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The Shrine
 
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The Shrine (Hardcover)

by James Herbert (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £17.99
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  • This item: The Shrine by James Herbert

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 534 pages
  • Publisher: Macmillan; New edition edition (10 Dec 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 033376126X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0333761267
  • Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 15.8 x 4.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 897,881 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #88 in  Books > Horror > Authors > Contemporary Authors > Herbert, James

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Product Description

Product Description
A little deaf-mute girl called Alice has a vision in which a lady in shimmering white says she is the immaculate conception. Suddenly, Alice can speak and hear again, and can perform miracles. But Alice's power may not be heaven-sent.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Shrine
56% buy the item featured on this page:
The Shrine 3.8 out of 5 stars (13)
£17.09
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12% buy
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Creed
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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (5)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable but predictable possession story, 9 Aug 2004
By dogbarkssome (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: The Shrine (Paperback)
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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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Let it Shrine, 2 May 2007
By Sam "samueltyler" (Reading, Berkshire) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Shrine (Paperback)
Some books have flaws, but I really still enjoy them. 'Shrine' is one such book. Fenn is your typical local town reporter and he does not think anything exciting is going to happen on his night shift. This can't be further from the truth when he stumbles across a small girl lying in the road. She takes him to a strange tree and turns and speaks one sentence; nothing odd about this? It turns out that Alice is a deaf mute and that her talking is a miracle. Alice becomes increasingly drawn towards the tree and slowly a following of people gather to see her. It seems that she can harness the power of Mary to heal the ill, but is this a divine power for good or evil?

I really enjoyed the concept of 'Shrine' as it was not only a horror thriller, but an interesting discussion how religion and the media would treat a modern miracle. The book does feel a bit dated, but the core still holds up really well. I found the gentle pace matched the story perfectly and that the action set pieces in particular were described well.

I can see why some people find this book average as the pace is slow, it's dated and the middle is better than the end. However, for me the central threads of the story make it a lot better than its parts and it made me think about the story long after I finished reading it. This is the best complement that I can give a book.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Rushed and ill thought., 19 Feb 2000
By S. Williamson "swillia389" (lancs) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Shrine (Paperback)
This book is okay but as other people have pointed out the ending does not really fit in and left me feeling a bit deflated after reading over 500 odd pages I`d expected a tense and unexpected ending but it was too predictable and not at all well thought out...definately one to miss.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars FANTASTIC BOOK!!!
THIS IS MY FAVORITE JAMES HERBERT BOOK.A REALLY GRIPPING,HARD TO PUT DOWN STORY.IF YOU LIKE EXCELLENT STORIES NOT FULL OF BLOOD AND GORE,YAWN!!!! THIS IS FOR YOU. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ms. C. James

3.0 out of 5 stars SUPERNATURAL THRILLER...
This is a book about evil masking itself as goodness. In the small English village of Banfield, a young, deaf mute girl named Alice Pagett is transformed by a vision, and her... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Lawyeraau

5.0 out of 5 stars Quality
I consider this book to be excellent. Despite the accusations of cheese and cliche, the book is quality. Read more
Published on 26 Jul 2006 by J. Mccormick

3.0 out of 5 stars please just cut to the chase
i own a few james herbert books the best to date being the ghosts of sleath. this book is well writen and keeps you turning the page, however i find that im skipping big chunks of... Read more
Published on 13 Jul 2006 by Ms. L. A. Walker

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the best Horror Author that I have read
I have now read all of the books written by James Herbert, with the exception of the Jonah and the Fog the rest were stunning books to read. Read more
Published on 26 April 2002 by Robert Snapes

2.0 out of 5 stars Herbert tries to be controversial with religion. Ha !!!!!!
500 or so pages tackling religion and belief - how stupid was I to be lead to believe that?! One of the comments on the reverse of the book is 'each twist of the intricate plot is... Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, spine-chilling
A wonderful book! A typical James Herbert, down-to-earth, yet surreal and with some interesting twists.
Published on 1 Jan 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Falters at the last hurdle.....
Great story, with interesting characters....

Chilling right up until the end, well almost....

But still well worth a read....

Published on 23 Aug 2000 by andrew.taylor@rmrplc.com

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Scary
Shrine is a very well-plotted story of a cured deaf-mute girl who is apparently performing miracles in a small village off the South coast. Read more
Published on 12 Jun 1999

3.0 out of 5 stars Spooky
A genuinely frightening tale. Herbert creates a tense atmosphere in this story about a little girl overcome by the forces of evil. Read more
Published on 13 May 1999

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