Ash

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I really loved the strong characters in this book, who grab the readers attention from the beginning and a broader spectrum of characters you couldn't wish to meet, from the ethereal to the down-right psychotic. All good stuff. Potter, Adam Lee (5 September 2012). "James Herbert: My new thriller about Princess Diana's secret son". Daily Express . Retrieved 1 September 2017. David Ash is a parapsychologist enlisted to solve unexplained disturbances and a violent death at the deeply dark and disturbing Comraich Castle, which remains - even to David Ash - in a secret location and houses many rich and some infamous guests. It is owned and run by a secret society known as The Inner Circle. As Ash's stay at Comraiche unfolds the facade of a sanctuary for the wealthy slips away to reveal the true nature of its purpose and a nightmarish journey begins for our anti-hero, who has to unravel the secrets held in the castles dungeons and avoid a plethora of nastiness in its grounds before he will be allowed to leave. As always, it was a sad moment when I closed the book, finished...and I thought, oh, I simply cannot wait for the next time Joe Creed catches up with these horrors he discovered in front of his camera lens. But then I remembered...there will never be more Herbert stories. He is, quite possibly, giggling hysterically at my stupid mistake...sitting there, in front of a large fire, his own book in hand, in another dimension.

Herbert has created a really 'human' main character in the paparazzo, Creed, who finds himself drawn into a sinister world. It was Herbert's humour, the bits that made me laugh out loud, that made me continue to read. However, there were times that the scenes and dialogue seemed somewhat amateurish for such a renowned author and they reminded me of soap opera scripts. The storyline was interesting enough but it lapsed into farce now and then, and even for a book of this genre, fantasy/horror, it seemed far too over the top.The problem isn’t the plot, which at first appears to hold a lot of promise. We are introduced – or reintroduced if you’ve read either Haunted or The Ghosts of Sleath – to paranormal investigator David Ash. According to the publisher’s description, Ash is one of Herbert’s “best loved characters”, although the truth is he could be any of Herbert’s tousled-haired, anti-establishment heroes. Ash has a troubled past and the obligatory drinking problem, all of which – apparently – makes him the perfect choice when an emissary of the Illuminati-esque group named The Inner Court turns up at his Psychical Research Institute looking for someone to investigate a haunting, and a grisly murder, at Comraich Castle – an asylum/retreat where the shamed rich and politically-troublesome go to live out the rest of their lives.

couldn't have been more neighbourly. That was the first part of the Magic. Midge's painting and my music soared to new heights of creativity. That was another part of the Magic. Our sensing, our Joe Creed is a paparazzo. He lives for that one shot. Sadly, his involves celebrities caught with their pants down. Preferably literally. Masterton, Graham, ed. (1989). Scare Care (Tor horror). New York City: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-93156-8. He was one of our greatest popular novelists, whose books are sold in thirty-three other languages, including Russian and Chinese. Widely imitated and hugely influential, his 19 novels have sold more than 42 million copies worldwide.

Its been many, many years since I read a James Herbert book and I'm not sure whether my tastes have changed a lot more than I thought they had or whether this just isn't a good example of a Herbert book. More than anything, I loved the way this was written. This is a proper story-telling narrative, with the author explaining things for us and injecting some brilliant humour in the process. It's clever, witty, and I found myself just really enjoying the narrator as a character himself. You aren't short-changed on horror content in this book either; in some ways I think Ash is reminiscent of some of Herbert's classic titles, such as The Magic Cottage and of course Haunted. The horror is tempered with healthy dollop of dark humour and a sprinkling of gore. There are also many interesting sub-plots, which are interlaced throughout the book to keep the story going at a fair old pace. When freelance photographer Joe Creed sets out to capture a series of photos at the funeral of a famous actress, he gets the chance to take a few snaps of a strange old man at the graveside. But developing the pictures leads him into a mystery - one he can't easily explain. Learning the name of his unwitting subject and what it could mean if turns out to be true, only adds inconceivable reasoning to an already unsettling tale. With the help of an attractive ally, Creed sets out to discover just what the hell is going on.

Etchison, Dennis, ed. (1991b). The Complete Masters of Darkness. United States: Underwood-Miller. ISBN 978-0-88733-116-9. I really enjoyed the writing of this, but the story was a little underwhelming. Only I don't know if it was the story itself or just the 2020 bug. I think, from a distance, it should be a 4-star book, but my experience was a 3-star. So let's call it 3.5. Etchison, Dennis, ed. (1991a). Masters of Darkness III. New York City: Tor Books. ISBN 978-0-8125-1766-8.

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a b Schudel, Matt (22 March 2013). "James Herbert, Britain's Stephen King, dies at 69". The Washington Post . Retrieved 24 March 2013. Jones, Stephen, ed. (1992). James Herbert: By Horror Haunted. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-450-53810-0.