The Dark

Product Information

In 2010 several great things happened to this man, he was awarded with ‘Master of Horror’ at the world horror connection, the award was presented by his very good friend Stephen King. Uninspiring & boring for large parts, The Dark is not the strongest of his work & you’ll find yourself inadvertently skimming over paragraphs hoping to get to a more interesting part. Our main character John is simply so unlikeable to hold this book together. He's flawed, an everyman, thrown into a situation he actively tries to repel before giving in and with the help of those around him, learning to "grow" and accept what's happening to him. But his flaws never seem to go away. He's a quiet type, a recluse and I can see how the idea of having a character like this would be good but the execution here is not great. In fact, a lot of the characters we meet are just unlikable. The island in which the story takes place seems to be inhabited strictly of upper class pompous gossips who you can imagine all love whipping out the colourful language at Christmas. Good ole post-classic horror where the gothic take on ghosts and the paranormal has been switched with skepticism and a more scientific perspective.

The Dark by James Herbert | Waterstones

man with his full cooperation. Herbert has granted the author a number of rare interviews, such that the result is a frank and revealing portrait of one of the giants of contemporary popular fiction. In addition James Herbert was born in London in April 1943 and died on the 20th of March 2013 (a day I will never forget). He is my personal favourite horror writer of all time as most of his works are based on the paranormal, mutations and the damn uncompromisingly explicit. He is very unlike Stephen King whose works are based on the human psyche and things that humans are capable of.

The Dark, a fictional character in the role-playing game Villains and Vigilantes; basis for the comics series (see above) The Fog felt very raw in its depiction of horror, possibly due to it being Herbert's second novel, despite the writing being kinda mediocre. By the time Herbert wrote The Dark he had become a slightly better writer, however, the rawness was gone, and the book definitely suffered for this. The Dark felt disjointed at times, overblown, and, the cardinal sin, boring. Yes! there are big (really big at times) scenes involving pretty decent horror, but the book is constantly bouncing around the point-of-view from the main characters, and minor characters who are just there for the body count. It wouldn’t be a James Herbert story without a woman who is hard on the outside but vulnerable on the inside. His lead female characters always seem to just be waiting for the hero to come along & ‘fix’ them, it’s cringe-worthy.

James Herbert Books in Order (24 Book Series) James Herbert Books in Order (24 Book Series)

This was MY first novel by James Herbert. Having seen his books mentioned quite often, I thought to give it a go with Moon. First impression, Herbert is a brilliant writer. I genuinely couldn’t put this book down. Not because I was overly gripped by the story, per se. However, the plot and characters were interesting. But because I was ensnared with the way Herbert wrote and unfolded the tale as a perfectly paced thriller and for the most part, kept the overindulgence to a minimum. I'm disappointed as I originally had this as a 4 star book (first read about 20 years ago) but I didn't enjoy it much this time around :(He was very afraid of the dark as a small child, known to cower under the covers at the shadows that moved around his room. As he grew older he lost this fear and then only became afraid of spiders. Bit like myself, not with the little ones, but those big monsters give me the shivers!