Originally published in 1987, this novel was written in the middle of James Herbert’s career, an author who has been referred to as the British Stephen King. It features a professional bodyguard and hostage negotiator named Liam Halloran who works for a company named ‘Achilles Shield’. He is assigned to protect the most valuable asset of the Magma Corporation who turns out to be a man named Felix Kline. Why is Kline so valuable? Halloran is told the man is a psychic researcher whose paranormal abilities allow him to locate undiscovered mineral mines. Halloran is skeptical to say the least but as events unfold, he is soon convinced. There have already been several failed attempts on Kline’s life by rival companies but now, the psychic has had a premonition that he will soon be in even greater danger. a b Plint, Alec (21 March 2013). "20 things you didn't know about James Herbert". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 21 March 2013.

He is one of the few writers taking forward the tradition of the great supernatural storytellers -- and being innovative. (Evening Standard) Then there is the horror which is not laid on with a trowel but builds up on a premise of ancient supernatural evil working its way into the world through innocent faith even if the ending becomes something that just has to end a little absurdly because there is nowhere else for it to go. He was one of our greatest popular novelists, whose books are sold in thirty-three other languages, including Russian and Chinese. Widely imitated and hugely influential, his 19 novels have sold more than 42 million copies worldwide. Masterton, Graham, ed. (1989). Scare Care (Tor horror). New York City: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-93156-8.

Creed by James Herbert

Jones, Stephen, ed. (1992). James Herbert: By Horror Haunted. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-450-53810-0.

In 1950, a new born baby is found abandoned in a public toilet by the attendant, but the baby is not alone.... Herbert's own interjections as the storyteller are a slightly irritating mis-step but the story is decent enough. Some of the creature descriptions veer too far into silliness, undermining any threat or fear they might hold. This was my first book by James Herbert. I had heard or to be more precise read a lot about Herbert's skill as horror storyteller. Unsurprisingly I had some pretty high expectations from this book and which it failed to live up to. And for the politically correct: The characters depicted in this novel portray Jews as heartless, snakelike agents of Satan, Arabs as terrorist closeted homosexual sadists, Poles as flesh-eating psychopaths who will do anything to survive, Americans as mindless thugs (well, I have to say the cliche is a bit closer to the truth there), and the Irish as vengeful misguided political executioners. The English of course are all saints until the "English Rose" character is morally corrupted by the Sumerian-Jewish baddie, who leads her into the dark ways of drugs and bondage masochism. But, never fear, (spoiler alert!) the Englishman will save her through discipline and mediocrity (read: perseverance). (Actually he's morally conflicted, which would have been interesting except even that was racial--his Irish side was weak, insane, murderous and cruel, while his English side was uniformed, rule-sensitive, and capable of love. Ha!) Etchison, Dennis, ed. (1991b). The Complete Masters of Darkness. United States: Underwood-Miller. ISBN 978-0-88733-116-9.The Jonah’ is a well paced novel that draws the reader into the developing storyline with the mysterious events that are occurring. Kelso is written as a very human and easy to identify with character. The interlacing subplots that run parallel to the main thread of the storyline add a good depth to the novel as a whole, whilst fleshing out the characters and their respective pasts.

He fled from the terrors of his past. Finding refuge in the quietness of the island. And for a time he lived in peace. Until the 'sightings' began. Visions of horror seeping into his mind like poisonous tendrils. Violent acts that were hideously macabre, the thoughts became intense. He was the weirdest, the nastiest. The Fog and The Rats terrified me; Creed was spoken about in my school in almost mythological ways, being both horrifying and introducing us to sexual concepts we'd never contemplated before that point; and The Magic Cottage, when given to me aged 13 by an amazing English teacher, was one of the books that made me want to become a writer.

REVIEWS of CREED by James Herbert

On the verge of giving up the investigation he is joined by HM Customs investigator Ellie Sheppard. Despite his reservations about working with her, the pair soon begin to uncover the truth the lies beneath the surface of the small community. But for Kelso, it is the revelation of the secrets of his own past that bring the greatest danger. Ok so my horror revival continues - this book (along with the other works of James Herbert) was the next stop after exhausting Stephen Kings prodigious publication list. This story to me at the time was totally different to what I was used to. Where Stephen King concentrated on characterisation and how they dealt with terrible and impossibly situations both physically and ethereal - James Herbert took his characters and put them through hell with all the blood and guts he could find. This year I pirated a Kindle version of a James Herbert novel to try to relive the ghostly pleasures of yesteryear. He is one of our greatest popular novelists, whose books are sold in thirty-three other languages, including Russian and Chinese. Widely imitated and hugely influential, his novels have sold more than 55 million copies worldwide.

I read some James Herbert books as a teenager, and quite liked them. I mean, of course I did: the library had only a limited collection of horror, and his were one of the most gory ones there. Williamson, J.N., ed. (1988). The Best of Masques. New York City: Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0-425-10693-8. The only somewhat odd thing was the sudden switch to sex-scenes about halfway trough the book. For most of the story, any reference of intercourse was pretty tepid. The kind of sleazy stuff you expect from a guy like Creed. But all of a sudden there are like multiple chapters of detailed sex, with different people in various locations. territories of evil, evoking a sense of brooding menace and rising tension. He relentlessly draws the reader through the story's ultimate revelation - one that will stay to chill the mind long after

Spark, Alasdair (1993). "Horrible Writing: the Early Fiction of James Herbert". In Bloom, Clive (ed.). Creepers: British Horror & Fantasy in the Twentieth Century. London: Pluto Press. pp.147–160. ISBN 9780745306650.