The Return

August 12, 2002
Little's first full-length novel since last year's The Association
is clogged with faceless characters and smothered by a preposterous story line involving ancient Indian burial grounds and frizzy-haired mummies. While many of Little's novels focus on the darkness of the human psyche with only touches of the paranormal, this one is too supernatural for its own good. The plot, which is far-fetched even by Little's standards, hinges on a team of archeologists who unearth a series of bizarre finds in Springerville, Ariz. Soon humans and animals are inexplicably slaughtering one another, and others are vanishing into thin air. At the plot's core is the so-called Mogollon Monster, a hideous half-human, half-animal that seemingly dictates the chaos. The fact that all of the main characters happen to be immune to the creature, as if they are chosen ones, requires an even greater suspension of disbelief. Although Little may be trying to make some sweeping statement about human nature or modern society with this book, the effect is lost in a haze of dense plotting, undeveloped characters and sickening scenes that are present more to shock than to advance the story.