unique style that says a great deal about these two as separate writers, although they write for the same genre.

Horror isn’t for everyone and those who are remotely squeamish that can barely handle a Stephen King story will more than likely not enjoy The Store or any novel penned by Bentley Little for that matter. For those who do love a good horror novel, who’ve had a taste for King and are looking for a different experience, Little is a writer I would highly recommend.