James Herbert

Herbert's books are never a pain to read, far as I know.
He gives everything a nice dusting of 'the real'
some of his english policemen make you feel quite sorry for them
when they fly through the windscreen.

I didn't read him until this year but the local book exchange had loads so I got stuck in.
To compare him with Clive Barker,
I'd have to say that Barker wants to write like classics of horror like Edgar Allan Poe
and Herbert wants to write made for TV movies with car-chases and everyday heroes.
I used to like Barker more when I was little and morbid.
Now I like Herbert because I want to shoot zombie nazis in the head and know about engines :)
 
In defence of Ramsey Campbell (as he doesn't seem to have many fans on this thread!) -

I think his short stories are maybe where his best work is. They don't usually go for big shocks or gore, but are more subtle.
He has the knack in his writing of defamiliarising what he describes. You get the feeling that something is wrong, and it builds up until things get very unsettling. The type of stories that stick in your mind after you've read them.

All of his short stories i've read are good. Of the novels of his that i've read I think The Count of Eleven is the best. It's not a traditional horror, but it's very good.
 
I really liked Secret of Crickety Hall, and I liked Nobody True and Fluke.

There is a very rare (I think I only found it my Library) Called "the City", a sort of sequel to the rats set in the far future where the rats have taken over London. Its a graphic novel in a very dark style.

I have always preferd him to King.
 
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I really enjoyed The Magic Cottage. Sepulchre was another favourite ...
 
Well i was googling james Herbert and this popped up,lol. A bit of an old thread!
Anyway Herbert was the first horror writer i read and still prefer him to King(tho i've not read much king to be honest)
Recently read The Fog which isn't so much horror as techno thriller,still good tho with zombies and gore. Now I'm on The Survivor which is a ghost story,very good too. It seems a lot of his books feature mention of the nazis. The Shrine makes it its raison d'etre and it crops up in 48(excellent book) and now i've found it in Survivor!
All good stuff. Oh any Herbert fans on here might want to check out my yahoo site on him called Haunted Moon
 
I really wish I still had my old James Herbert books. If I'm lucky, my mum has them in a box at her house. If not, they went to a charity shop.

The weird thing is that I don't just want to read the stories - I want to read them in the original covers I bought them in. Especially Fluke with the lovely white cover and gold lettering.
 
Just re-read The Rats. I wanted to try to get an idea of what appealed about Herbert's writing in the first place.

It's a fun, simple read with a simple plot and simple characters. However, James Herbert clearly shows he can tell a good human story, which potentially lifts this book above the bar.

However, first published in 1974, it shows itself as a product of its time - not least that our hero, Harris, is a school teacher who leches at the 14-year old girls in his class. As we've learned since, probably consider acceptable then...
 
Brian Turner said:
Just re-read The Rats. I wanted to try to get an idea of what appealed about Herbert's writing in the first place.

It's a fun, simple read with a simple plot and simple characters. However, James Herbert clearly shows he can tell a good human story, which potentially lifts this book above the bar.

However, first published in 1974, it shows itself as a product of its time - not least that our hero, Harris, is a school teacher who leches at the 14-year old girls in his class. As we've learned since, probably consider acceptable then...
Click to expand...


They made Rats in to movie, I think.:unsure:
 
OK I was only about 11-12 when I read Rats.

When I walk into a sleepy village pub, I do feel vibes of deep dark secrets, things outsiders should never find out or if they do a grisly end is their reward.

I blame Herbert, for planting the seeds of distrust of close knit communities.
 
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