The Academy

I really enjoyed "Dispatch," "The Store" and some other books by Bentley Little. He is outrageous and over-the-top (the demon-run Store starts selling adult s-- products on the toy aisle). I enjoyed "The Policy," too (demon characters sell insurance that you can't refuse). "The Academy" is great satire, but I laughed so much that I couldn't suspend belief and accept it as a scary story. I stopped reading after a 180 pages. It just got too over-the-top. The PE teacher had the cheerleaders take off their underclothes for a performance! Earlier the art teacher demanded that some mothers model in the nude for the students! (One student attempts suicide after the kids start teasing him about his hot mama.) If you can skim over these things, then I think you might really like the book. It was a little too much for me. So, two stars or five--I just don't know. In my opinion, here are the best Bentley Little novels: 1. "Dispatch" (This compelling story begins with a boy writing complaint letters to companies and getting coupons with letters of apology). Dispatch (Signet Novel) 2. "The Store" (an evil Wal-Mart style store opens in a small Arizona town, and soon takes over--even running the sheriff's office). The Store 3. "The Policy" (a man moves from LA to Tuscon after his divorce, and after the window on his car is broken, he is offered insurance). The Policy

If you like The Policy, The Association, or the Store, then this book is for you! Hilarious, yet frightful at the same time, Bentley takes the reader down a dark and scary path. Read it...you will not regret it.

As a big fan of Bentley Little, I was really disappointed in his last 3 releases; which seemed to steer away from his familiar and twisted storylines. After reading The Academy I was delighted to see the return of the Bentley Little I always enjoyed reading. If you liked The Store, The Association, The Resort.....you'll love this book!

I hate to use a tired old cliché, but Bentley is back in form and "delivered the goods." His last one kind of disappointed me, but this one is back to his tried and true formula. The book was so enjoyable I couldn't put it down and finished it in three days. When he nails it, he really nails it. The story has all the Bentley Little trademarks. Supernatural icky bugs (ghosts in this case), a slow buildup as things start to go awry, and plenty of perverted sex and mayhem. The viewpoint switched between adult teachers and students. Both groups get about equal time and they triumph in the end. The characters are well drawn, he actually follows the "rules" we unpublished authors are required to adhere to, and keeps things moving. Compliments to his editor. This is basically a plot driven horror story and the only type I care to read. I could find nothing wrong with the story and it is the reason I anxiously await his next book. Mr. Little, keep it up! Highly recommended.

The school district contains many conservative fundamentalists, who demand censoring books, limiting what is taught, and definitely outlawing evolution. Additionally they insist on not wasting money on poor students. When the principal of John Tyler High School applies to convert it to a charter school she sells it to the teachers and parents, promising higher wages and a better education. By a small margin, Tyler HS becomes a charter school. Even before the charter was passed, there were some dark zones in the school in which supernatural phenomena seem to occur. The custodial staff bears witness to such events, but they suddenly disappear as do any teacher who opposed the charter concept and student considered "tainted". The personalities of those remaining at Tyler change dramatically and frighteningly. Punishment becomes norm, but these chastisements make the school seem like a rendition prison. Two teachers Linda and Diane, and students Ed, Brad, and Myla see ghosts and hear voices with no one around. They also notice an eerie fog that shows the past when the school had young children having fun in the playground. The quintet teams up to abort the spell the principal has cast but each of them knows that the faculty and student body will horrifically destroy them if they fail. Using headlines over what to teach in school, Bentley Little designs an intelligent well written entertaining horror tale that sprinkles the curriculum debate with a paranormal extremist position. The story line is fast-paced yet has multiple levels while throughout providing a cautionary undertone that extremism means exclusiveness by leaving people outside the tent. Besides the principal making the law inside the school; the ghosts remind people of the past, and the disappearances add suspense as readers wonder whether the vanishings are mundane or poltergeist in nature. Fans will relish Mr. Little's enjoyable dissertation on education. Harriet Klausner