arbaazk1999's review against another edition
4.0
The dead love to tease.
Sometimes a little sleaze is well worth it to defeat evil.
Sometimes a little sleaze is well worth it to defeat evil.
phil629's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
mike_brough's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting one. An unlikeable, but not unsympathetic, hero, the epitome of modern secularism, is gradually persuaded that evil is real. Maybe.
Some good set pieces, some good characters. I found the authorial asides a little jarring at times but eventually it all added to the charm of the book.
Some good set pieces, some good characters. I found the authorial asides a little jarring at times but eventually it all added to the charm of the book.
escadue's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
joshtenet's review against another edition
3.0
Just your basic horror-thriller. Nothing special, but very readable. Herbert's writing style is fantastic at times, too.
tobin_elliott's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
"Sometimes horror is in the mind and sometimes it's real."
...and sometimes it just ain't that good.
I'm truly starting to wonder why I'm doing this to myself. I'd only read Herbert's first two novels, way back when they were first released, almost fifty years ago. Of course, over the intervening five decades, as a horror fan, his name kept coming up and coming up. When he passed away ten years ago, I decided I really need to read more of his stuff (why do I do this? I'm doing with Cormac McCarthy right now, too).
Anyway, long story short, covid came, along with the lockdowns, so I gathered up all the James Herbert audio books and started going through them, roughly chronologically. But there came a point where I felt I was getting seriously diminishing returns. I could almost feel the ideas abandoning Herbert's once-fertile mind. It felt like he was very much writing to a formula.
So, for exactly a year, I didn't read anymore Herbert. I broke that ban four days ago and while I've decided, with only six more books left to go, I might as well finish him off, after this novel? Yeah, I'm kind of regretting that decision.
There's really nothing to like about this book.
Creed himself is utterly unlikeable. He's presented as someone willing to bend any rule and—true to Herbert form—screw any woman. I have a particular distaste for any fictional character who, while in the middle of an extremely horrific, life-threatening moment, still finds himself getting aroused because there's a hot woman around...even if he hates her. Creed does this more than once in this novel.
To be fair, it's a signature Herbert move, and I'm to the point where I expect it. But I still hate it.
And his supporting characters aren't much better. They're filled in with lackluster, sloppy distraction, so you don't really get to know any of them. However, that's not a bad thing, because none of them are really worth exploring.
The story itself seems to have been made up on the fly, with no concern to making it cohesive, or to even, at times, make sense. And then Herbert, having written himself into a corner, also has to resort to giving the reader the climax, such as it is, then gamely keep going to have a character come back and then provide the info dump required to allow the reader to make some sense of what the hell they just read.
And, finally, there's the curious narrative voice that Herbert busts out with no rhyme nor reason whenever he happens to require some quick explanation. Instead of working it into the story—like he also should have done with that ending info dump—he instead basically stops all forward action and breaks into the story, not necessarily stating, "Hi, I'm James Herbert, and I'm gonna tell you some stuff you need to know right now," but coming damn close. He basically uses the voice of someone who knows everything about what's going on, and is just helping you get some context.
Honestly, there was a point, about three-quarters of the way through this, where I began to think James Herbert had a thought, and maybe even made a bet with either his agent or his editor or his publisher.
Something along the lines of, "Hey, so, I've kinda got nothing here. It's really thin story that doesn't make a lot of sense, so I'm not even gonna try at all. Instead, I'm just gonna slapdash some scenes together, puff out the length of the manuscript with some name-dropped scenes of him trying to photograph celebrities, then, whatever needs explaining, I'll do at the end. Should take me...oh, I don't know...a week to throw it all together? How much you wanna bet having that 'James Herbert' name with still shift a lot of product, despite it being inked up toilet paper?"
By the time I finished the book?
Yeah, I was convinced this was the case.
This is one of the laziest, nonsensical, padded-out, boring, underwhelming horror novels I've ever had the misfortune of reading.
Another one like this from him, and I'm done.
...and sometimes it just ain't that good.
I'm truly starting to wonder why I'm doing this to myself. I'd only read Herbert's first two novels, way back when they were first released, almost fifty years ago. Of course, over the intervening five decades, as a horror fan, his name kept coming up and coming up. When he passed away ten years ago, I decided I really need to read more of his stuff (why do I do this? I'm doing with Cormac McCarthy right now, too).
Anyway, long story short, covid came, along with the lockdowns, so I gathered up all the James Herbert audio books and started going through them, roughly chronologically. But there came a point where I felt I was getting seriously diminishing returns. I could almost feel the ideas abandoning Herbert's once-fertile mind. It felt like he was very much writing to a formula.
So, for exactly a year, I didn't read anymore Herbert. I broke that ban four days ago and while I've decided, with only six more books left to go, I might as well finish him off, after this novel? Yeah, I'm kind of regretting that decision.
There's really nothing to like about this book.
Creed himself is utterly unlikeable. He's presented as someone willing to bend any rule and—true to Herbert form—screw any woman. I have a particular distaste for any fictional character who, while in the middle of an extremely horrific, life-threatening moment, still finds himself getting aroused because there's a hot woman around...even if he hates her. Creed does this more than once in this novel.
To be fair, it's a signature Herbert move, and I'm to the point where I expect it. But I still hate it.
And his supporting characters aren't much better. They're filled in with lackluster, sloppy distraction, so you don't really get to know any of them. However, that's not a bad thing, because none of them are really worth exploring.
The story itself seems to have been made up on the fly, with no concern to making it cohesive, or to even, at times, make sense. And then Herbert, having written himself into a corner, also has to resort to giving the reader the climax, such as it is, then gamely keep going to have a character come back and then provide the info dump required to allow the reader to make some sense of what the hell they just read.
And, finally, there's the curious narrative voice that Herbert busts out with no rhyme nor reason whenever he happens to require some quick explanation. Instead of working it into the story—like he also should have done with that ending info dump—he instead basically stops all forward action and breaks into the story, not necessarily stating, "Hi, I'm James Herbert, and I'm gonna tell you some stuff you need to know right now," but coming damn close. He basically uses the voice of someone who knows everything about what's going on, and is just helping you get some context.
Honestly, there was a point, about three-quarters of the way through this, where I began to think James Herbert had a thought, and maybe even made a bet with either his agent or his editor or his publisher.
Something along the lines of, "Hey, so, I've kinda got nothing here. It's really thin story that doesn't make a lot of sense, so I'm not even gonna try at all. Instead, I'm just gonna slapdash some scenes together, puff out the length of the manuscript with some name-dropped scenes of him trying to photograph celebrities, then, whatever needs explaining, I'll do at the end. Should take me...oh, I don't know...a week to throw it all together? How much you wanna bet having that 'James Herbert' name with still shift a lot of product, despite it being inked up toilet paper?"
By the time I finished the book?
Yeah, I was convinced this was the case.
This is one of the laziest, nonsensical, padded-out, boring, underwhelming horror novels I've ever had the misfortune of reading.
Another one like this from him, and I'm done.
trisha76's review against another edition
3.0
Bij de begrafenis van een beroemde Hollywood-ster is ook Joseph Creed aanwezig. Joseph is foto-journalist. Dag en nacht ligt hij op de loer om sensationele plaatjes te schieten.
Creed mag dan een fotograferende aasgier zijn, hij is goed in zijn vak. Hij aarzelt dan ook geen moment om na de begrafenis met zijn camera een vreemde man te betrappen die op ziekelijke wijze het verse graf schendt. Creed is razend benieuwd naar de identiteit van deze persoon, want hij lijkt sprekend op de beruchte kindermoordenaar die tientallen jaren geleden werd opgehangen...
Korte tijd later wenst Creed dat hij nooit aan zijn speurtocht naar de onbekende grafschenner was begonnen. Tot bloedens toe verwond, verbijsterd en doodsbang moet Creed erkennen dat duistere krachten van zijn geest bezit hebben genomen. Creed kan geen weerstand bieden aan hun lage, dierlijke verlangens.
Maar de demonen zijn vermoeid. De eeuwen en het kwaad dat zij hebben gesticht hebben hun tol geëist. Zij zijn moe, en kwaad op Creed, gruwelijk kwaad...
---
Omdat ik, toen ik het boek las, nog geen (echte) beoordelingen en mening gaf over boeken is het voor mij niet mogelijk om nu een juiste waardering aan het boek te geven. Ik hoop in de aankomende jaren tijd te vinden om oude boeken weer op te pakken om opnieuw te lezen, zodat ik ook deze boeken een juiste waardering kan geven.
---
Overige boekinformatie:
Creed
Uitgeverij: Van Holkema & Warendorf (1990)
ISBN : 90.269.7164.8
285 pagina’s; Paperback
Creed mag dan een fotograferende aasgier zijn, hij is goed in zijn vak. Hij aarzelt dan ook geen moment om na de begrafenis met zijn camera een vreemde man te betrappen die op ziekelijke wijze het verse graf schendt. Creed is razend benieuwd naar de identiteit van deze persoon, want hij lijkt sprekend op de beruchte kindermoordenaar die tientallen jaren geleden werd opgehangen...
Korte tijd later wenst Creed dat hij nooit aan zijn speurtocht naar de onbekende grafschenner was begonnen. Tot bloedens toe verwond, verbijsterd en doodsbang moet Creed erkennen dat duistere krachten van zijn geest bezit hebben genomen. Creed kan geen weerstand bieden aan hun lage, dierlijke verlangens.
Maar de demonen zijn vermoeid. De eeuwen en het kwaad dat zij hebben gesticht hebben hun tol geëist. Zij zijn moe, en kwaad op Creed, gruwelijk kwaad...
---
Omdat ik, toen ik het boek las, nog geen (echte) beoordelingen en mening gaf over boeken is het voor mij niet mogelijk om nu een juiste waardering aan het boek te geven. Ik hoop in de aankomende jaren tijd te vinden om oude boeken weer op te pakken om opnieuw te lezen, zodat ik ook deze boeken een juiste waardering kan geven.
---
Overige boekinformatie:
Creed
Uitgeverij: Van Holkema & Warendorf (1990)
ISBN : 90.269.7164.8
285 pagina’s; Paperback
annie921992's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Page turning gripping edge of your seat. Very hard to put down James Herbert at his best.