Katrina West and her retarded son Randy move into the vacant haunted house across the street from Cathy. The concept definitely lends a disturbing air to the novel, that's for sure. I know how worked up the Internet gets when you use these terms, heaven forbid, but I felt that the author's use of 'retard' and 'retarded' were appropriate in this book, considering the retarded kid is an evil person. For the sake of continuity in this book review, I'll also be using this terminology. But considering Death Instinct was published in 1992, the author freely uses the term 'retarded' when referring to the affected characters. In 2013, the diagnostic term 'mentally retarded' was retired in favor of 'intellectually disabled,' according to this article at Medscape.

She works at a local bookstore, doesn't date, and divides her time at home either cooking meals for her father or assuming the role of surrogate mom to a nice young boy who lives in her neighborhood named Jimmy. These days, Cathy leads a relatively quiet, simple life.

Cathy is an adult taking care of her irritable father, who is handicapped due to a car accident that occurred years earlier. The author lets on that Cathy is an innocent young girl being taken advantage of by her sinister older brother.Ĭhapter One takes place years later. Throughout Cathy's pre-teen years, her older brother David includes her in his many perverted games, one of which involves forcing her to watch him play naked on a toy horse. Wanna play naked horsie? Death Instinct opens with a disturbing prologue that offers us a glimpse into the childhood of the novel's heroine, Cathy. I originally picked up Death Instinct after having read and enjoyed The Store by Bentley Little. If you want to feel horrified, shocked, grossed out, or (insert any other creepy adjective here), I'd suggest stocking up on horror novels by any author during this time period. This novel is superb it seems as if the horror genre in general was at its peak during the 1990s.

Death Instinct is Bentley Little's third novel, and was originally released under Little's pen name, Phillip Emmons.

The store book bentley little