Creed (Aziza's Secret Fairy Door, 79)

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One of Herbert's best, but not without problems. The pacing is good and develops nicely towards a (batshit crazy) conclusion. The (male) characters are well drawn out and you get a good sense of their motivation. And the usual Herbert clichés are in place; the hero (Halloran) is a middle aged man with deep psychological scars, the female lead is essentially there to be rescued by, and have sex with, the hero and the conclusion is massively over the top. But it's good if you can read it in the context of a pulpy 1980s horror. I’m a big James Herbert fan, and am always happy to dive into the any of the author’s work I have yet to read. Thus, I was eager to see what The Jonah would bring. 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. He also is in a relationship with another younger teacher called Amy. Herbert writes some truly awful sex scenes that are cringeworthy. The book is interesting not because of the horror (which I won't spoil by telling more) but because Herbert seems genuinely interested in the problem of the relationship between the Church and simple and desperate folk's faith when that faith may prove to be naive and dangerous.

Creed by James Herbert - Pan Macmillan

The path leads to the Fallen Angels Of Europe. Alone, with little help and his (somewhat unwanted) son now kidnapped by the very people that are after him, Creed must dig up the dirt of the past to uncover what dark forces he is facing. Under the threats and the intimidation, lies an evil sect that will stop at nothing to secure their existence. Demons exist. And they have their sights set on Creed... Novelist James Smythe, who writes about horror fiction for the Guardian, said: "James Herbert was one of the first adult writers – in both senses of the term – that I ever read. When I stopped reading my gateway teenage books and moved on to my dad's horror novels, he was one of the big three: him, Stephen King and Dean Koontz. The early books still retain an amazing power over me to this day, showing his skill as one of the greats of the horror fiction genre."

Creed by James Herbert

Herbert is capable of granting a fine evocation of rural Sussex as it was at that time and as a sympathetic but realistic portrayal of the Catholic Church and its servants. Then there is that horror, so close to William Peter Blatty's enormous success, which 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.

James - James Herbert About James - James Herbert

There is an interesting cast of characters who all have their own involvement with what is happening - Fenn the journalist who is covering the story, Father Hagan the local priest who is overwhelmed by the sudden attention his church is receiving, a couple of local business owners who see opportunities to make money from the new tourists, to mention just a few. Sometimes the very thing that grabs a reader's attention (in terms of an author's style), is the same thing that can get a little annoying after a while - similar scenarios, use of language etc. And when that happens, sometimes it's best to just leave that particular writer alone for a while and spread your readery wings further afield. I don’t think this book was James Herbert’s best, but it also wasn’t exactly terrible. It’s just that when he has a big hit, his books are next level and better than anything that most other authors can come up with. When he doesn’t connect, they’re just pretty average. But I kind of like that, because it makes his skill level seem more attainable and doesn’t leave me feeling as though I’ll never be anywhere near the writer that he is.The time is just a few short years from now. But already the signs of global disaster are multiplying. Freak storms, earthquakes, floods volcanic eruptions are sweeping the