48 - James Herbert

JAMES HERBERT - ‘48 ------------------------------- James Herbert has been writing horror fiction for many years now, with such classics as “the Rats” and “Haunted” to name just a couple, these books have pushed him to the forefront of British horror and rightly so. Up until recently I didn’t know much about Herbert as I was stuck in a bit of a rut, where I would want to read something, but not know of any good authors, seeing as I had already read all the Stephen King books and the James Patterson ones, I felt like something different, so I picked up my dads copy of Herbert’s “Nobody True” and have since read about six of his books over the ...  Read the complete review

The action kicks in straight away with Hoke and his dog Cagney trying to escape from a gang of about 60 Blackshirts who had discovered one of his secret hideaways in London, Buckingham Palace no less. The description of Hoke dodging shots while whizzing along corridors and bumping down carpeted stairs on his motorbike was so captivating that I was drawn into the book immediately and found myself urging Hoke to escape the bullets. Set in London in 1948, James Herbert produced one of those What If stories by changing history. The allies still won the war but the Germans have the ultimate revenge by unleashing a biological weapon on London with V2 rockets that has ...  Read the complete review

It's 1948 and three years ago Hitler unleashed a chemical weapon that freed a killer disease into the atmosphere called Blood Death. Three years later and the majority of the world are dead, either dying where they stood from the Blood Death or slowly and painfully as they tried to help others around them. Either way, only a handful of people survived this devastating disease, and you had to be AB Negative blood type in order to do this. Hoke, an American pilot, has spent the last three years living in London, trying to survive on his own and avoid the lingering effects of the Blood Death, in a group of people who are after his blood to transfuse ...  Read the complete review

48hrs Surprisingly enough this story is set in …. You guessed it – 1948 !! The scene is a devastated London 3 years after Hitler, in a final act of retaliation, released what was to become known as the “Blood Death” . This ultimately killed the majority of the population The hero of the story, an American pilot called Hoke has lived in the city all this time, one of only a few people unaffected by the disease his blood is highly sought after by a group of fascist “Blackshirts”. These Blackshirts weren’t killed outright but instead were dying slowly of the disease, they believe that their only ...  Read the complete review

This is a fantastic departure from Herberts usual writings. Not a ghostie, ghoulie, psychic or spooky happening in sight! It is set in Britain after the Second World War, the Allies won but Hitler got his revenge by unleashing a type of biological warfare called the Blood Death, it calls everybody except those with a particular uncommon blood type. This is the main issue of the story. The main character is Hoke, an American who is being pursued by the Blackshirts and their leader Sir Max Hubble who has the idea that his life can be changed by a blood transfusion from a immune person. Hoke isnt the only survivor and he meets up with another groups, the upper ...  Read the complete review