‘Haunted’ – James Herbert (Pan)

 



Page Count: 228 Pages

Apologies for the ‘blog silence’ yesterday… Things kind of caught up me (chemotherapy, again) and I’m not going to lie, I spent most of the day moping and feeling all sorry for myself ;o) The day wasn’t a complete write off though, I actually managed to get some reading done. And here’s where I tell you about some of it ;o)

It has been an absolute age since I last read James Herbert’s ‘Haunted’ so when I saw an old copy in the Red Cross shop the other day, it felt like someone was telling me it was time I picked it up again. And I tried to buy it but there was no price on the book so the shop couldn’t sell it to me… Yep, it’s taken me a while but I have now officially been refused service by a charity shop :o) I didn’t let that stop me though, just went and ordered myself a copy of ‘Haunted’ from elsewhere. And I finally found the time for it yesterday afternoon.

 Three nights of terror at the house called Edbrook.

Three nights in which David Ash, there to investigate a haunting, will be victim of horrifying and maleficent games.

Three nights in which he will face the blood-chilling enigma of his own past.

Three nights before Edbrook's dreadful secret will be revealed, and the true nightmare will begin…

The big danger with re-reads is that if it’s a book that relies on a big ol’ twist, you’re already expecting it and then really, what’s the point of carrying on with it? Or maybe that’s just me. Anyway… I’m at the age now where I can’t remember why I just stood up (so I just assume that I’m after a snack) but I could still remember the twist in ‘Haunted’ so approached the read with a little caution. I still read it though, I was feeling pretty rough and fancied something familiar at that point.

The good news for me was that while I remembered the ending, that ending was no less powerful for it, especially given the absolute hell that Ash has to go through to get there. And that’s the other thing. ‘Haunted’ is only just over a couple of hundred pages long but Herbert fills it with enough atmosphere, tension and evil machinations to not only keep things really creepy but also still throw this reader a few surprises here and there. You can see some of it gearing up to happen but the really memorable moments are those ‘throwaway’ lines which turn out to be anything but.

And for the most part, I enjoyed watching how these moments informed the development of Ash’s character. I’ll be honest, there were moments where Ash’s cynicism came across as a little forced in the light of certain events (and also what he chooses to believe) but I’m giving him a pass based on his history. I’ll be interested to see if and how Ash’s character is built on in ‘The Ghosts of Sleath’.

I can’t see ‘Haunted’ becoming a regular re-read, more like one to let fade from memory a bit and then ‘re-experience’ further down the line. ‘Haunted’ has a hell of a lot going for it though and clearly shows that Herbert wasn’t just great at writing horror. And it has the dubious honour of featuring the only fictional dog that I didn’t think was a ‘good boy’… Definitely give ‘Haunted’ a read if you haven’t already.

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