The Influence

By: Bentley Little

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Everything is about to change…

When Ross Lowry moves into his cousin's guest house in the small community of Magdalena, Arizona, he expects nothing more than breathing room and a brief respite from his economic woes. But something is not right in the desert. After a raucous party on New Year's Eve, the luck of the attendees undergoes an immediate U-turn. The rich and successful suddenly find themselves facing catastrophic failure while the less well-off are unexpectedly flush with good fortune.

This is only the beginning…

Soon the citizens of Magdalena are experiencing unnatural desires. Next their children begin to disappear and freakish creatures emerge from the surrounding wilderness. The community is unraveling at a frightening pace. But these are merely the early warning signs of a showdown with a powerful force of darkness that could obliterate the world forever, and only Ross Lowry sees the danger that lurks ahead.

©2013 Bentley Little (P)2013 AudioGO

This one captured me in the first half but petered out in a disappointing way.

It felt like the author had a good outline for the story. But they lost their way in the middle. Lots of detail thrown in with no real plot significance and then an ending that was kind of mailed in.

Spooky

Fun read. Just don’t listen late at night. I really enjoyed this listen. Joe Barets voice is always a. Joy..

WOW! WHAT A STORY!! EXTREMELY ENTERTAINING!

wow what a story!
I fell on this book by complete accident and whoa im so glad I did....
I listen to audio books throughout day while I'm running errands and doing chores. but this book had me staring blank faced at a wall all day because of the extreme movie going on in my head. like wow.
if your looking for that is politically correct, fair or if you have a weak stomach look elsewhere.
buuuut.....
if your looking for an extremely entertaining, omfg what just happened?, book that is well written,and well read. then this is your gem.

(WARNING: Not for faint of heart. lots of vulgar, racy, morbid fun stuff, with a whole lot of cool story in between.)

Really getting to like this author

this is my second book by this author. figured I check him out since it's an included book.
I do enjoy his concepts and his writing. he does remind me a bit of Stephen King.
I don't think there needs to be as much explicit sex in his books, I'm not a prude or anything, just don't think you need it unless it adds something specific to the story. in this case I will say that it did at one point.
I will definitely check out more of this guys stuff. I haven't been thrilled with the narrators. this guy was okay narrating, I think I'm just spoiled with the likes of Bronson pinchot and the guy who did a couple of The dark tower books before he died.
all in all this was very entertaining and creepy which is what I love.

Good Story

I liked the story though confusing at times. I did not particularly care for the way it ended. It was worth listening and narration was great.

Great story

If you’re a fan of Bentley Little, you’ll llike this. I really enjoyed this. Creepy.

Amazing author and narration

Third book of Bentley Little’s I’ve listened to and I’m absolutely hooked on his writings. Joe Barrett’s narration and the way he told this story had me captivated, not able to STOP listening. Sad that the book is over, but onto the next of Little’s if there’s another available in this audio app. I’ll be researching more of Joe Barrett’s works in narration as well. He made every character come alive and I couldn’t get enough! Thanks for the wonderful listen!

Good SyFy story.

This story is very good. It's alittle explicit in places so I wouldn't want a child to listen to it. I liked the SyFy parts of it. I personal thought it would make a good movie. I'd like to see, how they would make this "Angel".

Slowish start but worth it

At first I thought I may have chosen a dud. However, once I got to the 3rd Chapter things started to really move along. Little has developed a creative story line . His imagination knows no bounds. Quite a helpful instrument when writing horror. Brace yourself for some crazy scenes, that push the limits of comfort and imagination. I'm glad I went with Little, wherever he took things. Bizarre creatures, cult like followers and the ultimate battle of good versus evil will make for a wonderful listen. Joe Barrett's narration was perfection. His breadth of accents, voices and intensity was a perfect match for Littles's limitless animation. The only flaw I'd critique were some mysogenistic references. A derogatory term of a promiscuous woman and a scene where a woman thinks her hormones were tying into paranoid thoughts. It just really sat wrong with me and out character with the strong and determined females he created.

Grotesque

There is a lot of gross things that happen in the story. That seems to be the horror aspect of it all. There are also scenes that didn't really sit well with me, but I suppose that was the idea. The narrator was a little bit fast. There wasn't too much suspense in his voice. Not my cup of tea, but I did manage to listen to it until the end.