Little Heaven

Product Information

Amos Flesher turned out about as horribly manipulative and sadistic as I expected, but he worked well because he was part of a larger story, rather than driving villainous presence. No I don’t give 2 stars often, and I was so crushed about giving it to this one because I really wanted to like it! Oh, and I almost forgot, there are some truly awesome illustrations in the novel so because Goodreads won't allow 1/2 stars, and because of the Cutter's imagination, and given the great pictures, I'm giving "Little Heaven" a weak 3/5.

My parents escaped from a NYC cult (“The Church of Bible Understanding”), after they fell in love and ran away with some friends *sigh* It’s a great story.I was pleasantly surprised at how Little Heaven brought me back to my youth and 80's horror fiction and how much I miss those old familiar books. The rest is totally Cutter, which may eventually surprise some or disenchant others, depending on your patience. Micah, Minerva and Ebenezer are all 'gunslingers' if you will, working as bounty hunters, hit men and such. I also felt like Cutter was influenced by Lovecraft - another Master of Horror - in the form of the monsters he creates in this novel.

About 80% into it, completely numbed, I was flipping pages past brilliant horror scenes just to get to the end.

It’s an odd feeling when you seem to be out of sync with other reviews isn’t it – I had a similar feeling with Gilded Cage. I feel like knowing so much about the creature and giving it personality so early on snatches any potential tension. If you enjoyed The Deep's gore-fest you may enjoy this, although I did find it a bit slow getting started as it begins with how the trio first formed before they set off on their adventure.

Although shorter, it lacked the lengthy, what I felt to be unnecessary, slow explanations, and simply let the story "show" the reader what was happening. Interestingly, the most believable thing in the novel is the strange creature in the forest and that is because we are given a creepy and scary glance at his development in the prologue. It's unclear what this book wants to be: an old school monster story; a long epic about religious fanaticism; a coming of age story.

Opening was great - Cutter has such a way with detailing that leaves you cringing and I'm fairly certain my face IS going to freeze like that after 486 pages. By the time the actual plot that I thought I was getting with this read began it really was just unfortunately too little too late to pull me into this book. Four old university friends reunite for a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle. Some people I think will really like the way Cutter played with the time lines, and how he effectively started with 1980 before going back to what happened in 1965, but I found it unnecessary and distracting.