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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable but predictable possession story, 9 Aug 2004
James Herbert's previous novels have all been short and pacey affairs, but with Shrine the author has veered into Stephen King territory, and produced a bloated brick of a novel. The upside to this is the controlled build-up gives this novel a more rounded feel than his sometimes pulpy shorter novels, but the downside is that the action sometimes drags, (in fact the novel seems to peak midway through with the most gruesome car crash I've ever read).The initial premise is intriguing: a deaf-mute girl experiences a vision and can suddenly hear and speak - soon the area where this occurred becomes a shrine, and while the girl's healing powers seem to be a force for good an undercurrent of evil seems to be stirring... Herbert does well slowly building up the media circus and mass hysteria that grows around the girl, and examining the conflict of interests between the religious authorities and local businesses over hyping the shrine. Unfortunately when the revelation comes as to what's really happening to the girl it turns out to be a very obvious and well-worn tale of possession by a long-dead evil, with even the manner of the revelation (an uncovered old tome telling the tale - "I leave this warning for those who seek it" etc) being rather hackneyed. I also felt Herbert should have shown us more of how the girl at the centre of these events felt, rather than just concentrating on the reactions of those around her. The ending of the novel is somewhat flawed as well, as while the shift from agnostic to religious believer for the hero is perfect thematically, from a plotting point of view the hero is an impotent bystander at the novels climax. With his actions having no bearing whatsoever on either the resolution of the plot or the defeat of the evil the hero does come off as rather pointless, ultimately turning out to be more of an observer than a participant. Shrine is still a mostly enjoyable and well-written book, it's only real failing is that it's telling a tale that has been told many times before in the horror genre - as such this is a book I'd recommend more to newcomers than long-time readers of weird fiction. A slightly new spin on a very old idea.
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