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The story itself revolves around a central character called Kelso and the way in which his life has been blighted by unbelievable bad luck or unexplained incidents. It has got that bad that following the death of a policeman in an incident that Kelso could have avoided his colleagues decide ... Read review
...as gory as something like the Rats but the story easily makes up for that. Herbert manages to get a very good thriller integrated into his normal scary material.
The story itself revolves around a central character called Kelso and the way in which his life has been blighted by unbelievable bad luck or unexplained incidents. It has got that bad that following the death of a policeman in an incident that Kelso could have avoided his ... ...chance to get him off the scene and he is subsequently transferred to undercover duties to investigate if there is something untoward happening. Whilst there he is disturbed to find the drugs agency want one of their own involved and send a pretty girl to help him.
There then follows the obvious falling for each other, the obvious sex scenes, the obvious capturing by the baddies and then the not so obvious ending.
Brilliant, another one of his best. This is definitely one of his better works as far as I’m concerned, its not as gory as something like the Rats but the story easily makes up for that. Herbert manages to get a very good thriller integrated into his normal scary material.
The story itself revolves around a central character called Kelso and the way in which his life has been blighted by unbelievable bad luck or unexplained incidents. It has got that bad that following the death of a policeman in an incident that Kelso could have avoided his colleagues decide that they no longer want him working with him because he’s regarded as a jinx, a Jonah !
Following an unusual incident in an isolated fishing port his superiors see a chance to get him off the scene and he is subsequently transferred to undercover duties to investigate if there is something untoward happening. Whilst there he is disturbed to find the drugs agency want one of their own involved and send a pretty girl to help him.
There then follows the obvious falling for each other, the obvious sex scenes, the obvious capturing by the baddies and then the not so obvious ending.
Excuse my apparent sarcasm above, its certainly not meant that way, in fact in between the obvious bits there is a very well told and entertaining story. In fact the story has got a very realistic feeling to it as anybody who has visited any small fishing ports will testify to. The setting is described perfectly and you can almost smell the salty/fishy atmosphere, not to mention the way you can almost picture the local characters Kelso comes across.
As I said above the ending is not obvious at all and is made even better by the way Herbert describes all the incidents and links them together. I wont spoil it by saying exactly what happens but it is quite an exciting finale which will keep you glued to the pages.
Advantages: Short Gripping Read Disadvantages: A Bit outdated and cliche'd
The Jonah is a very well written novel by James Herbert, though it is eclipsed by his earlier work, especially The Rats, The Lair and The Domain (The Rats Trilogy), The Jonah is a complete and engrossing book. It has dated over the years, as James' use of words and descriptive prowess has grown to such a capacity that I am waiting at his website to find out when the next book is due to be released, but this does not take anything away from it's power ... ...out, Kelso is removed from the police. He then takes a journey to find out why these things are happening to him and in the process finds love and a part of him he thought never enev existed.
If You like this and other James Herbert novels, I would suggest you look for By Horror Haunted - edited by Stephen Jones and James Herbert's Dark Places as they are great insightful books.
I'll be totally frank about this though. I really need to re-read ...
Stuart_aspey_woohoo 21.09.2007
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Advantages: Well written, back to the old form Disadvantages: Some may find it a bit taxing
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 JamesHerbert'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 JamesHerbert. 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 ...
The shadow of his past was always with him. But he never knew what it was, or when it would strike next. Sent to a small coastal town to investigate drug smuggling, Kelso stumbles on a dangerous organisation and suddenly more than just his life is at stake. It's his past, his future, his sanity. Through torture and drugs he discovers the terrifying secret of The Jonah. And learns, in the most horrifying way, that it can destroy him as well as others...
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A nice gripping and readable novel ; A terrific tale of survival ; Very atmospheric ; The characters thoughts and feelings are projected well to the reader
Suddenly stops flowing towards the middle ; King can be slightly over obsequious towards the main character (*)
