Nobody true - James Herbert

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.”

Few authors can write about life or death in such a dramatic and all encompassing way as James Herbert has in Nobody True. For this reason I number him amongst my favourite writers in the mystery and thriller genre with the sure knowledge that when I pick up one of his books I know I’m about to go on a dizzying journey filled with passion and heartache in fairly equal measure, Herbert really is the very best of British authors.

“Birth and Death are the two noblest expressions of bravery”

James True was a slip of a lad when he first had an out of body experience, an oversized boiled potato caused him to choke nearly to death and in the process propelled his inner self to rise above his actual body and observe his Mothers frantic efforts to dislodge the errant spud and bring him back to life. James survived this close encounter of the Maris Piper kind and thought little of the out of body experience (OBE) until it happened again when he was aged seventeen. On his journey home from art college a young boy ran out in front of his motorbike causing James to swerve drastically, much to the annoyance of the rain soaked road which endeavoured to spill him from the motorbike and in so doing fracturing his skull and breaking a leg. James remembered nothing of the accident but he did remember standing on the pavement observing the accident and the immediate aftermath, watching as worried pedestrians ran to his aid as he lay prone in the road. Thankfully James survived the road traffic accident but his curiosity of OBE`s was awakened and he set about developing the skill to use as a benefit and a way of relaxing throughout his adult life. Unfortunately an OBE was to prove his undoing, after a particularly hard brain storming session with his advertising agency partner, James used an OBE as a means to relax and escape the never ending grind, the only trouble was that while he had left his actual body in the hotel room someone gained access and murdered him. Unable to rejoin his ruined body James floats about in abject despair as it slowly dawns on him that he is destined to spend eternity in a sort of afterlife flux state. So begins a journey to find out who is responsible for his brutal murder and why he was killed when it seemed he had no enemies at all, what James discovers along the way shakes his lost soul to its very foundations.

“Death is the most beautiful adventure in life”

This is a tough book to read, not because it is not well written, I assure you it is. It is tough because it requires the reader to think about the very essence of death and the effect it has on loved ones and acquaintances. I could feel the despair as James True realises that he will never be able to communicate with his wife and daughter again, the despair when he realises that his life is over just when it had reached its peak, and the abject misery that envelopes him as it dawns on him that there will be no more tomorrows for his real self. Each of the characters in Nobody True is well developed and either had me liking them immediately or wishing for their undoing. The way in which James` daughter’s utter heartache is portrayed as she realises that she will not see her daddy again is heart rending as is his wife’s stoicism.

“There is no cure for birth and death, save to enjoy the interval”

Why was that? Well, James Herbert has always been a very graphic writer in my opinion, on more than one occasion when reading his other books I have winced at the descriptive horrors contained therein. It seems he has channelled this utterly compelling descriptiveness to full effect in Nobody True so that the eternal OBE of the lead character is not only believable but also has the reader filled with empathy very early on. The physics of the OBE are also painstakingly explained so that when James True can walk through walls or people it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to me, kudos to James Herbert for making the characters so utterly believable.

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone”

It will come as little surprise that I give Nobody True the full five stars. It is a violent book with bad language and uncomfortable wording aplenty, sort of a “Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold” with blood, guts and violence! Don’t let that put you off though, because above all else it is a darn good read.

Hardback ISBN: - 140500519X - £12.59 at Amazon
Paperback ISBN: - 0330411675 - £5.59 at Amazon

www.james-herbert.co.uk