'The Fog' – James Herbert (Pan)

I've finally made it into my loft and rearranged all the books that now live up there... It was great actually :o) If you ever get the chance (and the time), I thoroughly recommend dumping all your books in another room and just going through them for a day or two. I've re-discovered a few old friends as well as a whole load of books that I bought with good intentions and then forgot about... Books like 'The Fog' for example...

I was listening to the 'Breakfast in the Ruins' podcast on 'The Fog' and although I'd read it before, figured it was time for a re-read. Well, that was the plan back in November and then everything happened and now it's February and I've just finished reading it. Erm... better later than never? Maybe... Either way, let me tell you all about it ;o)

It has come to destroy...

It begins with a crack that rips the earth apart. Peaceful village life shattered. But the disaster is just the beginning. Out of the bottomless pit creeps a malevolent fog. Spreading through the air it leaves a deadly, horrifying trail, destined to devastate the lives of all those it encounters.

Coming out of this latest re-read (and I really can't remember the last time I picked up 'The Fog'), my first thoughts were along the lines of... 'I'm sure there was more gore in this book...' I thought there was anyway but you know what? There really isn't.

'The Fog' is a book that seems to have built a reputation on being 'the book where the guy is mutilated with a pair of shears' and to be fair, that would be enough for any other horror book (the scene with Casey, okay and the aeroplane as well, come close but were never going to top that moment in the gym...) It's eye catching and I don't care how many times you've read the book, you're still going to wince when you read it. But that's kind of it really, at least as far as gory moments are concerned. The rest of the book is either Herbert encouraging us to fill in the gaps ourselves (which he does very well, at least as far as I was concerned) or giving us little snapshots of madness that punctuate moments where Holman has to go on the run from screaming hordes of the insane. It's not the book I remember (I suspect that sneaking this book, and others, off the library shelves coloured my memory of it) but it's not a bad book for all that. Herbert isn't afraid to go for the throat when he has to but I really appreciated the way that he brings his readers along and gets them to do his job for him. I also liked the way that he intersperses the more chilling moments with moments of comedy, that lead into darker situations (I'm looking at the 'arse kicking' Edward here, of course I am). It all has a nice affect of keeping the reader on their toes as they don't know quite what is round the corner.

I did wonder if having the fog engulf London would dilute the affect of book as it works best when the focus is more personal, whether it's on Holman or a random person going mad. Funnily enough, Herbert proceeds to make it all about Holman and the potential issue is no longer an issue. I really enjoyed the finale and how it ended up becoming another finale that was far more intense.

'The Fog' makes no effort to pretend to be anything other than what it is, a slice of pulp horror with a side serving of sex just in case there's a little too much fog and you fancy a break... ;o) It's a good job then that 'The Fog' knows what it needs to do and does it very well; it also helps that Herbert is trying to do something just a little different here by getting the reader more involved in the plot. I probably won't re-read 'The Fog' anytime soon (it's a book that you need to leave a while between re-reads) but I'm glad I gave it another go and I'll make sure it stays on my shelf this time.