Nobody true - James Herbert > Reviews > Whos' walking over your grave?

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?	Absolutely
Story	Outstanding
Characters	Good
Listenability	Once you start it, you won't be able to switch it off!
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?	Excellent

Advantages:	Well written, back to the old form
Disadvantages:	Some may find it a bit taxing

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Take a big dollop of Fluke, a spoonful of Others, a pinch of The Dark and the tiniest drop of The Jonah, stir it up and you may well have James Herbert's new book 'Nobody True'. Or perhaps I'm being a little unfair on the whole thing, lets take a peek.

Nobody True, (don't make the same mistake as I did calling it Nobody's True, sounds easier) is the newest output of Britain's greatest horror writer James Herbert. Although I'm sure that I'd call him a horror writer anymore, supernatural, that's more the word. But even so he's moved away, like Stephen King into other directions. 48' and Others show that perfectly. Once of course did have that spooky supernatural gobliny stuff, but it didn't go down too well. Hence I think he's gone back to the more human side of things. Now you may disagree with me after reading the book yourselves, please feel free to question my judgement.

James True is 7 when he remembers his first out of body experience (OBE, from now on), he happens to be choking on a hot potato when he finds himself floating above his body, it happens several times after but most notable of it when he is injured in a motorcycle accident when he is 17. From this moment on he begins to explore his OBE's, fine tuning them until he learns to leave his body at will. And this is what gets him in some major trouble!

The first quarter of the book concerns the life and growing up of Jim True, with the odd, tiny, no more than 2 page chapter which bears no relevance to the story at the time. What I have come to realise though is that Herbert has found the formula to keep you reading this book!
We meet his mother, the harridan who's behaviour and obvious mental health problems prove so important for his own healing. We meet his partners Oliver and Sydney from their advertising company, its subtly dropped in that Andrea, James' wife was one Olivers live in lover.

Then the big event happens, Oliver and Jim argue in a hotel room over the possible merger of the firm into a much larger one. Guess who's for and against? It ends up with Oliver storming out after doing a few lines of coke, Jim proceeds to drink the mini-bar, collapses on the bed and floats out of his body...........
During this flight Jim encounters the hideously deformed Alex Moker with realising the part then have to play.
He floats off to kiss his wife and child goodnight, suddenly he has the feeling of a snapped link. Jim rushes back to his body to find he is....
Dead

Not just dead but literally chopped into pieces, murdered to put it politely. So now of course he wants to know who's killed him, which is going to prove which difficult as he cant be seen, heard, nor can he touch anything. But boy does Jim give it a go!
The rest of Jim's journey is trying to work out who killed him, is he a victim of a serial killer?. He learns some very unpleasant truths along the way, encountering some very nasty and ugly situations. Does it come to a happy conclusion? This is a Herbert book for Gawds sake.

This book is written in a first person narrative, which gives us a fascinating insight into James thoughts and feeling. This is the main reason I liken it to Fluke, its written in the same style and manner, absolutely wonderful in its simplicity, demonstrating the perplexity of the character at his predicament. But I promise you James doesn't turn into a dog, or any other small furry creature!

Herbert has undoubtedly done his research on OBE's, souls and death, explaining to us why James isn't a ghost, nor a spirit (hurt my brain too the first time around!) He does encounter spirits, but thankfully stays well clear of any discussion around hell, heaven and GOD. There are no religious overtones in this book at all, no preaching, no nothing.

One of the biggest problems I had whilst reading this book was wondering how the hell the story was going to go forward, it doesn't stutter at all, but you do think, how is a man who couldn't touch, speak be heard, etc ever going to be able to work this out? But the story does turn out to be a smooth progression, and the ending both a surprise and a triumph. Herbert has the 'twist in the tale' down to an art form! Some may find the explorations of his plight and the whole subject of OBE's, etc too scientific and too in depth for a horror story, yes you have to think a bit instead of ploughing through like most horror stories. However its managed in the most interesting way, making this book a delight to read, I finished it in less than 2 days and in a couple of days time I'm going to read it again to ensure I get all the bits out of this book.

I'll give you some advice though, remember that phrase 'its like someone just walked over my grave', you'll find out exactly what it means, and boy, is it uncomfortable!

Macmillan 2003
£10.99
ISBN 1-405-04173-0