Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
In the same vein as his previous novels The Store, The Policy, The Resort etc Bentley Little paints a horrifying (yet satirically comedic) picture of big business as an evil entity. While I did mostly enjoy this story, as a long time fan of the author I can't help but notice I'm starting to feel that he is basically writing the same book over and over. He has a formula and he sticks to it. Because of that, if you have read his previous works you may find this one a bit predictable.
Finished this audiobook yesterday and what can I say? Little wrote another interesting story that was uncanny and creepy and while some of it was so far-fetched and supernatural, other aspects very all too real. I loved the narrator's voice and how he portrayed Regus Pattoff. At times I think I got the character's confused, so the boss and programmer (I think he was a programmer) were almost interchangeable to me. They are both married, but one has a son (which Regus kept calling a girl). I won't say this is my favorite Little book (The Association is my favorite) but it was definitely entertaining and worth a read or listen.
A consulting job gone very very wrong. CompWare needs to figure out why a merger went wrong so they hire BFG Consulting...Regus Patoff, the owner, takes his job very seriously and sets about changing everything about CompWare. Two employees try to analyze, resist, to no avail.
Things get worse and worse. Suddenly BFG is working with Craig's son's school, and his wife's workplace. Why is Patoff obsessed with Craig and his family? How far will he go to make CompWare over into his own image? What DOES he want?
Gruesome deaths, disappearances, transformations litter this story...and Patoff continues to control lives and minds.
There were holes in the narrative and questions (WHAT DOES BFG mean???). There was humor in the absurdity of the machinations.
More questions than answers, but I enjoyed the ride.
Things get worse and worse. Suddenly BFG is working with Craig's son's school, and his wife's workplace. Why is Patoff obsessed with Craig and his family? How far will he go to make CompWare over into his own image? What DOES he want?
Gruesome deaths, disappearances, transformations litter this story...and Patoff continues to control lives and minds.
There were holes in the narrative and questions (WHAT DOES BFG mean???). There was humor in the absurdity of the machinations.
More questions than answers, but I enjoyed the ride.
An interesting one that departs from Little’s normal writing in a few ways. Usually we see the events of a book from a person low in the hierarchy and their fight against whatever event is happening. Along with a few short sections of viewpoints from others generally right before they die.
The ignored focused on the lower people but never on the company exploiting them.
The Store we never see the event from the city council’s view or the proprietor.
But in this book one of the viewpoints is from the CEO of the company as he watches his control and power slip away.
Another difference, spoiler, is the resolution. The evil entity doesn’t die or get defeated. He doesn’t win either he just gives up.
The ignored focused on the lower people but never on the company exploiting them.
The Store we never see the event from the city council’s view or the proprietor.
But in this book one of the viewpoints is from the CEO of the company as he watches his control and power slip away.
Another difference, spoiler, is the resolution. The evil entity doesn’t die or get defeated. He doesn’t win either he just gives up.
I knew absolutely how I felt about and would rate this book – up until the last 5 pages.
This is only the second book that I have read by Bentley Little. It won’t be the last. There are very few authors whose books I will read again and again, Stephen King being at the top of that short list. So far, I am not sure that Little will make that list either. I read The Consultant over the course of two evenings and I can honestly admit that I haven’t slept well in the last two nights. I could turn off the light, close the book and fall asleep but I could not stop or slow my subconscious from playing with this story. As I read it, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel as a horror story. Nearing the end and intending to give the novel 4 stars, I had certain expectations for the end, what BFG stood for, who/what exactly was the consultant and what was his endgame. My expectations as such were not met.
I believe in evil. I am fascinated by, thrilled by and entertained by the creature under the bed, the clown in the sewer, the landing of the alien spaceship – but not scared, never scared. What terrifies me is humanity. The atrocities that man can commit defy all limits of imagination. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery remains one of the most memorable stories I have read. I like to believe most of us are honorable and moralistic. However, though some would deny it, each of us have a breaking point. Some “break” early in life and never recover. Some “break” and finding they enjoy it, they thrive on evil. Often times, both ends of this spectrum live side by side and hopefully we never realize how close we may have been to true evil. This novel made me think about that breaking point. If we are honest, we know all have one. For some, that point might be as simple being cut off on the freeway. To others, honor might stretch until the endangerment of their loved ones. And while there is a definite unnatural element to the story, there is also a certain amount of free will. How much would YOU take until you broke? That’s the question that the final 5 pages left me with. Over exagerrated as it was, it is still a very valid question. Even though the ending wasn’t all nicely tied up at the end as I wanted, any story that can leave me thinking and disrupt my life (in a positive way) has to rate 5 stars. The Consultant was crazy, over the top, and sometimes horrific. But underneath it was that thread again – what would it take……..
This is only the second book that I have read by Bentley Little. It won’t be the last. There are very few authors whose books I will read again and again, Stephen King being at the top of that short list. So far, I am not sure that Little will make that list either. I read The Consultant over the course of two evenings and I can honestly admit that I haven’t slept well in the last two nights. I could turn off the light, close the book and fall asleep but I could not stop or slow my subconscious from playing with this story. As I read it, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel as a horror story. Nearing the end and intending to give the novel 4 stars, I had certain expectations for the end, what BFG stood for, who/what exactly was the consultant and what was his endgame. My expectations as such were not met.
I believe in evil. I am fascinated by, thrilled by and entertained by the creature under the bed, the clown in the sewer, the landing of the alien spaceship – but not scared, never scared. What terrifies me is humanity. The atrocities that man can commit defy all limits of imagination. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery remains one of the most memorable stories I have read. I like to believe most of us are honorable and moralistic. However, though some would deny it, each of us have a breaking point. Some “break” early in life and never recover. Some “break” and finding they enjoy it, they thrive on evil. Often times, both ends of this spectrum live side by side and hopefully we never realize how close we may have been to true evil. This novel made me think about that breaking point. If we are honest, we know all have one. For some, that point might be as simple being cut off on the freeway. To others, honor might stretch until the endangerment of their loved ones. And while there is a definite unnatural element to the story, there is also a certain amount of free will. How much would YOU take until you broke? That’s the question that the final 5 pages left me with. Over exagerrated as it was, it is still a very valid question. Even though the ending wasn’t all nicely tied up at the end as I wanted, any story that can leave me thinking and disrupt my life (in a positive way) has to rate 5 stars. The Consultant was crazy, over the top, and sometimes horrific. But underneath it was that thread again – what would it take……..