Once - James Herbert

"Once…upon…a…death.." is a unique way to open a story but then James Herbert has a penchant for uniqueness that keeps him at the top of the British horror writing totem pole. This was the only remaining book of his that I hadn’t read, what with this particular author dominating his genre since the early 1970’s. Thom Kindred is a 27-year-old male who has just had a stroke. A self-made man with his own furniture-making business, he is severely affected and travels back to Castle Bracken in Shropshire to recuperate. The stroke had caused him to crash his car although a mysterious golden light had fleetingly appeared in his eye line just as the crash ...

In my teenage years I saw far too many horror films for my own good and my Dad's fascination with Stephen King books soon had me dipping into pages that teemed with every known nightmare, plus a good few more that I wish I'd never discovered. There would be many nights spent supine on the bed, shaking hands holding some or other spooky novel, hair standing on end and light switched to on ever after. Adjacent to King on my Dad's bookshelf were a smattering of James Herbert books and inevitably I decided to delve into his prose. The only book I ever got around to reading of his though was Fluke; wonderful dogs-eye view of the world and a great story. ...

Ah, not wrote any book reviews yet, this my first but not my last, I’ll review the more bizarre and twisted at a later date but for now…… Once…………James Herbert Just finished reading this after starting it 3 months ago and then moving house and losing the book. It’s another JH special with all the things that make Herbert a brilliant author included, the classic English rural setting, the mysterious buildings, the eerie atmospheres and the odd characters. The story starts with the introduction to the main character Thom, he is an English man who was brought up on a country estate in a ...