Dispatch started off as a coming of age story, as only Bentley Little could possibly pen one. I enjoyed the first half much more than the second, but still found the last half quite engaging. I would have marked this one as one of my top five Little books, but it seemed to me that the second half of it was sort of a rehash of several other of his novels that I liked better. I will say that it could be the fact that I have read five or six of Little's books in the last several months that might color my overall rating.One of my favorite parts of Dispatch was that it was written in first person, which Little does not do very often. When he does choose to employ this technique, it works very well. I really liked the narrator's voice, even though he was pretty much an evil bastard that didn't give two shits about anyone else in his life but himself.Jason Hanson is in elementary school when he begins to realize that there is something special about him. He has a horrible family; his mother, father and brother are the epitome of shitty relatives. Jason has a crush on his Asian teacher, and when she tells the class that she is instituting a pen-pal program, Jason decides to take part in it.At first, he doesn't want anyone else to know, especially because he wants to be pen-pals with a girl, which is embarrassing at his age. He chooses an oriental girl to correspond with because he is so infatuated with his teacher, he figures if he makes friends with someone of the same nationality, eventually his teacher will take note, and more than likely, fall deeply in love with him.As he goes along, he does some great things, and also some terribly evil ones as well. Jason's letters really get results.We follow Jason's story as he grows up and realizes his talent in life seems to be writing letters.As he enters junior high and high school, he begins writing letters to restaurants and other merchants, claiming he has had terrible experiences, securing free meals, free tickets to amusement parks, etc.Then he begins to understand that he can do pretty much whatever he wants due to the power of his written missives, and he commits some acts that make him even more unlikeable.At college, Jason meets Vicki, falls in love, and ends up becoming a father. Everything goes great until he gets caught writing letters by Vicki, who thinks that Jason has stopped writing them.Over the years, Jason's letter writing proves time and again to produce results, good or bad.Another thing I enjoyed was when Jason described the bands and albums he really enjoyed. He had tastes like mine! I noticed this in other books by Little, as well. He seems to have great musical taste.The book really takes a drastic turn after the midway point. At this point, I will stop giving details, because I hate giving or receiving spoilers. Suffice it to say, the book takes a turn for the bizarre, yet it does not seem very original. There are elements from several of Little's other books that are explored again here - i.e. The Mailman, The Store, and The Ignored - which is probably my favorite so far, besides The Association).Although it did tread through familiar Little territory, I was unable to guess the end of this one.The end is pretty damn good, just so that you know.I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something different.
A book that would've worked twice as well if it had been half the size, Bentley Little's "Dispatch" gives us a glimpse into the weird world of Jason Hanford, a man who discovers at an early age that he has an affinity and talent for writing letters. He writes them in staggering quantities, and the results they get are equally staggering. It's almost as if they possess a certain indescribable power -- governmental policies change, people die, lives are altered. Perhaps its just a gift ...It's an intriguing premise, but not an intriguing novel. Never mind the redundant descriptions of Hanford's letters, never mind the almost comical (and hardly creepy) twist the novel takes 2/3rds of the way through, and never mind the glaringly obvious plot elements (half of which turn into holes). The weakest spot in this novel is, in fact, the central character himself, a man so despicable that it is hard to care about anything that happens to him, scary or not. The novel treats us to a healthy dose of his horrific childhood, so it's not hard to imagine how he became the man he is, but that's not enough to make him a sympathetic character, let alone an interesting one.The novel's premise, however, IS interesting enough to make you wonder where it's headed, to keep you reading through the stalls and the padding, and the writing is deft enough to make the trip go quickly. The final destination, unfortunately, succumbs to too much silliness and is, ultimately, nothing to write home about.
What do You think about Dispatch (2005)?
I wish Bentley Little would learn how to write an ending. I've read probably most of his books by now and I can't remember a single one that had anything other than a mediocre, clearly half-assed ending. If he could just learn this one vital skill of storytelling, his books would be a hell of a lot better. This one is better than most, genuinely creative and amazingly enough, not following the typical cookie-cutter plot you're used to seeing with Bentley Little. But again, no ending, so I can't in good conscience rate it higher than 3 stars.
—Cara
I found this to be a very slow paced book. Although I must say now that it develops into an excellent finale. After 200 pages of a 386 page novel, I was still waiting for something to grip me. Maybe I have stuffed myself on gore too much recently in books but this was different to all the other horror books I've read. Seriously, at one point, approx 150 pages in, I was going to drop the book altogether. I'm glad I didnt because there was an excellent message in the book which I encourage you to read and fathom out.I'm still not sure that the message was worth the battle through the tedious first half of the book, but still it was one of those lessons to learn and think about.I will read more Bentley Little novels but I will definately need more from him to put him in the upper echelons of authors. I think I need to try The Store and His Fathers Son next to see if I am really going to let Little into my Horror Novel Hall of Fame.
—Carl
‘Dispatch’ weaves an engaging story about Jason Handford who has a special gift whereby he can achieve results by writing letters. Soon, he becomes obsessed with writing letters or rather, he feels like he has no control over his desire to write and in the process, he realizes there’s a bigger force out there and what lies ahead is dark and unknown.First of all, I was very interested in the storyline and I’m glad it didn’t disappoint (for the most part). It’s great that Little kicks off the story with Jason as a ten-year-old before proceeding to his teenage and adult years. This helped to give a great insight into Jason’s background such as his unstable home life, what drew him to write and how things gradually but eventually spiralled out of control. It’s evident that even at a young age, he was already aware of what girls in general found attractive, knew how to lie and had some sort of psychological grasp on things. Basically he was smart, not necessarily academically but he knew how to get what he wanted.Jason isn’t a particularly likeable character. He enjoys writing complaint letters merely to get a reaction and especially receive free stuff – meals, tickets etc. He abuses his uncanny ability to get what he wants. He’s selfish and doesn’t care about the implications of his actions. Besides that, he has no qualms when it comes to getting rid of people that he dislikes or is unable to tolerate. In a nutshell, he’s cruel, cold and calculative. Oddly enough, I couldn’t dislike him. I found him to be a great writer as well as someone who’s calm, detached and again, smart. Little’s writing style appealed to me as he got straight to the point yet he knew how to provide descriptions. As a result, you can imagine the places and people, you can feel the atmosphere in different situations and at the same time, it’s a very breezy, enjoyable read. The book wasn’t exactly scary though there were moments where if you think carefully about what was happening, they were sort of scary. What was fantastic was the build-up to the point where Jason got caught up with the mysterious company that’s recruiting him. There were also some unexpectedly funny bits especially the ones about some of his dreams.Somewhere around the last third of the book though, the story took a slight nosedive due to the terribly disappointing (view spoiler)[confrontation with the Ultimate Letter Writer (hide spoiler)]
—Elusive
