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THE RESORT by Bentley Little (Review)A t their best, Bentley Little’s novels are like a good David Lynch movie, full of surreal and terrifying imagery and unexplainable supernatural forces. At their worst… well, they’re kind of like a bad Lynch movie, where the unexplained and the surreal overrides the story and you are left lost and bewildered in a sea of creepy diabolical midgets, aneurysm-inducing gaps in logic, and finales that leave you more confused about what happened then before you started reading. Luckily, Little’s newest novel, THE RESORT is from the first category, in the same class as his Bram Stoker Award winning novel THE REVELATION. THE RESORT follows the story of Lowell Thurman and his family as they indulge in a stay at a ritzy and exclusive resort called the Reata. Normally a stay at the Reata would cost far more than they could afford, but since it is the middle of the summer, and the Reata is in the middle of an Arizonian desert, the Thurmans are able to book their five-day stay for ridiculously low off-season prices. It seems like the perfect trip; Lowell and his wife Rachael will be able to enjoy some R&R and some pampering, while their three young sons will be able to enjoy the Reata’s two swimming pools and extensive hiking trails, or at least hang out in their posh air-conditioned rooms and watch cable. However, it becomes clear from their first night that things are not going to be as pleasant and relaxing as they had hoped, as they each begin to experience strange and disturbing things. The boys are certain that they saw a dead body submerged in the outdoor swimming pool, and even though closer inspection revealed it to be an optical illusion caused by a discoloration on the bottom of the pool, they keep seeing the body again and again. Meanwhile, Lowell feels his ankle grabbed by invisible hands while he is alone swimming at the indoor exercise pool, and Rachael sees a horrifying face formed by clouds and has a run-in with a seemingly insane dancing gardener, who then disappears. This would be enough to send most people packing, but a strange ennui continuously steals over them, making it difficult to get too upset by the Reata’s bizarre occurrences and smilingly menacing staff. But as people begin to disappear and happenings at the Reata turn more and more overtly dangerous, it soon becomes clear that if the they don’t do something about it, the Thurmans may never be checking out. To say any more would risk revealing too many of the terrible things happening at the Reata, the unveiling of which are the main reason to keep turning the pages. As the story progresses, the surreal scares get more and more intense, and many of them are truly terrifying and memorable. Things start out small, with seemingly mundane annoyances that seem shocking only in the context of a resort as posh as the Reata. However, the horrors escalate quickly and exponentially, until the Reata becomes a truly nightmarish vista of outrageous perversions of nature and blasphemously monstrous acts. As well-crafted as this dissolution of reality is, and as fascinating as it is to watch events unfold, the fact is that many of these phenomenon go entirely unexplained in the context of the story and stand alone as unsettling vignettes of surreal and meaningless filler, meant for nothing more than making you feel unsettled and off-kilter. In less skilled hands, this could have degenerated into tedium long before the end, but Little’s skill with characters is such that you really begin to worry about them, and want to see them through to the end, however grisly and horrible that end may be. Little really is a master of making realistic and sympathetic characters, whose mundanely human fears and emotions serve as an anchor to the disturbing and sometimes absurd nightmares he weaves around them. Here, the reasons behind the unholy happenings at the Reata at least have some explanations behind them, though it is never really explained why this is happening NOW, during the Thurmans’ visit, rather than any other time during the last hundred years of the Reata’s history. Unless, of course, this sort of thing happens every time they get a guest, in which case they must not get too many referrals or return customers. But my one main complaint is that though there is a mystery to the Reata, its dark past, and what is happening there now, that mystery is not so much slowly uncovered as it is thrown into the readers lap at the end, tied up all neat with a bow. The Thurmans don’t slowly unravel what is happening, though there is plenty of room in the narrative for clues and a gradual revelation; instead, towards the end of the book someone just flat out tells them what is going on. Sure it ties things up nicely, and sure it is an interesting story once it is told, but it’s presentation could have been much more organic and satisfying. As it is, it is like having 360 pages of wondering what the hell is going on and 30 pages of revelation and resolution. Still, THE RESORT is an excellent horror novel by an unsung master of the craft, and one that tells an original tale well worth reading. For those who are already fans of Bentley Little’s weird and terrifying brand of south-western terror, it is right up there with what you would expect of the best of his books. For those who have not discovered him yet, THE RESORT is an great book to jump in with, as it represents the best of what makes Little’s books so unique. It is really scary, eerily captivating, and just weird enough to keep things interesting without degenerating into nonsense. If you are a fan Bentley Little, Stephen King, or just supernatural horror in general, you’ll find a lot to love in THE RESORT. To paraphrase the song about another desert hotel, you can check out any time you want, but you may never leave…
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Title: The Resort