The Consultant

I've been a BL fan for a long time. His 'everyday people getting into extraordinary situations' is charming, and he's a great storyteller. He's hit and miss though, and this was the greatest miss to date for me. It took me a month to slog through this book. I started to hate reading, but I have to finish what I start. As usual, he writes women poorly, and resorts to having them sexually abused. It's a tried and true horror cliche along with the "bossy wife" trope (employed in this one too) that needs to die faster than the women do in print.This book is terrible. He has some wonders... go read The Ignored. Pass on this mess.

Boy oh boy, I don't know how the author does it, but he is really good at taking everyday situations and really giving it a high creep factor! This book made me glad that I don't have to go into a work environment anymore!It starts off with a Compuware company that decides to hire a marketing consultant to find ways to make it work better. Coming in with the highest recommendation, the CEO decides to bring in the consultant BFG, with the ultimate, deranged sociopath (imo), Regus Patoff. But, he isn't just a regular, normal consultant and the strategies he implements will have you running to the nearest closet and hide like a blubbering idiot. He is truly something to experience and I am going to just leave it there. You'll just have to read the book to find out what I mean.I've always been a fan of this author and was glad to see this new release. I grabbed it as soon as I saw it and I was not disappointed. 4 stars and definitely recommended to horror fans. Just be careful when you go to work...you never know who might be watching.

I’ve been a big fan of Bentley Little since I first read him and The Consultant did nothing to change that. In many ways, it was back to the old Bentley, as I’ve heard others have said. By some fluke, when I bought a batch of icky bug novels off Amazon (because I couldn’t buy them locally through the regular bookstores), I happened to get a signed copy! I got #48 out of 750 which is pretty cool. I would’ve preferred a more personalized copy, but I’ll take what I can get.With this being the last of the batch of icky bug books, I wanted to savor the known quantity for the last big bang. Though I read some great stuff before this one, I wasn’t disappointed with The Consultant.This book reminded me of a cross between Lemmings, Lord Of The Flies and The Store. It had elements of all three in there, plus a huge dose of me wanting to slap some of those characters up the side of the head more times than I can count. The ending was pretty weird also. In a way, it left me kind of flat, but at the same time, seemed to fit with the rest of the story. The end kind of put a sarcastic period on the whole idea. In that respect, it fit, though I can see where plenty of people will not be happy.The writing was top notch with solid third-person and no noticeable head-hopping. Bentley knows his stuff and must have a very good editing staff backing him up. The narrative was brisk and the pace fast and to-the-point.My final thoughts were on the creep factor. This story is full of it and throughout, I kept getting this helpless feeling, especially seeing parallels to so many things in real life. You have to read it to see what I mean. His insights could be taken many ways, but if they came from exaggerated real life situations he experienced, I’d dread working where he does!I had a great time reading The Consultant and highly recommend it.

I usually really enjoy Little’s books but I found this one to be slow and drawn out. Often his stories pick an entity that oversteps its boundaries to the extreme and develops into a supernatural horror. However this story focused so much on human degradation versus building frightening anticipation I found it hard to get through.

EXCELLENT! BENTLEY LITTLE AT HIS BEST!I have read ALL of Mr.Littles books and have come to the conclusion that the man is beyond WEIRD! Thus describes his latest book, THE CONSULTANT. A fast and strange read by a very strange man!CompWare computer software is in deep trouble both financially and morally , and the only one who sees what's going on is Craig Horne.CompWare has hired a consultant to evaluate and make recommendations on how to restructure the company, or so the Board of Directors and the employees thought. From the moment Mr. Patoff appears things start going weird. People are dying, and no one really knows who or what Mr. Patoff is but they know its bad news!If you are really into the world of strange, this book is a must read. It rated about a 20 on my weird o meter!

Bentley Little has returned to a style of books that oyster he writes, such as The Policy, The Association, The Store, where "the man" or "Big Brother" horrifically uses their influences evilly against the little guy or the common man. It was these books of his that cemented me as a dedicated fan for Life of his writing, and The Consultant is a wonderful literary return to this style of writing that is uniquely his own. If you have not read a Bentley Little novel, then you have denied yourself a wonderful treat. Just prepare for sleepless nights of marathon reading sessions with you pleading with yourself "just one more chapter!".

I love Stephen King. Love him.I love so called 'literary fiction'.And in fact, am quite a snob about my predilections.I just found Bentley Little and I am jubilantHow did I not find him sooner?What luck to have found him now! Just when I am at the point where ten pages in and I put the books aside.I am on The Mailman and I see he has written many!Mr Little, please write more and write faster.For a book junkie, I have hit the mother lode and I am one very happy....satisfied and excited book hag!Hallelujah

Bentley Little delivers once again with The Consultant, a book that pts normal people against a diobolical tyrant hell-bent on creating the perfect work environment, no matter the cost.

Love this author...excellent read

I love this guy always have,his usual insidious style,a truly scary book that once again turns the normal into the abnormal.

Leider muss ich - wie schon öfters - das Fazit ziehen: Kennt man einen Bentley Little Roman, dann kennt man alle. Leider sind seine Bücher immer nach Schema F gestaltet. Das muss nicht unbedingt schlecht sein, aber hier nervte es mich nach gewisser Zeit, denn es kam einem alles irgendwie bekannt vor.Der Thriller begann durchaus spannend. Craig ist ein sympathischer Protagonist, in seiner Firma arbeiten mehrere sympathische Kollegen und Sekretärinnen, die Ausgangslage ist nachvollziehbar und wird täglich in zig Firmen praktiziert: Die Firma schlingert in gefährlichem Fahrwasser und sucht sich teure Berater um sich "neu aufzustellen".Die Mitarbeiter sind aufgefordert, hier zu kooperieren, was sie natürlich auch tun, denn jeder braucht ja seinen Arbeitsplatz. Durchaus spannend beginnt so der Thriller, leider aber war ich dann schon von "teambuilding"-Maßnahmen enttäuscht, die laut Berater absolut erfolgreich und phantastisch abliefen, laut Mitarbeiter eine einzige Katastrophe war - mit erschossenem Hund als Hauptgericht. Was hätte man aus diesem Wochenende erzählerisch alles machen können!Während im ersten Drittel noch subtile Spannung und leises Grauen vorherrschte - ganz wie es sein sollte - kommt dann der Humor und Grusel mit dem Holzhammer: Ordinäres, vulgäres, Splatter - ein widerlicher Vorfall, ein Unfall, ein Mord nach dem anderen. Alles schon dutzendmal gelesen.Das Ende kommt so überraschend und ist so schnell vorbei, dass man mit zig Fragen zurückbleibt. Kann sein, dass hier dem Autoren einfach die Ideen ausgingen und er keine Lust mehr hatte - oder es gibt einen zweiten Teil.Fazit: VIel Potential vertan, was hätte man daraus machen können. So ist es eine blutige Splatterorgie ohne subtilen Humor und Grusel geworden, leider nur für eingefleischte Bentley Little Fans empfehlenswert.

A great read. Love Bradley Little almost as much as Stephen King

More like his older books; graphic! A good read!