- Hardcover
- Publisher: Macmillan (9 April 1999)
- ISBN-10: 0333780647
- ISBN-13: 978-0333780640
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.4 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,862,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
A book that starts in Hell has got to be expertly paced, and no-one ever accused James Herbert, the British King of Horror, of lacking any of those skills. Hardly has a damned soul agreed to an angelic offer he cannot refuse than Nicholas Dismas is limping down the mean streets of contemporary Brighton, searching for a child who may not even exist. Nicholas has only one eye and is short, lame and hunchbacked; he finds himself living daily with the hatred a society obsessed with normality dishes out to those who cannot conform. This is a book about exploitation and prejudice, which touches some raw nerves; it makes you think as well as making you shudder. Dismas, who feels sorry for himself, but not too much of the time, is one of the more three-dimensional characters in Herbert's work, and his love for the tiny and beautiful Constance is genuinely touching, while not entirely avoiding sentimentality. There is horror of a classic visceral kind here--one of Dismas's colleagues dies in a peculiarly vile fashion--and a nursing home turns out to contain a real heart of darkness, but the real horror is the shabby ways in which people treat each other. --Roz Kaveney
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Prolific horror writer Herbert (Portent, 1996, etc.) revives a sentimental favorite, Victor Hugo's Quasimodo, dresses him up in a modern setting, and sends him forth as Nicholas Dismas, private investigator. Dismas was so malformed at birth - hunchback, spinal curvature, twisted and withered right leg, birdboned chest, a forehead overlapping his eyes, overlarge ears, flat nose, backhair that formed a tail between his buttocks, and so on - that his mother left the newborn monster by the trash bins behind a nun's convent in a poorer part of London. A prologue set in Hell reveals that Dismas is actually a damned soul, a once irresistibly handsome movie star who is being given one last chance at redemption. This time around, he must live in an exemplary fashion completely at odds with his former evil ways - which he will not be allowed to remember. Thus, Nick Dismas struggles daily with God: why has he been born such a hideous monster to suffer an entire lifetime of humiliation, vilification, and punishment? (The reader knows: every card is stacked against Dismas's atonement.) Now, he's hired by widow Shelly Ripstone to find the bastard she bore before she married. Shelly never saw her baby, having been told by the hospital that it died almost at birth. But Louise Broomfield, a clairvoyant, has confirmed Shelly's intuition that the child lives. Will Dismas find it for her? As birds and whisperings invade Dismas's mind, Herbert leads his hero into ever more shocking traps while dropping in spells of garden silences under vast clear-blue skies. All clues lead to the Perfect Rest nursing home, whose care-supervisor has the same malformed body as Dismas but an inner beauty that rings bells: her name, Constance Bell ("The bells, the bells!) Midway, the gore gathers and the plot veers into The Island of Doctor Moreau territory. Even so, Nick Dismas remains one of the most tenderly drawn monsters since Hugo's bell-ringer. (Kirkus Reviews)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
my younger sister brought this book in a cheap shop and i first dismissed as one of her teenage 'loon' books.
how wrong could i be....i 'flip read' it just before i went on two week holdiay and my brain was blown away. i have never read a book like this ever before (or after). you felt for teh characters and the shabby way they are treated etc. it was such a strange book. it stayed with me long after i had read it.
i've read some of herberts other books - but they dont really come close to this one. i wished i'd been clever enough to write somethign with oddball characters.
how wrong could i be....i 'flip read' it just before i went on two week holdiay and my brain was blown away. i have never read a book like this ever before (or after). you felt for teh characters and the shabby way they are treated etc. it was such a strange book. it stayed with me long after i had read it.
i've read some of herberts other books - but they dont really come close to this one. i wished i'd been clever enough to write somethign with oddball characters.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Never read a horror book before, never really wanted to, wound up in hospital, nothing else to read, blew my mind, gave false readings to my heart monitor, still shaken. As far as I know, it's extremely original, and although it is slow to start with, it's worth sticking with. If this book doesn't scare the bejesus out of you, book yourself a room in PERFECT REST. Cheers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I first started this book it seemed to start off in the aurthor's usual fashion, dark and moody, but after about 30 pages slowed down. I was beginging to think that it was going to be a long read. But if you persevere it turns out to be a excellent ending that may even haunt or disturb you.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great entertainment
The atmosphere of this audio book is as important as the plot. It puts you in the actual story itself, painting a vivid picture of each scene. Read more
Published on 15 Mar 2000 by Mr. Charles A. Samson
One of his best
I have most of James Herbert's books and although fun to read I felt that the story lines were beginning to sound much the same. Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2000
A study of modern-day karma which doesn't quite deliver
Beautifully written and observed, "Others" is a diversion from Herbert's usual horror, since its message is one of spiritual vindication rather than supernatural... Read more
Published on 14 Jan 2000
Totally different style
I must admit, from the first page, I had trouble remembering this was James Herbert writing. It's as if he's got a 'ghost' writer doing the job (excuse the pun). Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2000
What a load of rubbish
I have read all of James Herberts books and this one defies description. Slow, plodding, boring with no twists and turns other than expected ones. I am so sorry to have read it. Read more
Published on 20 Dec 1999
tedious
this must be one of James Herbert's most boring books, it goes on about totally insignificant details. Read more
Published on 17 Dec 1999
WOW!!! It had my stomache churning!!!
I read the synopsis on this book and knew I had to get my hands on one. I've never read anything by James Herbert and I'm disappointed I hadn't discovered him sooner. Read more
Published on 14 Dec 1999
Buy it right now!
I'm not going to say anything about the plot at all, that would spoil it. All I am going to say is that in my opinion this is James Herbert's best book so far, and I've read them... Read more
Published on 27 Nov 1999
One of the leading candidates for horror novel of the year
The public revered him for his good looks and good deeds. However that public icon hid his ugly soul very well on Earth. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 1999
Strong and well written. James Herbert delivers the goods.
'Others' is James Herbert's latest book. It follows '48' which was a superb story - easily his best. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 1999
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