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Post by dem bones on Jul 24, 2012 9:00:54 GMT
James Herbert - Haunted (NEL, 1989) Blurb: THREE NIGHTS of terror at the house called Edbrook
THREE NIGHTS in which David Ash, there to investigate a haunting, will be victim of horrifying and maleficent games.
THREE NIGHTS in which he will face the blood-chilling enigma of his own past.
THREE HIDEOUS NIGHTS before Edbrook's dreadful secret will be revealed ....
.... and the true nightmare will begin.David Ash is a psychic investigator who devotes his life to disproving the ‘supernatural’, despite, or perhaps because of a terrifying incident in his youth when his drowned sister opened her eyes in the coffin. Ash is hired to investigate the dilapidated Edbrook house in the village of Ravensmore, and this time there can be little doubt that the several manifestations are real. But how much influence do the three family members, Robert, Simon and Christina, have on events, and what is the sinister Nanny up to? Where do the Mariells’ practical jokes end and the truly inexplicable begin? Scariest moments include several scenes in the cellar where the schizophrenic ‘sister’ started the fire which claimed the lives of both her brother and herself (she drowned after he perished in the flames: the surviving brother hung himself shortly afterward): Ash, watching the girl playing on the swings in the garden from his upstairs room, and then hearing a knock at the door, to find her standing before him: and his ride with Christina when she suddenly turns to him and … Haunted is slick (just over 200 pages), spooky and at times even reads like a classical ghost story, although there are enough gruesome bits to remind you that this is the guy who wrote The Rats. I also like that there’s something decidedly EC-ish about the closing sequences.
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Post by doomovertheworld on Jul 24, 2012 20:58:26 GMT
one of my favourite James Herbert novels. I love ghost stories and what I like in particular about this one is the way, like you highlighted, that he combines the classic M.R.James-esque ghost elements with the gruesomeness that he is capable of. leaps and bounds ahead of the sequel the ghosts of sleath. it was also turned in to a movie which i haven't seen, but what i have heard isn't particularly good
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Post by andydecker on Jul 24, 2012 21:06:48 GMT
Weird. I think this is the last Herbert I truly and unreservedly enjoyed.
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Post by dem bones on Jul 24, 2012 21:32:59 GMT
Other than a doomed attempt on 48, haven't read any of Jim's novels beyond this point. I liked that he got it all done and dusted in 200 pages and no bloat, reminded me of what turned me on to him in the first place. Have either of you read Others? The extract reprinted in Body Horrors hit the spot, but i'm not sure i could handle 500 pages of it.
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Post by doomovertheworld on Jul 25, 2012 6:24:03 GMT
I have read others, but not for an awfully long time. i can't really remember very much about it which may tell you everything you need to know about it. for me, i would concur with andydecker's that this is the last novel by him that i truly enjoyed
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Post by thecoffinflies on Mar 17, 2014 16:31:09 GMT
Funnily enough, I remember this as the first Herbert that I didn't like. The turning point was definitely around there somewhere. Admittedly I read it when it came out, which would make me, um, either 11 or 12, but I found it a bit confusing and unsatisfying. And from that point on, every Herbert book had flaws that marred it for me, whereas they all seemed good to me before that point.
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Post by ripper on Mar 18, 2014 21:42:35 GMT
I re-read Haunted a year or two ago after an interval of a decade or more. I thought it was okay as far as ghost stories at novel length go, but so different to his early books, and lacked the rawness that made them so much fun to read. At least Haunted is fairly short and can be polished off inside a few hours. I have struggled reading many of Herbert's later novels and gave up on The Magic Cottage and Once... around the half-way point. Have you tried Herbert's sequel to Haunted, The Ghosts of Sleith?
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Post by erebus on Mar 22, 2014 14:03:55 GMT
Ghosts Of Sleath is a superb book, and far different from Haunted. In fact it has more in common with his earlier works, and contains some memorable violence. Well worth the effort and a great Ghost story.
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Post by ripper on Mar 24, 2014 10:12:02 GMT
Ghosts of Sleith is, I agree, more enjoyable than Haunted, and also, as you said, harking back to those great early novels. I really should re-read it as it has been probably 7 or 8 years since I last read it.
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Post by ripper on Aug 27, 2019 13:45:19 GMT
James Herbert's final David Ash novel, Ash, has been sitting on my shelf for a few years and I thought it was time to give it a go, having thought Haunted and Ghosts of Sleith were okay. Spoiler alert....
Well, it's a long one, 700+ pages, which I find offputting. The book started off not too badly, with David Ash being given the assignment of investigating paranormal activities at a mysterious Scottish castle run by a powerful organisation, the Inner Court, as a refuge for people who can pay. I am about half way through the book, and, to be honest, it is losing my interest. Ash has been set up with the castle's resident psychologist, a ravishing brunette, as his romantic interest, though goodness knows if she will make it to the end intact. There's a pair of assassins who work for the Inner Court, one of whom murdered Dr David Kelly, while the other was the umbrella killer of that Bulgarian guy in the 70s. Lord Lucan has turned up as a castle guest and has confided to Ash that he really meant to kill the nanny as she spurned his advances. There's a brother and sister who seem to like to keep it in the family, if you get my drift. There has been a lengthy sequence where Ash's boss pumps a senior policewoman friend for information about the Inner Court. She discloses the real reason why Rudolf Hess traveled to Scotland during the war. Also, it seems that Adolf Hitler fathered a daughter with one of the Mitford sisters. At the time of writing, Ash has been attacked by a Serbian war criminal in a lift, which has gone out of control and crashed into the castle's basement where the 'lunatics' are kept in awful conditions. Oh, and at the same time, guests in the plush dining room upstairs have discovered that their food is wriggling with maggots.
There's certainly a lot going on, though remember that this is a long book. However, it is all getting a bit silly imo, and I didn't think that bringing real life people like Dr David Kelly and the Lucan nanny was quite the thing. Ash travels to Prestwick in a private jet with one of the assassins, our buxom psychologist and the sister who likes to get it on with her brother. When they arrive, the rest are taken by helicopter to the castle, but Ash is chauffeured there in a Mercedes as there is no room in the helicopter. That car journey seemed interminable, covering multiple chapters, and I was equally as relieved as Ash when the castle was reached. There is an 'animals attack' thread, as the local Scottish wildcats tear one of the assassins apart. I quite readily suspend disbelief for most horror fiction, but I fear this may all add up to a step too far for me, and I am not sure if I will carry on to the end. Has anyone read this one?
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Post by dem bones on Aug 27, 2019 14:20:30 GMT
I quite readily suspend disbelief for most horror fiction, but I fear this may all add up to a step too far for me, and I am not sure if I will carry on to the end. Has anyone read this one? I was tempted, having enjoyed Haunted (a nice, slick 224 pager) but the sheer bulk put me off. Have come to the conclusion that there's little point me attempting any 400+ page novels as I so rarely have the stamina to see them through. Post- Haunted, I've only attempted James H.'s '48 and The Secret of Crickley Hall. Gave up on both, just couldn't get into them at all. The worst of it is, your review makes Ash sound unmissable!
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Post by andydecker on Aug 27, 2019 16:56:07 GMT
I bought this two years ago online when I discovered it with a nice price. Didn't bother to check the small print and was also bit put off, when this brick of a hardcover arrived. It was completist buying as I never finished Crickly Hall before that - I saw the movie beforehand and boy, it should have been a warning -, not to mention Others. Herbert sure did try to stay fresh and original, but I think he lost me about the time of the dire Portent. Still dutifully ordered his books.
So I don't see me reading this in the near future. Too many stacks on the ground. From the Shardlake series to the complete C.A.Smith. Robert Jordan also merits a slow re-read.
Ash sounds a lot like A Cure for Wellness, this horror movie that didn't work either.
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Post by ripper on Aug 27, 2019 17:00:51 GMT
I quite readily suspend disbelief for most horror fiction, but I fear this may all add up to a step too far for me, and I am not sure if I will carry on to the end. Has anyone read this one? I was tempted, having enjoyed Haunted (a nice, slick 224 pager) but the sheer bulk put me off. Have come to the conclusion that there's little point me attempting any 400+ page novels as I so rarely have the stamina to see them through. Post- Haunted, I've only attempted James H.'s '48 and The Secret of Crickley Hall. Gave up on both, just couldn't get into them at all. The worst of it is, your review makes Ash sound unmissable! '48 I bought as an abridged audio book--about 2.5-3 hours length, so I managed to get through it. Crickley Hall was a bit of a struggle. I finished it, but was really underwhelmed by the end. Ash has some pretty wild things going on, but is such a hotch-potch, and 1/2 way through, it just seems too unbelieveable. I reached a point in, I think, Once..., when fairies were flying around a cottage, and that was my breaking point, and I fear that I am awfully close to another breaking point with Ash. For me, these far longer length novels didn't suit Herbert's style, even if publishers stipulated to him and other authors that was what readers wanted. I may well slow down my reading of Ash and read something else at the same time...maybe I can see it through to the end that way. I'd like to see if Ash ends up with the psychologist. I have my doubts, as his past record with the ladies suggests he's the Paul Kearsey of psychic investigators.
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Post by ripper on Aug 27, 2019 18:47:27 GMT
I bought this two years ago online when I discovered it with a nice price. Didn't bother to check the small print and was also bit put off, when this brick of a hardcover arrived. It was completist buying as I never finished Crickly Hall before that - I saw the movie beforehand and boy, it should have been a warning -, not to mention Others. Herbert sure did try to stay fresh and original, but I think he lost me about the time of the dire Portent. Still dutifully ordered his books.
So I don't see me reading this in the near future. Too many stacks on the ground. From the Shardlake series to the complete C.A.Smith. Robert Jordan also merits a slow re-read.
Ash sounds a lot like A Cure for Wellness, this horror movie that didn't work either. Brick is the word, Andy. For a book of that length, it really has to engage me and keep that engagement going. I am more forgiving of shorter works, as I have not invested so much time and effort in reading them. Perhaps others may enjoy Ash better than I have done so far. However, I will try to finish it, though at a slower pace than previously, and I hope it confounds my expectations of what is to come.
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Post by ripper on Sept 4, 2019 4:40:18 GMT
More spoilers....
The lunatics in the basement attack Ash and he is forced to barricade himself in a room, inside of which is a skeletal woman with an oversized head, and obviously severely mentally handicapped. Now, I'm going to bet this is the daughter of Der Fuhrer and the Mitford sister, whom the policewoman said to Ash's boss was 'imbecilic'. Ash is eventually rescued by the castle's staff.
Later on, Ash spots an apparition-like figure and pursues it. The lady psychologist intervenes and tells Ash it is Lewis, a young man whose very premature birth left him with epilepsy, a deformed head and almost transparent skin.
After leaving Lewis in his room, Ash accompanies the psychologist to her room and gets it on with her. They are interrupted by the head nurse, with whom the psychologist had a one-night stand. The nurse attacks Ash in a fit of jealousy and he is forced to punch her and kick her out of the room.
Next morning, Ash is shown the shoreline cave in which there is a staircase leading into the castle, used in previous centuries for smuggling. Ash tries to climb the staircase, but is prevented by a thick mass of cobwebs.
Cutting to the lone surviving assassin, he is shown planting a bomb in the castle and we are told it is one of many. He has Parkinson's and is going to go out with a bang before the Inner Court learn of his condition and get rid of him.
It's been a few days since I last read any more of Ash. There's a lot going on, but, to be honest, I really don't care at this point about any of the characters and what is going to happen to them. Our lady psychologist, Ash's love interest and heroine, I fear will not survive to the end. Despite Ash's infatuation, she's not that nice, happy to take the Inner Court's money, while knowingly working with murderers, war criminals and ex-tyrants--an Idi Amin type figure introduced briefly earlier in the book. My experience with Ash reminds me of that I had with reading Secret of Crickley Hall (doesn't that title make it sound like a Nancy Drew mystery?); started off okay and went downhill. The difference is that Ash is some 250 pages longer than Crickley Hall, so plodding onto the conclusion is that more daunting, and I am getting a hankering for something else.
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