After all the hype James Herbert receives (best British author status etc.), I decided to read this, which I did a few years ago when I was 14 or something. At the time I thoroughly enjoyed the cinematic scenarios and gory features, which fed my curiosity and desire throughout. But then I read 'The Rats' and have started to read 'The Fog'....and I'm beginning to see a pattern here somewhere. This IS 'The Rats' but in a different form !! E.g. different scenarios where malevolent evil destroys good and the main character (of course) has to stop it in the usual James Herbert (predictable)finale. THEN I read 'Shrine' and I discovered something else - the main character Fenn in that is practically IDENTICAL characteristically to Bishop in this book....and, er, Harris in 'The Rats' and, yes yet again, the main guy from 'Moon'. Mmmmm. This made me feel rather cheated to be honest, because since I read this, I can predict the characters and outcomes of all Herbert's other books. Is that just me?? Perhaps so. But all that aside, I think the descriptive quality and malevolent images evoked in this novel are intensely addictive and may leave you thirsting for more if you like this sort of thing. My favourite section is probably the opening introduction, which sets the scene wonderfully. Okay, so it was hardly going to be acclaimed for an intricate plot or original storyline, but this is full-on horrofic fun and may even send a chill or two rippling down your spine. The parapsychological jargon (some of which is deliberately difficult to comprehend in certain places) makes the book feasible, I think. Maybe it's a bit cliché and predictable (and having virtually the same story as his other books) but it really is good fun if you don't feel up to any analysis of context etc. This is his best from the five I've read, in my opinion, solely due to the dark ambience it is able to evoke within.
