Horror probably more so than any other type of fiction requires willing suspension of disbelief. All those ghouls , zombies, vampires, werethingies can't exist in real life can they ? Yet with really good horror -whether it be written or celluloid , as a fan of the genre , you never find yourself questioning what is going on .You just go with the flow. Unfortunately Berserk had me guffawing with incredulity several times .I found myself not so much going with the flow as flailing against it willing the book to end.
Tom and his wife Jo are still mourning the death of their son Stephen some ten years after he was killed in a tragic accident while on training manoeuvres with his army unit. One night down the local pub Tom overhears a couple of blokes talking about the place( Porton Down) where his son was killed . One of them mentions monsters. Putting aside the extraordinary coincidence Tom badgers one of the men for more information and it soon becomes clear that there was some sort of cover up and the death of his son wasn't as he's been led to believe. A map leads him to a location on the army training ground where his son died but what he finds is gruesome and unbelievable . But the authorities don't want what happened at Porton Down to become public knowledge and someone is on Tom's trail and determined to stop him even if it means using deadly force.
I liked the idea of a military experiment gone wrong as the basis of this story but the plot relies too much on happenstance and has gaping logical holes. The Berserkers of the title are given no back story to explain their genesis and their curious mixture of zombie, werewolf and vampire is muddled and fatally not at all scary or even creepy. We are led to believe Tom loves his wife with a real passion but when she is killed he barely gives her a second thought . The demise of his son is dealt with in a rather cursory manner too. The plot is intriguing to start with but quickly descends into one extended chase scene .And though Lebbon can write - he has a nice poetic turn of phrase - he has a tendency to over write internalised exposition (Like Stephen King) to the detriment of the story .
Berserk is recommended on Amazon as a tie in with zombie fiction , yet it has nothing to do with that genre alas. This is a confused book. Part thriller and part horror that doesn't excel at either . It came across to me as all rather silly .Tim Lebbon is a more than capable writer but the fact remains that Berserk whatever genre you lump it in just isn't a very good work of fiction.