Dallas' Book Report: The House by Bentley Little (1997)

Well, this was a doozy of a read. Not because it was a wretched read of a book per se, but because it led to levels of discomfort that made this tome a struggle to get through. 
        I'll be brief with the synopsis; we all have other things to do, after all. The story involves a group of people from different parts of the country who begin seeing strange (and weirdly sexual) spirits. These spirits, as well as the group of individuals in question, are all connected to a house in the middle of nowhere that acts as a repressed memory for them. Needless to say, the house calls to them, and this ragtag group must make the trek to come to grips with what happened there and how they are all connected to "The House." 
        It is worth stating the positives first: the writing in this book is terse and flows at a nice pace, which is important for a book with so many characters. Which is the double-edged sword of this haunted house work of fiction--everyone and their mama is here in regards to the cast of characters. The plot bounces between characters depending on the chapter, but since there is a larger cast of characters and perspectives shift as much as they do, it causes several of the plot points to bleed together. So therein lies one positive and one negative: six in one hand, half a dozen in the other. 
        Are there any other positives with this tale? Yes, and it comes as a two-fer yet again! The second strength of The House is that Bentley Little does know how to ramp up the creep factor, as well as shock value, when needed and as effectively as one could expect of a splatterpunk author. But therein lies the rub; while a splatterpunk style of storytelling is great for tales featuring slashers à la serial killers or crazed knifemen, it is not the best approach for haunted house stories. Haunted house horror depends more on the gaslighting of the victims than it does rivers of gore or dismembered bodies. Leave that to pros like Jason or Michael Myers. And when Little does go into the realm of his splatterpunk roots, it borders on tacked-on and needless, as if he is filling a quota and not telling a proper story. 
        With that being said, this is where the biggest negative of the story comes to light, and it is a staggering one. A sensitive topic, but I would be remiss to not mention it, lest it come smashing readers across the head like a perverted bludgeoning sledgehammer, as it did to me. There is a repeated presence of pedophilia that, while not acted upon by the characters in the story, is very uncomfortable to sit through and makes me wonder where Bentley Little was in terms of his headspace when writing this tome. To sexualize a pre-pubescent child (even if said scallywag might be a spirit) is the height of bad taste. I consider myself to be a sexually open-minded fellow, with some questionable tastes in media, but even I have lines I will not cross. This dubious plot point also seems slapped on, like some of the wanton violence and animal cruelty alluded to in other parts of the book. 
        I have read only one other Bently Little book, and that was his 1996 Dominion. A much better work of horror fiction, if you ask me. As far as Little is concerned, he is one-for-one concerning horror fiction. Hey, look, another two-for!