james herbert
i absolutely adore The Fog. it has a nice level of creepy going on and is an easy and engaging read.
the rats trilogy is also very good, i've read it several times.
one of his books that nobody ever seems to mention is '48, which focuses on an alternate ending to WWII. picked it up in poundland a few years ago and i'm very glad i did. it's an excellent read, even if it is a bit slow to start.
however, don't get me wrong. i'm not saying all of his books are great, the magic cottage is utter shit. all i'm saying is that anyone can write a bad book, but that doesn't mean they can't also write some really good ones, too.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:19, 24 replies)

Moon is pretty good, and The Dark freaked the hell out of me the first time I read it.
I agree with you though, some of his stuff is shite (as you say, The Magic Cottage in particular).
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:24, closed)

i'd completely forgotten about the dark
i took the magic cottage on holiday with me, only managed to read it by getting plastered on strongbow :(
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:32, closed)

That 'Crickley Hall' nonsense put me off him.
The Rats trilogy, Dark and Sepulchre were good. Shaun Hutson wrote some like his but they seemed to focus on the horror more than the story.
I thought '48 was original and well written. A bit slow? Fair comment.
( NooShmoo It's a fantazmagorical pile of ultra bollocks, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:28, closed)

i liked the muriel/stein twist
genuinely didn't see it coming
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:33, closed)

I really liked Fluke

( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:31, closed)

oddly, i prefer the film

( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:32, closed)

Hm, I'm a bit out of touch, it seems
www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/james-herbert/

There's a fourth in the Rats series and a new David Ash book?
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:38, closed)

forgot all about The City!
may have to pay a visit to waterstone's
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:16, closed)

I've read three James herbert (Ghosts of Sleath and another couple I can't remember)
each one had a quite unnecessary sex scene crowbarred in - I'm not sure if all his novels are like that
( h3donist tryin' to play me out as if my name is Sega.., Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:31, closed)

most of them do have a sex scene
he seems to use it as a tool to vent his caracters' anger and/or tension throughout the story and sometimes to take them off their guard.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 16:35, closed)

Used to be a fan
"The Fog" was the first "grown up" book I read when I was a kid, and I loved it. Think I've read it about a dozen times since then. I did enjoy "The Rats" trilogy, "Domain" being my favourite, but from about "Sepulchre" onwards he was complete rubbish. I absolutely hated "The Secret of Crickley Hall" in particular. I did like "The Magic Cottage" though, possibly because I read it immediately after finishing my exams at school after having it sitting on my shelf for ages, waiting until all the revision was behind me. He wrote a follow-up to it too - think it was called "Once", or maybe that was a different one.

As for the sex scenes, the one in "Shrine" was particularly gratuitous, and went on for ages.
(nasalhair The Twix guy!, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 17:15, closed)

I just finished reading '48 and enjoyed it. Little short though. Loved The Rats and Domain also. Nobody True was quite good and a little different. Magic Cottage was shit.

I quite like how he always uses familiar places (London) in his stories. Kind of gets you right in there with the characters.
(Beaverman Opulence, I has it., Mon 9 Jan 2012, 18:33, closed)

I thoroughly enjoyed The Fog, all those many years ago,
and always think of it when I see the BT Tower.

48, however, is utter gash. I feel like I might have outgrown Herbert's literature - reading The Rats as an adult is never going to be as good as reading it when you're 12.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 18:56, closed)

Yeah, this all the way.
I remember how cool it was to read Herbert when we were 12, passing the books around and sniggering at the sexy parts, but I did try to re-read one a few years back and the magic; if magic there ever was, was gone.
( Infidel , shit and wrong, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 20:15, closed)

whenever i see that tower
be it on telly or irl, i find myself muttering "hello, kevin"
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:18, closed)

I seem to remember Survivor being pretty good
Would probably hate it if I read it now though
(spunkyD, Mon 9 Jan 2012, 20:57, closed)

i found it pretty hard going, tbh

( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:19, closed)

james herbert
His books scared the shit out of me as a youngster, especially The Fog and Rats. My sister used to read them to me (I was 9 she was 14) on the train to and from London. As a direct result I am the worlds biggest wuss when it comes to any horror film or book.

I have to leave the room if a scary movie is on. Even the x-files scared me after listening to her read James Herbert. You will probably tell me that they are not scary!

Maybe I should endorse him?
( sutit only the crumbliest, flakiest posts, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 1:07, closed)

Admit it,
you were peeing the bed long before you read James Herbert.
(the other guy not the one that gave you coochie warts, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 3:27, closed)

"Others" was the last great book Herbert wrote, he's been on a steady but very definite decline since. "The Secret Of Crickley Hall" was horror-by-numbers. The character of "Constance" in that book was based on an actress friend of mine, who is in turn a friend of JH.
(caescarna Hell's Roomba, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 8:38, closed)

and
for a long time after as well :)
( sutit only the crumbliest, flakiest posts, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 2:19, closed)

had the opposite effect on me
most teenage girls never had life-size Freddy Krueger posters on their bedroom walls.
i did.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Tue 10 Jan 2012, 13:20, closed)

so not my cuppa tea
but that would of been pretty darn cool
( sutit only the crumbliest, flakiest posts, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 2:25, closed)

i shared a room with my sister.
she didn't think so.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Wed 11 Jan 2012, 15:22, closed)