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Post by franklinmarsh on Apr 17, 2009 17:32:32 GMT
Sepulchre - James Herbert. Hodder & Stoughton. 1987. Hardback. (Hopefully NEL did the paperback). There is a house, hidden away in a small valley, that holds a dark and dreadful secret. The house is called Neath. There is a psychic who lives in that house who is part of its secret. His name is Kline. There is a guardian of the house, and of the psychic, and of the secret. He is known as The Keeper. Together , in unholy union, they serve a forcewhoe existence threatens mankind itself. But now a terrible danger is sensed and an outsider must protect them all. The outsider is Halloran, and he is unaware of the insidious evil he must face. He will learn of a multinational corporation's strange method of detecting new resources; he will combat men who thrive on the worst of physical corruption; he will find love of a perverse nature; he will confront the darkness of his own soul. And eventually Halloran will discover the horrific and awesome secret of the Sepulchre... Phew! The inside of the dust jacket says it all really. I enjoyed this a lot more than Domain, although things did get a bit bogged down with endless characterisation in the middle. After a quote from Genesis (the first book of The Bible, not the proggers turned pop stars) and a short ramble about the Sumerians,there's an equally short thriller-typre shoot out, Then we're into the novel proper with a description of top level anti-kidnap security firm Achilles Shield, currently about to accept a very strange and different assignment... It's a good book. Herbert is on great form, with some excellent scare sequences. A tad mystical, but not leaving even this reader behind, unlike some of Stephen King's more outre fantasy sequences. (SPOILER - the whole things a variation on The Picture Of Dorian Gray, but that's no bad thing.) Amazing to think that only 13 years or so after his debut, he'd be having his book jacket mug shot taken by (Lord) Snowdon. Arf! |
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Apr 17, 2009 19:28:42 GMT
(Hopefully NEL did the paperback) They did indeed, & here it is: |
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Post by franklinmarsh on Apr 17, 2009 19:51:51 GMT
Good man, HP. Thought it was black for some reason. I found the pseudo-thriller start interesting, and I'm quite surprised that Herbert didn't seem to go down this route.
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Post by andydecker on May 27, 2023 10:30:21 GMT
James Herbert - Sepulchre (Hodder & Stoughton, 1987, 316 pages, this edition NEL 1988) 
After the rather tame Magic Cottage a change of pace for Herbert with this occult thriller.
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