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| 1988 UK NEL Edition |
Author: James Herbert
Ebook Publisher: Pan
Ebook Date: May 2011
File size/Pages: 893KB / 228pp
First Published: 1988
Horror Month kicks off with a right cracker from British horror writer James Herbert. There hasn't been a single book by Herbert that I didn't enjoy reading, so I was bit excited to start this once I'd decided to do a month of horror reading. I'm pleased to report that he didn't dissapoint me again. I was gripped from the first twenty pages. Haunted is a classic ghost story where the gradual build-up of an unsettling atmosphere over the course of 220+ pages had me glancing nervously at the dark corners of the living room while I was reading.
James Herbert died suddenly in 2013, at the age of 69. It's a real shame because I feel that he had a few more great books in him, and I'd have loved to be able to read them. The last book he published was titled Ash, and acts as the final book in a trilogy about the titluar character, David Ash. Haunted is the first novel to feature Ash, a paranormal investigator.
James Herbert was born in 1943 in London, not so very far from where I myself grew up in the East End of London. He was educated locally and eventually went to work for an advertising agency. His writing success began with The Rats and The Fog in the late seventies horror boom (although to be fair, they rely on more of a scientific basis for their preimse than a supernatural one). Herbert received the Grand Master Award from Stephen King at the World Horror Convention in 2010. Herbert and King were good friends, both of them starting out with their first books at almost the same moment in time with The Rats beating Carrie by just a few months from publisher New English Library.
I was working in advertising as an art director for five years in the West End of London. I realised as soon as I was writing books full time (before I was writing them in the weekends and during any other spare time), I had to decide if it was one or the other . . . I had to make the decision to either stay in the job I loved or start this new job that I had being doing for five years which I loved even more, because I was king, I played God, characters did what I wanted them to do; whilst in advertising everything is brought down to a certain level. So that's how the career began, and because I no longer had to work in London we moved down to Sussex.
Haunted introduces us to Paranormal investigator, David Ash, arriving in the small English village of Revenmoor. He is there at the behest of his employers, the Psychical Research Institute to look into strange happenings at the country home of the Mariells', called Edbrook. Ash's boss, Kate McCarrick, who he has an on/off romantic relationship, has received letters from a Tessa Webb, requesting that Ash attend the house with the intention of authenticating the family's belief that their home is haunted by ghosts.
Ash is struggling with a drink problem, and McCarrick is concerned that one of her best investigators is about to fall apart. She trusts him to get the job done, but at the same time still holds a flame for him, and is finding it difficult to move on with her own love life.
Ash is picked up at the local pub by Christina Mariell and taken to Edbrook where he will stay for a few days to determine if the claims of a haunting are valid. He is renoun for debunking many instances of ghost sightings and outing fake clairvoyants who claim they have the ability to speak with the dead. He is a minor celebrity amongst the paranormal community, and the Mariells, it seems, are particularly keen to have him.
Ebrook is inhabited by the surving children of the Mariells'; eldest son Robert, youngest son Simon and daughter Christina. Their parents died as a result of a horrific car accident, and since have been looked after by their aunt, Tessa Webb, who is now nanny, cook and housekeeper all rolled into one.
It's no exaggeration to say that the Mariells are a queer bunch of folk living in a large old country estate. Robert seemingly elderly and father-like, but with a distant attitude to strangers. Simon and Christina, although both in thier twenties, exhibit an inexplicably child-like manner and sense of humour. All of this immeadiately makes an impression upon Ash, but he persists in setting up his scientific equipment in and around the grounds of Edbrook for detecting physical disturbances - he is convinced almost all paranormal experiences are the result of quite explainable natural phenomena.
The Mariells are utterly convinced that Edbrook is haunted. They want to describe the events to Ash, but he is adamant that they shouldn't tell him, as he prefers to experience the situation first hand without any prior knowledge. It is not long however, before Ash begins to notice things. The Mariells strange dog, Christina and Simon playing in the gardens, the house phone being disconnected.
At the same time, a colleague at the Institute, Edith Phillips, psychic medium, begins to have disturbing dreams and premonitions about Ash. She has a strong feeling that he is in great danger, and approaches Kate McCarrick about it. They try to contact Edbrook, but find that there is no phone number associated with the house. Concerned about Ash, they await a call from him...
Reading Herbert's novels are such a pleasure. His ability to tell a story with little embellishment makes them immeadiatley accessible and normally quite a fast read. Haunted falls into this caregory, I was instantly at ease with the setting and the protagonsits in the story. He can make even the most unimportant characters feel part of the fabric of the plot.
The main character of Ash is relatable but not without his own problems, his drink habit is becoming a serious issue, and he isn't exactly the nicest person in the world, but this helps him to be interesting to read about.
The sense of setting is wonderfully realised. Herberts description of Ravenmoor and Edbrook are great. The scenes with Kate and Edith bring some balance to the main plot, and intervene at just the right moments to provide background. In some books, moving the story away from the main plot can slow down the pace, but here its managed very well, being both interesting as well as adding an extra layer of suspense.
In fact it's Herberts use of a couple of vignettes, used to show Kate and Edith's previous working contact with David Ash, that I thought were particularly good. In one we see Kate working in the field with Ash on a gory case involving the desecration of a chruch, and in the other Edith helps him debunk a rival medium. I thought these were fantastic and would have loved to have had the chance to read more.
In terms of horror content, Haunted is not particularly gory or terrifying. It is more of a slow burn. Events streadily become more and more unsettling as the plot unravels. If you want something that will make the hairs on the back of your neck rise, rather than something that will punch you in the gut, then this is one you'll enjoy. Herbert went out to chill rather than shock with this one, and I loved it.
I grew up with Herbert books. He was someone who wrote books that I liked to read, and I still get a thrill out of knowing he came from where I grew up. I miss James Herbert. Here's what he said not long after his last book, Ash was published...
I have a lovely idea for the next book, while I was on holiday I laid down the foundations, writing in the shade for an hour a day, making up all of the character names etc. A new, original idea, but I won't tell you the title. I never tell anyone the title!
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