There's a Ghost In My House (The Ghosts of Sleath - James Herbert)

Member Name: samueltyler

Product:	The Ghosts of Sleath - James Herbert
Date:	28/07/09 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some magic moments

Disadvantages: Spread throughout a dull narrative

I don't believe in ghosts. In fact, I don't believe in an afterlife, I think that as human beings we are nothing more than highly tuned meat computers that switch off into nothing on our death. Unfortunately, this make life a little depressing if you dwell upon it and it also makes horror novels have to work harder to scare me. I am more likely to fear a phoney psychic preying on an elderly relative's vulnerabilities than I am of a spirit trying to eat me as I sleep. One author who has managed to write an entertaining ghost story that even entertained me is James Herbert. A master of horror he has been writing for years. He specialises in a very supernatural sort of terror, which sometimes works, but other times fails...

David Ash works for a society that specialises in supernatural activity. As a sceptic he is particularly useful as he will go out of his way to disprove a haunting and uncover any hoax. Therefore, when the sleepy village of Sleath asks the institute for help they send their best; it appears that the village is being haunted by a number of ghosts and that many people have seen apparitions. Ash considers that there may be a case of mass hallucination going on, but when he himself appears to run over a boy, only to discover no body, he starts to doubt himself. Perhaps there is more to the people of Sleath than first meets the eye, what could they have possibly done to unleash such evil?

'The Ghosts of Sleath' is both atypical Herbert, but also not. In terms of similarities it follows the well trodden Herbert path of a 30 something man with a drinking problem uncovering far darker things than he imagined. There are ghosts and moments of terror, all wrapped up in a cloak of sleepy England. Whilst this combination was used to great effect in books such as 'The Shrine', here is falls flat. The fact that the book is a little slow and boring in places means that in some ways it is not like the rest of the author's work.

The good stuff is interspersed throughout in the form of the various hauntings. Herbert has a wonderful way with words and paints an old fashioned feel for his ghost stories. Various people in Sleath are being haunted and each of their cases is treated like a mini vignette by Herbert. The untimely deaths of some of the characters are the best moments and shows Herbert at his best as he slowly raises the pressure, and then drops the knife! If Herbert had been able to keep this level of tension and fear throughout the book, it would have been far better.

However, this is not the case and instead we follow Ash the most. I found Ash a bit of a bore to be around and his retreat into the bottle was too cliché to be entertaining. The overarching theme is too hackneyed to work and is so similar to 'The Shrine', but treated far worse. The structure of the book is such that the middle act is the best with the first feeling like padding and the final being too manic to make much sense. It was the moments that were off from the main story that the book came alive. For that reason I still enjoyed myself, but the main case should have been so much more.

One final area of criticism is with Herbert's style of writing. As mentioned earlier he has a great way with words and paints with them in a very macabre style. Unfortunately, this also makes them incredibly dated. The book reads at times more like Poe, the language of the supernatural can be excused for being old fashioned, but the use of dialogue and setting cannot. Originally published in 1994, 'Sleath' reads like it should be from the 40s. The attitudes and dialogue feel stale and out of place. I think that Herbert perhaps has hit a bit of a rut by this time in his career (although his next book '48' was solid).

'The Ghosts of Sleath' is by no means the best book by James Herbert and must come under the category of worth reading for fans only. The usual strong narrative that holds his ghost stories together is missing, only being mimicked on occasion in small contained sections. The main thrust of the story is dull, lead by an unlikeable character and with an unlikely conclusion. Very similar themes have been explored by Herbert in his other books, to a much higher standard. However, despite these glaring errors, when the book works it is excellent. The 10 or so small moments of tension that Herbert self contained within the books means that I still enjoyed it enough to make it worth reading.

Author: James Herbert
Year: 1994
Price: amazon uk - £5.49
play.com - £5.49

Summary: James Herbert fans only need apply