Don't read on a full moon. (Moon - James Herbert)

Member Name: katygriff

Product:	Moon - James Herbert
Date:	09/08/05 (444 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great storyline, scenery and characters

Disadvantages: None

James Herbert is my favourite British author who has so far released 19 fantastic books with one coming out early next year. This book Moon is my favourite of the lot as it has memorable, plots, scenes and characters.

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What is the book about?

Reading from the back of the book;
The nightmare begins before you sleep…
He had fled from the terrors of his past, finding refuge in the quietness of the island. And for a time he lived in peace. Until the ‘sightings’ began, visions of horror seeping into his mind like poisonous tendrils, violent acts that were hideously macabre, the thoughts becoming intense.
He witnessed the grotesque acts of another thing, a thing that glorified in murder and mutilation, a monster that soon became aware of the observer within its own mind. A creature that would eventually come to the island to seek him out…

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How I discovered this book.

My mom was a big fan of James Herbert when she was in her twenties and used to read his books alone on her night shifts as a nurse at the hospital. As he is a horror writer, I think she was mad to do this but still she bought me Moon on my nineteenth birthday and I read it in two days.

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What is the book like?

This book is a good old horror novel written very well by Herbert. The creepy atmosphere and tension is felt when you read the book and you can imagine everything as Herbert goes into great detail in his novels. If you imagine this book to be like a crisp that has gone a bit green and you want to eat it but just don’t know if you should but then you end up eating it anyway. This book is the same, you really want to read it but at times you just look at it and think I just have to carry on.

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Who are the characters?

The characters in this book are as follows;
Jonathan Childes – The (not sure if I should call him this but) hero of the piece. He has disturbing visions of another being who he can’t picture but he can picture the macabre acts he is doing as if it is he Childes who is performing them.

Amy Sebire – Childes’ girlfriend. She knows about what Childes sees and what he has been through in his past.

Miss Piprelly – The school head teacher where Childes and Amy work.

Fran – Childes’ ex wife.

Gabby – Childes’ daughter.

Inspector Overoy – Inspector who has worked with Childes before but is sent to investigate the new visions Childes is having.

The monster – The being Childes sees doing vile and terrifying things. But who or what is it?

I have only listed the main characters because there are so many minor characters that I could mention including all the school children in the school where Childes works.

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My verdict.

I love this book, the story is quite creepy but the characters are so memorable. I have actually read this book about five times now and sometimes I do just read my favourite parts. It also has some fabulous comedy such as lines like ‘I’m only wearing swimming trunks remember and this is a private place’, I can hear all of you who know what I’m on about laughing now.

The characters are wonderful and as in all Herbert novels, he goes into great detail about their lives and how they live them. He gets characters so right that you just believe they could be real. Like the affectionate way Amy still refers to her father as ‘daddy’ but this drives Childes mad. Or the way Childes and Gabby put x’s on the end of their letters to each other and every five is sealed by a real one. The characters play out their parts in the book but even small character parts such as the role of schoolchild Jeanette can become fabulously touching and you do not wish anything bad to happen to her. I believe Herbert has a talent in creating characters and their traits to identify in some we have ourselves.

The set for this movie is in a small coastal town and quite a bit of the story is centred on Childes’ occupation as a school teacher. Herbert describes the place in such a way that it makes you want to go there. ‘They drove to the cottage, not bothering to change back in their clothes, semi-nude figures driving cars being a common feature of the island while the weather was warm’. It makes you wish you could be warm enough to drive home from the beach in your bikini but we can’t often do that here in Britain.

The action in this book is fantastic but I can’t say much without giving anything away. There are sequences in this book that you would just love to see on film.

The horror aspect of the book as always in James Herbert novels is very apparent. Herbert has a talent for scaring the reader but not too much to drive them away from the book. Some of the descriptions in the acts the monster is doing make you actually feel queasy. But as fans of Herbert will know all is never as it seems and even though you can feel fine at one point in the book, you could be being scared the next. Herbert is a big fan of creating atmosphere in his novels so that you can really get involved with the happenings in the novel.

As I said at the beginning, James Herbert is my favourite author and I have read all of his 19 novels and have loved everyone. I think this novel stands out as being the greatest because it builds up the tension so well and the storyline has you guessing and just wanting to read the whole book so you know the truth. I recommend Herbert books to everyone who isn’t afraid of horror and wants a really good read. Moon is fantastic and retailing at £5.99 for 340 pages in paperback. You may even be able to get this cheaper on eBay as it is a pretty old book being published in 1985.

Buy, read and enjoy.

Thanks for reading.

xxx

Summary: Fantastic, great, thrilling, fabulous and intriguing