Konzultant

by Bentley Little

Po pádu dohodnuté fúze se CompWare nachází ve vážných problémech, a tak si najme poradenskou firmu, aby zrevidovala a zefektivnila jeho podnikatelské praktiky.

Jenže na firmě, kterou si CompWare najme, je něco divného. Přesněji – divný je ten džentlmen, jenž přichází řídit požadovaný projekt. Pan Patoff, vysoký, hubený muž s motýlkem a prapodivným úsměvem, který se nepromítá do očí.

Již při prvních společných jednáních konzultant tu a tam pokládá nemístné otázky a celkově je otravný. Postupně si uzurpuje čím dál víc moci, až to vypadá, že celý podnik řídí on sám. Svévolně zavádí invazivní změny ve firemní etiketě; po celé budově rozmístí kamery, čímž vyvolává v zaměstnancích paranoiu; telefonuje zaměstnancům v noci; k některým i chodí domů a vyhrožuje jejich rodinám…

Ty, kteří se vzpírají, propustí… nebo něco horšího.

Zaměstnanci si brzy uvědomí, že nebojují jen o svá místa: že bojují o život.

Konzultant je sžíravá satira z pracovního prostředí oděná do hororového hávu, jak to umí jen Bentley Little.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy, Novels, Suspense

432 pages, Hardcover

First published September 29, 2015

About the author

Bentley Little is an American author of horror fiction. Publishing an average of a novel a year since 1990, Little avoids publicity and rarely does promotional work or interviews for his writing.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

When did Bentley Little get so good? I've read a bunch of his books with mixed results, but this was by far the best out of all of them. It's most ambitious in sheer size and breadth, but most importantly it's subtle in a way so many horror novels fail to be. Little has always had a knack for taking an everyday subject and making it scary, but seems like now he's doing it in such a deliciously slow creepy clever way as to optimally disturb and frighten his readers. And what can be more important to one's everyday life as a job. Only CompWare company specializing in video games hasn't been up to standards lately and a puzzling acronym of a consulting firm BFG has been recruited to streamline the processes and maximize the efficiency. At any cost. This is corporate business at its most ruthless and human psychology at its most pathetically obedient, as the employees gradually give up their basic rights, freedoms and autonomies. No job is perfect and most suck, but CompWare takes this platitude to an entirely new level. This might be the only book out there that can make one thrilled to be unemployed. It's basically an office satire and a clever one at that. Little has toned down the graphic elements to let the psychological drama play out, a very smart move, although there is still plenty to delight horror fans. How far would you go to maintain a position in a place that has turned into a living nightmare? At what point enough is enough? Apparently, those lines are flexible and crossing them might be easier than you think. This is a social psychology experiment gone radically off the rails and it's a lot of fun to read. Recommended.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't so much of a horror novel as it is a workplace satire set in a software company that has brought in a consulting firm to make recommendations as to how to improve their profitability. Some of the events are pretty over-the-top, yet some of the changes suggested by the consulting firm are much milder than those made by real-life companies that are then later actually instituted by the contracting companies. (I've been through such activities but lived to tell the tale.) The supernatural element doesn't mesh well with the satire, and, since it's a Bentley Little novel, there's quite a bit of uncomfortable, awkward, and unnecessary sexual content. It's an interesting book at first, but it goes on just a bit too long before stopping without a real ending.

[Tracy P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing psychological thriller from Mr. Bentley. The ones that get in my head are always the most terrifying. Can't believe this has been sitting in my library since 2016 and so glad I have several others by him just waiting to mess with my mind. Yay.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 Stars
Office Horror? Only Bentley Little can make this a thing!

This was an bizarre horror novel that takes workplace issues to a whole new extreme. From spam emails to midnight calls to never-ending meetings, this story tackles the worsts aspects of working a white collar job. More satirical than scary, this novel will appeal to readers who have worked with terrible bureaucratic organizations. I would have preferred a shorter book, but I'm still glad I read it because it was such a unique story.

[Dona's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really freaky book turned into an equally freaky Amazon series. I pulled this up in Libby as an audiobook because the Amazon series affected me so much. The show by the same name uses this source material very well in an era when that is not always done.

If you like a freaky story about that hamster wheel you and I are running on, read this book, then check out the Amazon series.

Reading slump officially crushed.

Rating: 🗣🗣🗣🗣.5 / 5 inappropriate workplace demands

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trouble in the workplace?

Declining employee morale?

Financial troubles looming?

No worries! BFG consulting firm and consultant extraordinaire Mr. Regus Patoff to the rescue. He will streamline processes, increase productivity and even make house calls. Might even mastermind a few employee terminations, while he’s at it. Hell of a job…Or a job of hell? Either way, CompWare Corporation is in for some serious reorg.

I am a little embarrassed to say that I have not read a lot of Bentley Little’s work. I just may have to remedy that sooner than later, because this one was really quite good. It was a bit of a slow burn at times, but there were several moments of pay off that more than made up for it.

The Consultant – Regus Patoff was a truly great character and had some classic laugh out loud lines in this one. There was also a building sense of “creepy” dripping off of Mr. Patoff as he inserts himself into the lives of the employees of CompWare. Very well done and a solid 4+ Stars! Highly Recommended.

[Paul Flint · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading again. Review to come

[Lizz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

And I don’t like the system. Which system, you may be asking? All systems, but particularly, for this thought blurb, corporate work systems. Little doesn’t approve of these systems of enslavement either, even going so far as to slam the DMV and the HOA. Bravo, Mr. Little! You are too correct.

This book focuses in on workplace systems, surveillance systems, social engineering systems. Sure, it’s a bombastic, fantastical take, but it’s genuinely creepy, often scary. And not far off from how these people try to control your every action, even in your off-time. Hell, having too much stress in your work system, can severely affect your ability to live healthily when you’re not on the clock. I am currently switching jobs: leaving a very toxic work environment, where the employees are treated as less-than-human. Let’s say, I read The Consultant at just the right time.

Here’s to a brighter future! Here’s to living on our own terms! Here’s to voluntarism!

Book 5 - Just a Little Bit More: Reading Through the Bentley Little Catalog

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book doesn't REALLY fit into any of the typical horror genres. A better description would be workplace satire. Hate your job? Find certain policies and the people who create and/or enforce them to be abhorrent? Is corporate culture complete bullshit? Does your job encroach upon your personal freedom? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you will enjoy the humor in this book. (A word of caution: some of the content is downright rank, so pass on this one unless you can laugh off the crude humor.) Regus Patoff is quite the piece of work -- pun intended. There were indeed a few times that I actually laughed out loud at the ridiculousness you'll encounter within these pages. The book was a little longer than it should've been, but I found it quite amusing.

[11811 (Eleven) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bentley Little continues to be the master of corporate horror. Dude must have a fear of capitalism or something. He writes what he knows and he writes it well. Amusing and entertaining. Recommended.

[Elle G. Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Release Date: September 2015
Genre: Horror
Actual Rating: 4.25 stars

The Consultant is just as sick and twisted as Little's former books and I LOVED IT. Bentley Little has his own writing style and while his books tend to be similar in the way they are written and how they turn out, it's the small things (like whatever is haunting the characters) that make the books stand apart. It's amazing how Bentley can continue to write horror stories that surround mundane things and make them terrifying! In this one, there is a consultant who is terrorizing the people at CompWare and he will stop at nothing (including killing) until the office works like a "well oiled machine". People within the building are forced to to do outrageous things- like giving blood via the slash of a butcher knife- and if they don't do the tasks or conform they are TERMINATED (in the bloodiest way possible). All in all, this is another GORY thrill ride and I think fans of the author are going to eat this one up! I myself am always looking forward to a Bentley Little book and am hoping he continues to write them!

If you are a horror fan and haven't heard of Bentley Little then I strongly suggest checking out his work! I have been reading his books for YEARS and they never get old. I think he's actually one of my most read authors as well - I have read nearly all his books with the exception of 3. So check them out!

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great build up but ending was horribly unsatisfying and explained nothing :(

[Joshua Hair · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel I should begin by saying that I've been a huge fan of Bentley Little for quite awhile now. That said, as is the case with most of his fans, I have often found myself reading his books in a formulaic sort of way: the beginning catches me with its brash and intriguing opening scenes, I get swept through the middle very quickly by the swiftly moving, often zany action that progresses into such a crazy crescendo of violence and unique horror that I've read it before I realize it's over, and the ending...ultimately disappoints. Truly, this seems to be a staple of many of Mr. Little's works; he simply can't seem to come up with a decent ending. The buildup through the book nearly never pays off as well in the end, yet it's always an entertaining read.

That said, there are a select few titles that I actually really enjoyed from start to finish, ending included. This was one of them. In fact, I'd argue against some of the (upsettingly) few reviews here and say it's one of Mr. Little's best endings to date.

Moreso, I found it to be a return to the Bentley Little I fell in love with so long ago. It seemed very reminiscent of The Store, The Mailman, or The Association, some of his best works in my opinion. I had it preordered well before it was out and ate through it in a single read. This is the Bentley Little I've been waiting to see more from. I won't bother going into detail about the story, as Mr. Louis V. Proud seems to have done an exceedingly commendable job of that already on Amazon. I will, however, say that if you are a fan of Little's older work then you're in for a treat.

[Danny Lamar · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a disappointment. It started out great, and very compelling. I found myself making excuses to drop what I was doing to go back to the book and keep reading. However, as it went along, I hate to say this, but it just got dumber and dumber. It's as if the writer had a great idea but didn't know where to go with it and it just kept getting absurd for the sake of absurd without anything being explained. And it didn't really end. It's almost like the author didn't know what to do so he just abruptly stopped the book. It seemed like it had a lot of potential and it was just a big letdown. I gave it two stars because that just made it okay in my eyes. I would love to see someone take that plot and actually DO something with it instead of go in a straight line and then just fall off a cliff. Sorry.

[Tressa]

As much as I love Bentley Little and enjoy his polite-Everyman-against-evil-incarnate-in-everyday-situations, I feel that this plot is a little silly and derivative of Little's best books that executes this formula much more successfully—e.g., The Store; The Policy; The Mailman; The Resort; The Ignored. It makes little sense that the consultant is consulting not only at the main character's business, but also his kid's school and wife's hospital. I think I know how this one ends, so I'll put it aside and grab another in my already-too-big reading pile.

[Manifest Stefany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read this before watching the show. I am definitely having a WTF 😳 did I just experience moment at the end.
The story itself was good. Definitely brought up issues of competition, hyper efficiency and coworker relationships in the work place.
I will say, I hope the show left out some of the written visuals. Too much.

[Kaitlyn]

Nah, dude. I was with you right up until you needlessly shot a friendly dog in the head. There are other ways to develop the insanity of your antagonists 🙃

[Rachel the Page-Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely give Bentley Little anything less than four stars, but I think the current Goodreads rating of 3.57 is exactly right for this book. If you’re a big fan of supernatural fantasy fiction, you may like this one more than I did, but I personally don’t like when a book that starts off as a pretty straightforward horror novel turns into fantasy out of the blue. Stephen King does this occasionally, but Bentley Little does it in many of his books.

The story itself was another excellent social commentary about corporations (similar to “The Store”, but a completely different plot line). It kind of reminded me of “Office Space”, if that was a horror movie instead of a comedy. It also seems like a longer version of Bentley Little’s short story, “Confessions of a Corporate Man”.

Much like in “Office Space”, employees of CompWare are nervous because consultants are coming in to help streamline the company and get it back on track after a failed merger. Instead of ‘The Bobs’ though, we get Regus Patoff. Mr. Patoff is creepy, cold and cunningly wicked. With the help of his minders, he starts evaluating CompWare employees. And their offices. And their homes. And their families. And their bathrooms. You see where this is going…

Soon, he’s showing up at employees’ houses in the middle of the night. He’s showing up at their kids’ schools. Odd dress codes are put in place. Marriage is encouraged, but having children is not. Overtime is mandatory, including those awful team-building wilderness excursions. If an email is sent out at 2am, you’d better be available to see it. Speaking of emails, good luck getting through the hundreds Patoff sends daily (but ignore the ones with links to porn sites). And just try to not lose your job - those who do also have a tendency to lose their lives as well.

This story started off so wonderfully that I was disappointed when the fantasy part of the story started. Usually Bentley Little will only make the very, very end like that, but this started veering into that world earlier than usual. I don’t know why I don’t care for that genre…maybe because people can be more evil than the supernatural? Maybe I prefer the same tone the whole time? It’s my only complaint about this author. I give this one a 3.5 rounded up to four because I liked most of it and I love Bentley!

[Shahid Sayyed · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 line review : I have never read a book as bad as this, skip the book, skip the author.

Review : On the cover of the book, you will find praise from Stephen King.
I guess that should have been warning enough.
Little Bentley tries the discovery routine of King, possibly uses random English words and just starts a story. Thinking that the end will come to him on its own.

All the 3+ star reviews are from people who may have skipped the ending.
Because right up to the end, the book will raise questions with zero answers.
The structure of the book is like the below short story.

There is a family having dinner, they are visited by a guest, who makes the father fly through the roof, ages the mother to 100 and is able to walk upside down on the ceiling.
After killing the family pet, he moves on to the next house.
The end.

No wonder Stephen king loved this book.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed, but they were overshadowed by the frequent voice in my head that asked "Why doesn't he quit?" and "Why are they so determined to sacrifice every outside interest to be with their son every moment he's home?" I realize the book couldn't have been written if he'd quit, but a better, more compelling reason would have improved the story. A middle manager in IT has options, as does his body in Sales, and his Admin, and every else there. And the helicopter parenting just seemed odd.

Then, when I finally accepted that this is who they were and that they weren't going to change, this whole bizarre sex and death matches plot was introduced. I just don't get it.

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I like Bentley Little´s writing a lot, but he is a 100% warranty for a fucked up ending :-D

[myreadingescapism · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brb, on my way to watch the tv show... 📺

[Kurt Reichenbaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I once worked for an insurance company that treated its employees like shit. One day, a member of the board came to our office to visit us, to get to know us and see what we do. She said that she was going to spend the day visiting with each department and meeting with us personally so that she could get a feel for what it was we all did. She insisted that "People are the most important ingredient of a company." Then she went golfing instead and none of us ever got that personal visit she promised. She then flew back to one of her estates somewhere in Colorado. We never saw her again.

So I get where Bentley Little was going with this novel. It's written out of anger against the way Corporate America treats its workers. But Corporate America is made up of workers. So ultimately, they're complicit in the the way they're treated. So, we have a book that skewers them both. Years ago Little published a short story "Confessions of a Corporate Man" that is an ancestor to this novel. Little introduced that short story by describing his brief time as a technical writer in the corporate world, and how crazy it is the way corporate workers took "their petty little turf wars" so seriously and how messed up their priorities were. He was right. I'm a corporate worker and it's pretty much true. It's been a long time since I read that story, but I remember it contains an all-out war between departments in a company where the office warriors kill each other with staplers, paper cutters, whatever office supplies they have at hand. This novel takes that surreal corporate world and tosses in a demonic consultant who terrorizes the employees of a computer software company. It's a great concept. The problem I had with the novel is it soon became difficult to relate to the main protagonist and any other character, because they see the psychosis taking over their company yet do pretty much nothing about it. There is a lot to like in the book however. And there is a surprising amount of scatological horror as well. If you've read Bentley Little before, you'll know what to expect. If you're new to Bentley Little, this is a good book as any to start with. But it's not his best one. It's more satire than horror. And yes, it's target is totally deserving.

[Tessa Ingram · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bentley Little really gets on my nerves. His simplistic titles and skin-crawling book descriptions deceive me every time. I think I'm going to get a super scary experience and instead he has the same formula. Start off slow, maybe a hint of foreshadowing, then too much goes too crazy all at once and I wait to see if it's all supposed to be a joke or was that on purpose? The Consultant starts with a little manipulation here and there. Some small hints as to this (man/thing/?)'s abilities, its power to control, either by strongarming or whispering some words into the CEO's ears and suddenly a group of people are eating a dog they killed during a team building exercise. WTF? Where in the hell did that come from? It doesn't get any better from there. Maybe if he had thrown in a description of how dog tasted, it would have continued being disturbing. Instead it seemed farcical.

[Justin Tate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this! A gripping horror novel set in the terrifying world of corporate America. Regus Patoff is a marvelous villain symbolic of everything we hate about the daily grind. The novel is occasionally humorous in its social commentary, but mostly terrifying. Docked one star because the ending was somewhat unsatisfying.

[Kay Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way Little can take a common every day event and turn it, ever so subtly, into the most horrific nightmare is absolutely PERFECT! The man is a literary genius and this novel is a perfect example. I couldn't put this down, excellent writing, excellent characters. Perfect, perfect, perfect.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chtěl jsem si přečíst další horor Bentleye Littleho, abych si udělal jasnější názor… a ve výsledku mám v hlavě ještě větší bugr než předtím. Člověk se kouká na podivné pokroucené součástky a přemýšlí, jestli je to chyba nebo účel. Ať tak, nebo tak, už se podle toho natáčí seriál, takže účel byl splněný.

Začíná to poměrně obyčejně. Do upadající počítačové firmy je přiveden konzultant, aby zefektivnil její provoz. Jenže to není jen tak obyčejný konzultant… a nejen tím, že je schopný rozeslat za hodinu 500 mailů a být na několika místech zároveň. I jeho metody postupně rostou od obyčejné šikany až po týrání, znásilňování a vraždy. A to ve velkém.

A tady mě kniha ztratila. Kdyby to byl prostě Dilbert pojednaný jako horor (což by se ani nemuselo moc předělávat) a bylo by to postavené spíš psychologicky, jako firemní Pán much (což je tam i nakousnuté, ale nic z toho není), tak to funguje mnohem líp. Tady máme všemocného padoucha, který vládne v podstatě neomezenými silami, zabije každého, koho si usmyslí (nebo mu vymyje mozek nebo tak něco), a hlavního hrdinu nezabije hned na začátku jen proto, že je to hlavní hrdina a místo toho jen otravuje jeho ženu a syna, což vlastně nemá z hlediska děje vůbec žádný význam. Plus ano, padouch má nějaký cíl, ale většina toho, co dělá, je prováděná čistě pro efekt na čtenáře.

Celá knihy mi přišla, že autor dostal dobrý nápad, ale už mu nestačily síly na dostatečně zajímavé zpracování – tak prostě knihu zaplnil více či méně hororovými scénami, vraždami, podivnými utužovacími výlety, záchvaty vzteku a schůzemi, a devadesát procent změn v příběhu nastává bleskově, bez nějakého vývoje.

A mé realistické já si říkalo, že ve chvíli, kdy desítky zaměstnanců firmy um��rají při vraždách a podivných náhodách, případně mizí, tak že by se policie aspoň zjevila, aby položila pár zdvořilostních otázek.

Ale možná je to tím, že nepracuju v korporátu. Pro lidi, co tam dělají, to může být realistické vystižení jejich běžného dne.

[Dan Kloch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I go back and forth on whether or not Bentley Little is a mostly successful provocateur who uses explicit over-the-top gore and sexual violence to make a visceral point about the horrors of more seemingly mundane things, or just a one-trick-pony, above-average shock-jock-type writer who revels in the most easily plucked, low-hanging fruit on the horror trope tree.

Stephen King said in "Danse Macabe," (I'm paraphrasing): "My goal is to terrify. When I can't do that, I will try to horrify, and if that fails... I'll go for the gross out." BL's philosophy seems to be (at least IMHO, having read about 7 or 8 of his books): start with the threat of something really gross and and then make the payoff much worse than you expect. He is a little like the Seth Rogan of horror novelists--there's a good chance a giant demon penis'll show up somewhere in either's work.

This is the first Little novel I've picked up in a couple years, so for the first half of the book, I thought he might have evolved somewhat from the guy who wrote things like "House," "The Store," or "University." All of those (and many others of his) contain some of the most depraved, lurid, audacious sequences of any kind in fiction, horror or otherwise, that I've read.

Don't get me wrong. When I was younger, that was part of the appeal--this guy was raw, man; he went places nobody else seemed to go and you didn't know where he would go next. Anything was on the table and no one was safe--not even children. Seriously, I would reread some parts because I literally could not believe someone wrote some of this stuff down and somebody actually published it. I frankly respected the audacity, even if the results were sometimes admittedly very trashy. And in the best ones (like "The Store"), there actually seemed to be a legitimate point being made by all the surreal madness cascading through the pages--it would be unsubtle, yes, but not without a certain visceral potency that wouldn't have worked as well if the explicit elements had been toned down.

The first half of this book is shockingly restrained for a Bentley Little novel. It is still familiar territory for him--the plot is essentially "The Store 2: The Corporation" and the villain, main group of protagonists, and general range of incident are functionally unchanged from practically every other BL novel--but comparatively, this book seems to be approaching the most "mainstream" in overall prose. There's still a few more bizarre sex references than you'd expect from, well, almost any other author; and there is still a distinctly upsetting mean-spirited streak to the proceedings that is somewhat unique to Little's brand of horror. But, again, I'm finding myself intrigued just because this book is so close, yet so far from what I'd come to expect from Little. There isn't anything truly overtly supernatural going on for what seems like way longer than usual and most of the disturbing content is based on some kind of, albeit brashly exaggerated, facet of actual reality.

However, somewhat out of nowhere, Little cranks it from a simmering 4 to an 11 and you get what is perhaps the most mean-spirited, cruel death scenes I've ever come across, even for Bentley Little. And it happens to what is got to be the most innocent, underserving adult character. I know that is, essentially, the point--especially in what is supposed to be supernatural horror novel: to horrify you. But, maybe it's because I'm getting older or I've just seen BL use this trick once too often, but this time it really did feel somewhat "line-crossy" to me. I felt really gross and unclean after getting through that part in a way that didn't feel fun or cathartic, just like I'd participated in something that I really shouldn't have.

Again, it probably sounds like I'm complaining about the book having what is obviously its intended effect on the reader--to horrify and disturb--but it was still actually fun to read pretty much the whole rest of the book, though I would say the 2nd half does get weaker when the more outlandish, familiar tracks begin to show. There was a sense of momentum and drive overall that made the book a breeze to get it through for the most part.

The story does stay ambiguous about most of the "logic" of many goings on and what the true nature of the antagonizing supernatural force at play is, in comparison to some of the other BL books. Stuff like that is never really the point of any of them and most of the expositional information you might receive is still usually either obvious and/or unnecessary except maybe as a means for the hero to know how to not die at the last minute somehow, so I actually think that this is one of this book's strengths. I had forgotten just how insanely omniscient and cartoonishly overpowered Bentley Little villains tend to be, so the less actually said trying to justify why something like The Consultant exists at all helps sell the dreamlike/nightmarish quality of the story. It doesn't matter--he just is. If the rules made any more sense, you would start to notice how silly it all really is.

I'm conflicted on my feelings. I had fun with it, but some of the "grosser" elements went too far but occurred too infrequently so while maybe being more shocking in context, they felt less earned overall.

[Dan Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.8 stars.

[Jerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

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……..