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The Store
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780451192196
Edition: paperback
ISBN: 0451192192
Label: Signet
Manufacturer: Signet
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 432
Publication Date: July 01, 1998
Publisher: Signet
Studio: Signet
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Editorial Review:
Bentley Little is a top craftsman of the horror tale in long form. He has the ability, more unusual than you might think, to imagine 300 to 400 pages' worth of horrific incidents that add up to a long-lasting and powerfully unsettling mood. In The Store Little examines the steadily expanding influence, over all of us, of chain stores. Listen to what one character says: "A lot of these loonies ... are so worried about the federal government, and I never saw a government agency that worked worth a damn. These guys're so afraid of Big Brother and creeping totalitarianism, but our government's always seemed to me to be full of inept bunglers, not brilliant organized master planners. Hell, they couldn't even pull off a third-rate burglary. It's the corporations we have to worry about, I think. They're the ones with the money. They're the ones who can afford to hire the best and the brightest, to competently carry out their plans."
The Store builds paranoia by starting with simple descriptions of the picturesque landscape and the deceptively banal Western town that is Juniper, Arizona. Then The Store arrives. The Store razes a lovely hill to build its huge parking lot. The Store offers well-paying jobs and an astonishing variety of consumer goods. The pattern of delight and worry in the citizens, as The Store spreads its tentacles into local concerns, is believable--disturbingly so. The Store seems like any other of the familiar chains that reproduce like rabbits, invade communities, wipe out small businesses, and turn unique localities into a generic America that looks just the same from Alaska to Florida.
But what exactly goes on, when Samantha and Shannon meet with their boss in the basement of The Store? And who are the Night Managers?
This is dystopia in microcosm. This is horror fiction at its subversive best. --Fiona Webster
In a small Arizona town, a man counts his blessings: a loving wife, two teenage daughters, and a job that allows him to work at home. Then "The Store" announces plansto open a local outlet, which will surely finish off the small downtown shops. His concerns grow when "The Store's"builders ignore all the town's zoning laws during itsconstruction. Then dead animals are found on "The Store's" grounds. Inside, customers are hounded by obnoxious sales people, and strange products appear on the shelves. Before long the town's remaining small shop owners disappear, and "The Store" spreads its influence to the city council and the police force, taking over the town! It's up to one man to confront "The Store's" mysterious owner and to save his community, his family, and his life!
* Bentley Little is the author of The Mailman, The Ignored,Dominion, and University
* Stephen King praised both University and The Ignored
* Bentley Little's books appeal to the same readership asNew York Times bestselling authors Stephen King,Peter Straub, and Dean Koontz
* Bentley Little is a recipient of the Horror Writers Association'sBram Stoker Award
* We have much more coming from Bentley Little
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - silly but entertaining
This is a very silly book. The concept is scary enough, but it is done with absolutely no subtlety whatsoever....It seems like the theme could be addressed better in metaphor. Visualizing some of the things in this book just make me laugh--like the bikini clad girls that bring Bill his food...Honestly, I feel like the crappy Resident Evil movies did a better job with representing The Umbrella Corporation's threats than this book did. It definitely seemed influenced by some of King's cheesier bits. ... Read More
Rating:  - Rediculously unbelievable
I picked up this book after reading a positive review by Stephen King on one of the book clubs I do business with. What a mistake. I'm a big King fan, he's made me laugh, cry, frighten me to the point of almost soiling myself and invoked many more emotions. I had never read anything by Bentley Little and should have kept it that way. I kept wanting to through this book out, but I just thought it had to improve....it didn't.
I think he had a good idea with this book but didn't know how ... Read More
Rating:  - Great dark satire
In Little's THE STORE, a Walmart-like one-stop shopping destination powered by supernatural evil threatens a quiet small town in Arizona. (Later we find out that it's threatening much of the US as well.)
For someone who has worked (very briefly in both cases) at both Walmart & Target when I was younger, I found Little's lampooning of mega-marts often dead-on and hilarious. More than once I found myself laughing out loud while reading this. Think George Orwell mixed with Jonathan Swift, ... Read More
Rating: - Unbelievable & Rediculous
This book was so boring. I kept reading, waiting for something to happen. What did happen was not believable and most of the time, stupid. I was disappointed in the story. Little's book have a common thread running through them and this one just hit a snag. Big book, little content, less imagination. Don't waste your time unless you just want to be able to say you've read all his books.
Rating: - An over-the-top slam at Walmart but a great mystery
Note: Some immature Mormon is angry over my negative reviews of books written to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.
Your comments or "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks
My review is short and to the point. In my opinion, it's better to read the longer reviews after you see the movie or read the book.
I really enjoyed this book. It kept me turning the pages. A Walmart-style store moves into a small Arizona town, and gradually takes ... Read More
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