The Ghosts of Sleath - Softcover

Herbert, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006475973 ISBN 13: 9780006475972

Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd, 1995

Synopsis

Investigator David Ash is sent to the picturesque village of Sleath in the Chiltern Hills to look into mysterious reports of mass hauntings. What he discovers is a terrified community gripped by horrors and terrorized by ghosts from the ancient village's long history.

About this title

Review:

Veteran horror writer James Herbert brings back the protagonist of Haunted to investigate psychic disturbances in a picturesque village in the Lake District of England. It's an interesting mishmash of a novel--not entirely successful, but enjoyable all the same. Herbert's penchant for gorgeously visceral carnage unfortunately clashes with his equally skilled ability to create a subtle mood of supernatural terror. And he throws way too many ingredients into the stew: family secrets, rape, infanticide, necrophilia, the "Black Arts," a moldering mansion, a sinister yellow fog, drowning children, poltergeist pranks, a haunted painting, a tormented vicar, a neglectful doctor, even an evil knight. Yet, as Necrofile: The Review of Horror Fiction reports, "None of these flaws are fatal. These days, making a classic ghost story work at all--let alone on the scale of The Ghosts of Sleath--requires a daunting level of craft, control, and consistency.... Many of the novel's supernatural elements ... evoke the requisite chills."

About the Author:

James Herbert is one of the most influential and widely imitated authors of our time. His previous novels are `The Rats', `The Fog', `The Survivor', `Fluke', `The Spear', `Lair', `The Dark', `The Jonah', `Shrine', `Moon', `Domain', `The Magic Cottage', `Sepulchre', `Haunted', `Creed', `Portent' and `The Ghosts of Sleath'.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0006475973
• ISBN 13: 9780006475972
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416