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Pit-stop
LAST CHANCE AT REDEMPTION FOR THE NEXT MILLION YEARS. Welcome to the Pit-Stop Grill, a roadside attraction along Arizona's Route 66 where travellers kick up their feet while sipping a nice cup of joe. It's a cool oasis in an unforgiving desert landscape. It's also the last stop on the road to Hell. When ten people find themselves inside the eerie diner, unable to get out or remember how they arrived, all they know is what their waitress, Holly, tells them: a bus is coming. It will take them the rest of the way to a destination of unspeakable horrors. Led by highway patrolman, Officer Scott Alders, the group of strangers unite with a common goal--escape. Each of them holds dark secrets, but personal demons are no match for the wraithlike bus driver who arrives bearing the nametag RAMSEY. Driving an oily black bus with ghostly headlights and exhaust that smells of brimstone, Ramsey wastes no time picking them off one by one. As their number dwindles and the terror mounts, Scott Alders realizes it will take more than a police-issued sidearm to stop the evil that tracks them. But is there enough power in their battered spirits to combat a crimson-eyed driver with a schedule to keep? One thing is clear: you'll think twice before you make your next Pit-Stop.
- GenresHorror
254 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2008
3 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 9, 2015
Wow! I am not a fan of horror novels, but this one definitely rocked my boat. The plot's gripping, the characters are well-developed and the whole story is absolutely awesome. Thanks ever so much for the book, Mr. Larken. I honestly never expected it to be so good.
December 30, 2022
Reminded me of Skin by Ted Dekker.
August 24, 2008
Pit-Stop by Ben Larken reviewed by Geoff Nelder
Pit-stop is an extraordinary horror / noir thriller. It presents Ben Larken’s imaginative concept of a place we all dwell on but hope never to reside inside: the state of limbo. What really happens when we die? The devout among us may say they have no doubts and maybe some of the ten victims of fatal accidents on Route 66 didn’t either. Some would assume our atoms are given up to be recycled, and our intelligence, memories, spirit, soul, essence? They are not electrons even if they (we?) make use of them while incorporate. The fate of us all is fascinating, and Larken works us like an expert door-to-door salesman in making us want to follow his characters, yet run away from others.
Waking up in the Pit-Stop Grill knowing quickly that you and the other customers have recently died on the same highway, mostly in gruesome conditions, sends a chill into your stomach. How come you still have thoughts, can feel, and hear, talk to the others? Who is the waitress, Holly, laughing at their predicament, serving terminal threats with the undrinkable coffee?
With consummate literary skill, Larken crafts each of the characters so that you believe in and care for what happens to them even those who committed evil while alive. He uses the readers’ own fear of death and purgatory, along with their imagined freak-outs to tease and make us want to turn the pages. One of the two main characters is police officer Scott Alder, who tortures his memory to figure what he’d done so bad in his life to warrant such angst. Dustin is the youth who inadvertently killed him. He realizes that and so we have the intriguing situation of a young man who although he committed plenty of minor felonies when alive, feels guilty while in limbo. Marvelous. Those two occupy most of the points of view, and that’s fine. They are different in their alive experiences but have a common post-accident goal to cheat the devil. Did I say devil? A twisted inhuman being, Ramsey, comes to the diner to collect them on his bus to hell, Incredibly, and yet believable enough to pull you, dear reader, along, the tormented souls discover they can resist the soul-gatherer. They know they can’t succeed ultimately and yet it seems as if they might. Maybe they do. Good novels have a hook in the first few pages but this premise of cheating the devil’s coachman (bus driver) is a fishing line with hooks all along to the last chapter.
There have been many stories using our intrigue over the state of limbo. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, it isn’t a pit-stop grill but a castle, but there the similarity ends. There is a kind of divine comedy in Larken’s novel in that in spite of the nail-bitingly awfulness, some of the characters are able to bolster each other’s morale and often that is with just the right balance of ironic humour. Another literary comparison is in an episode of the Twilight Zone where a clown, soldier, dancer, Scotsman, and hobo realize the large box they are in is limbo. Pit-Stop continues with more depth and satisfying horror than that TV episode.
A neat trick rarely found in debut novelists is to allow readers to learn about the characters through the eyes of the others. By showing us their physical descriptions and foibles this way Larken avoids the info dump pen portraits writers usually load onto their readers. Thanks for that and for using original metaphors and similes. I particularly liked Holly with the teeth the colour of old paper, and cloud shadows that slid across the desert floor like sharks beneath the surface. That particular image resurfaces, so to speak, later with the soul-collecting bus; a cunning reflecting literary ploy. Well done.
I can strongly recommend this book. It will shake your faith if you have one, make you wish you had faith otherwise. As an atheist and thus knowing there’s no hell or heaven, I now believe in limbo.
Pit-stop is an extraordinary horror / noir thriller. It presents Ben Larken’s imaginative concept of a place we all dwell on but hope never to reside inside: the state of limbo. What really happens when we die? The devout among us may say they have no doubts and maybe some of the ten victims of fatal accidents on Route 66 didn’t either. Some would assume our atoms are given up to be recycled, and our intelligence, memories, spirit, soul, essence? They are not electrons even if they (we?) make use of them while incorporate. The fate of us all is fascinating, and Larken works us like an expert door-to-door salesman in making us want to follow his characters, yet run away from others.
Waking up in the Pit-Stop Grill knowing quickly that you and the other customers have recently died on the same highway, mostly in gruesome conditions, sends a chill into your stomach. How come you still have thoughts, can feel, and hear, talk to the others? Who is the waitress, Holly, laughing at their predicament, serving terminal threats with the undrinkable coffee?
With consummate literary skill, Larken crafts each of the characters so that you believe in and care for what happens to them even those who committed evil while alive. He uses the readers’ own fear of death and purgatory, along with their imagined freak-outs to tease and make us want to turn the pages. One of the two main characters is police officer Scott Alder, who tortures his memory to figure what he’d done so bad in his life to warrant such angst. Dustin is the youth who inadvertently killed him. He realizes that and so we have the intriguing situation of a young man who although he committed plenty of minor felonies when alive, feels guilty while in limbo. Marvelous. Those two occupy most of the points of view, and that’s fine. They are different in their alive experiences but have a common post-accident goal to cheat the devil. Did I say devil? A twisted inhuman being, Ramsey, comes to the diner to collect them on his bus to hell, Incredibly, and yet believable enough to pull you, dear reader, along, the tormented souls discover they can resist the soul-gatherer. They know they can’t succeed ultimately and yet it seems as if they might. Maybe they do. Good novels have a hook in the first few pages but this premise of cheating the devil’s coachman (bus driver) is a fishing line with hooks all along to the last chapter.
There have been many stories using our intrigue over the state of limbo. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, it isn’t a pit-stop grill but a castle, but there the similarity ends. There is a kind of divine comedy in Larken’s novel in that in spite of the nail-bitingly awfulness, some of the characters are able to bolster each other’s morale and often that is with just the right balance of ironic humour. Another literary comparison is in an episode of the Twilight Zone where a clown, soldier, dancer, Scotsman, and hobo realize the large box they are in is limbo. Pit-Stop continues with more depth and satisfying horror than that TV episode.
A neat trick rarely found in debut novelists is to allow readers to learn about the characters through the eyes of the others. By showing us their physical descriptions and foibles this way Larken avoids the info dump pen portraits writers usually load onto their readers. Thanks for that and for using original metaphors and similes. I particularly liked Holly with the teeth the colour of old paper, and cloud shadows that slid across the desert floor like sharks beneath the surface. That particular image resurfaces, so to speak, later with the soul-collecting bus; a cunning reflecting literary ploy. Well done.
I can strongly recommend this book. It will shake your faith if you have one, make you wish you had faith otherwise. As an atheist and thus knowing there’s no hell or heaven, I now believe in limbo.
November 20, 2008
What do you do when you wake up in a diner in the middle of nowhere with no recollection of how you arrived? Your vehicle isn’t outside and you feel a strange complacency and willingness to just sit there and zone out… when you suddenly notice that everyone else in the diner is doing exactly the same thing. Your waitress is beyond creepy and suddenly as you all wake up you realize that you may just be in a pit stop on your way to hell.
This book is an interesting look at the afterlife, and it certainly isn’t a pretty place. A group of individuals finds themselves in a hideous way station on their way to the land of fire and brimstone. An evil looking tour bus with an even more demonic bus driver arrives to take them on to whatever horrid future awaits them, but this group has woken from their trance, and they are prepared to fight back. Can you fight the grim reaper? Can a handful of backsliding sinners fight off the devil? And what would happen if they DO get on the bus? Is it too late for redemption?
This group of survivors is appalling, as they are all sinners, some of them are the most horrifying kind, but as a reader you don’t want them to end up burning in eternal torment. The author does an excellent job of putting the reader in the position of rooting for undesirable people because deep down we all want to believe that redemption is possible, even at this point. We want these people to come to term with what they have done and find a way to make up for it. Somehow the author manages this without ever truly touching on the issue of religion. Though the story is based off of the Catholic theory of Limbo and Purgatory, there is no mention of religion other than one brief mentioning of praying.
The characters are fairly easy to get to know as they have a form of telepathy which allows us to watch their memories through another character’s eyes. I did have some problems with the whole concept of the book in that since there were no “why’s” or religious background to draw from, there were two characters that I could not for the life of me figure out why they were there. I know that as an author he needed to have someone in the tale to be our shining knight, but why would they be on a one way track to hell? That question was never answered for me and left me a bit perplexed. Other than that this was a very enjoyable book.
4 of 5 stars
Parent Warning: profanity, violence, gore, illegal drugs, prostitution, murder, incest, rape, and vivid depictions of a hell like environment.
This book is an interesting look at the afterlife, and it certainly isn’t a pretty place. A group of individuals finds themselves in a hideous way station on their way to the land of fire and brimstone. An evil looking tour bus with an even more demonic bus driver arrives to take them on to whatever horrid future awaits them, but this group has woken from their trance, and they are prepared to fight back. Can you fight the grim reaper? Can a handful of backsliding sinners fight off the devil? And what would happen if they DO get on the bus? Is it too late for redemption?
This group of survivors is appalling, as they are all sinners, some of them are the most horrifying kind, but as a reader you don’t want them to end up burning in eternal torment. The author does an excellent job of putting the reader in the position of rooting for undesirable people because deep down we all want to believe that redemption is possible, even at this point. We want these people to come to term with what they have done and find a way to make up for it. Somehow the author manages this without ever truly touching on the issue of religion. Though the story is based off of the Catholic theory of Limbo and Purgatory, there is no mention of religion other than one brief mentioning of praying.
The characters are fairly easy to get to know as they have a form of telepathy which allows us to watch their memories through another character’s eyes. I did have some problems with the whole concept of the book in that since there were no “why’s” or religious background to draw from, there were two characters that I could not for the life of me figure out why they were there. I know that as an author he needed to have someone in the tale to be our shining knight, but why would they be on a one way track to hell? That question was never answered for me and left me a bit perplexed. Other than that this was a very enjoyable book.
4 of 5 stars
Parent Warning: profanity, violence, gore, illegal drugs, prostitution, murder, incest, rape, and vivid depictions of a hell like environment.
May 3, 2013
Let me begin my review by letting everyone know that I don't usually read horror books. With that being said... This book is amazing, it's thrilling and brilliant. It is a wonderful story line, full of characters you will love and hate all at once. I'm not usually easily scared but while I was reading this book I was easily spooked, which made it all the more fun to read. I highly recommend this book to readers of all different book genres, because it carries a little bit of everything within it, joy, compassion, sadness, love, fear, strength and the list could go on and on. Take my advice and don't just pass over this amazing read.
January 5, 2009
Officer Scott Alders finds himself in a roadside diner called the Pit-Stop Grill with 8 other customers and a waitress named Holly, but he cannot remember how he got there. He watches as the others simply stare at their tables and feels in a bit of a trance himself...
For the entire review please go to the Best Paranormal & Urban Fantasy Review site on the web, Bitten By Books for the review of Pit-Stop in it's entirety. You won't be sorry.
For the entire review please go to the Best Paranormal & Urban Fantasy Review site on the web, Bitten By Books for the review of Pit-Stop in it's entirety. You won't be sorry.
January 23, 2010
I have really mixed feelings about this one. The writing is very good. there is too much graphic description of mayhem for me (but horror is not my usual genre). There are hints of religious belief, but they are not fully realized. The characters are interesting, but there are only two I really liked (as was the author's intention). However, the books starts in one POV, and I felt a bit betrayed at the ending. (Won't say much more because I don't want to be a spoiler.)
The one question I had at the end was: Who in Ben Larkin's life was named Ramsey - and why does he hate him?
The one question I had at the end was: Who in Ben Larkin's life was named Ramsey - and why does he hate him?
December 27, 2012
This was a good book with a great premise, but I thought that the last 1/2 of the book was not nearly as good as the first half. The first half was very minimalist and left a lot to the imagination, and it set up a unique scenario that had me sure that this was going to be a 5 star book.
The last half was much more typical horror novel fare with action and physical conflict and good vs. evil stuff.
The last half was much more typical horror novel fare with action and physical conflict and good vs. evil stuff.
January 24, 2016
If you enjoy a book with not stop chills and thrills that will creep you out, this is the one for you.
Each character has a well developed backround story, the plot moves along quickly and the rollercoaster your on won't slow down.
The author has a good grasp on the everyday fears we face, as well as the evil man is capable of.
I would be very interested to see what the Author does next.
Each character has a well developed backround story, the plot moves along quickly and the rollercoaster your on won't slow down.
The author has a good grasp on the everyday fears we face, as well as the evil man is capable of.
I would be very interested to see what the Author does next.
Read
October 23, 2010It was great; I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews