Behind

By: Bentley Little, Cemetery Dance Publications

Narrated by: Nicholas Selker

When he was a little boy, there was a house behind Alex Lowry's house. Except he was the only one who could see it. Only he could hear the woman singing from within.

Decades later, after the pandemic costs Alex his corporate job, he picks up work delivering specialty items to homebound clientele and, against all odds, he realizes he enjoys his new life. His world is simpler. Quieter. Until he once more hears the tuneless, wordless song of the woman from the house behind. Until the cracks in the facade of his simple, quiet life begin to yawn, and a past he thought he had outrun begins to gain on him.

Until he finds himself slipping into the world behind.

BEHIND is Bentley Little at his best, a scathing, razor sharp terror of off kilter paranoia that examines the thin veneer of civilization and how quickly it can erode... and what lies behind it.

Bentley Little was born in Arizona a month after his mother attended the world premiere of Psycho. He received his BA in Communications and MA in English and Comparative Literature at California State University Fullerton. His Master's thesis was the novel The Revelation, which was later published and won the Bram Stoker Award in 1991. Since then, he has written many more novels and his work has been translated into seven different languages. Several of his novels have been optioned for film. You can see the complete list of his books published by Cemetery Dance Publications on his author page.

©2024 Bentley Little (P)2025 Journalstone

Critic reviews

"BEHIND proves that Bentley Little is one of the scariest, funniest, weirdest, and smartest horror writers!" - Judith Sonnet, author of No One Rides for Free and Beast of Burden

"If you're a Bentley Little fan, you will adore this novel. If you've never read his work, I wouldn't hesitate to say this is a damn fine place to start." - Wesley Southard, author of Cruel Summer and Resisting Madness

Perfectly Weird

I love stories by this author. They are odd and spooky. Definitely a horror story, filled with strange ideas and places. I wasn't the biggest fan on the ending of this book. It built and built and then the ending seemed quick and incomplete. I think the resolution was meant to make you use your imagination, but I think I would have liked something more concrete.

cringey, macabre and fantastic

The perfect story! I love this man's mind! Now, towards the end, you can hear a change in voice momentarily and that happens a couple of times and twice I heard the narrator repeat lines but none of that takes away from the caliber of this story. Bentley Little is always able to get into the crevices of our minds and the deepest parts of our core to make even the most mundane things and tasks feel morbidly alive. Definitely two thumbs up!

Bentley Little doesn't disappoint

Loved it. So good to hear newer stuff from Little. Good narrator and story. Didn't want to stop listening once I started.

Always great!

BL’s writing style and storytelling is like no one else’. He will always be one of my favorite authors from any genre! This one, like all his others was great! Super fun, creepy, campy, cringy, bloody, full of all the good stuff we’ve come to expect from Bentley Little!

Not quite there

I’ve read around 3/4 of Bentley Littles books and usually rate them higher. This one felt very “recycled” to me. Almost as if he took parts and pieces from several of his other books and worked them into this story.
Main characters are pretty strong, but I could do without the author adding his opinions into his work as much as he does. I can most certainly do without the dead and tortured animals.
If I’d known the foundation of this story was Covid pandemic, I would not have used a credit on it.
I muddled through this one and took a lot of breaks from it. It got very monotonous at times.
I found the ending a bit abrupt and not dramatic.