Ash

by James Herbert

Overview

Ash is James Herbert’s last and most controversial novel. It will make you wonder what is fact and what is fiction.

Fear will let you in. Terror will keep you there.

David Ash, ghost hunter and parapsychologist, arrives at Comraich Castle – a desolate, ancient place with a dark heart – to investigate a series of disturbing events. An incorporeal power has been ignited by a long-ago curse, fed and now unleashed by the evil of those who once inhabited this supposed sanctuary – and by some who still do. Yet their hour of retribution is at hand . . .

Start the chilling series from the Master of Horror, with Haunted.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230764873
Publisher:	Pan Macmillan
Publication date:	08/30/2012
Series:	David Ash , #3
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	600
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James Herbert was not just Britain’s number one bestselling writer of chiller fiction, a position he held ever since publication of his first novel, but was also one of our greatest popular novelists. Widely imitated and hugely influential, his twenty-three novels have sold more than fifty-four million copies worldwide, and have been translated into over thirty languages, including Russian and Chinese. In 2010, he was made the Grand Master of Horror by the World Horror Convention and was also awarded an OBE by the Queen for services to literature. His final novel was Ash. James Herbert died in March 2013.
James Herbert was not only Britain’s number one bestselling writer of chiller fiction, a position he held ever since publication of his first novel, but was also one of our greatest popular novelists. Widely imitated and hugely influential, his twenty-three novels have sold more than fifty-four million copies worldwide, and have been translated into over thirty languages, including Russian and Chinese. In 2010, he was made the Grand Master of Horror by the World Horror Convention and was also awarded an OBE by the Queen for services to literature. His final novel was Ash. James Herbert died in March 2013.

Editorial Reviews

"A big, thrilling, pull-all-the-stops novel featuring David Ash, the skeptical psychic investigator who was introduced in Haunted (1988) and made his second appearance in The Ghosts of Sleath (1994). It’s been awhile since fans have seen Ash, but they’ll be pleased to note that he’s lost none of his straight-shooting attitude and keen ability to distinguish between fear and paranoia and genuine otherworldly goings-on. . . . a gripping mixture of paranormal and traditional thriller elements. Imagine Herbert channeling Dan Brown and you’ll have some idea of what he’s up to here." —Booklist starred review

From the Publisher

Curious blend of supernatural horror and conspiracy theory, from the veteran ghost-chaser (The Secret of Crickley Hall, 2006, etc.). In his latest adventure, absinthe-swilling, deeply conflicted paranormal investigator David Ash tackles Comraich Castle in Scotland, an ancient, isolated pile whose sponsors, the Inner Court, comprise a secret organization of British royals and other superrich, shadowy movers and shakers. What's going on at Comraich? Well, it turns out to be a sanctuary for war criminals, mass murderers, child molesters, insane dictators and others whose public presence might prove embarrassing or dangerous and who desire to vanish utterly (in some cases, involuntarily). Their sole common characteristic is that they are wealthy enough to afford the astronomical fees. Comraich's problem, as Ash learns, is that an enormously powerful and hostile psychic presence has manifested itself in the dungeons where insane inmates are housed--so powerful, indeed, that it threatens to destroy the castle itself. Herbert pulls in a laundry list of real-life characters (used fictitiously, of course) who disappeared mysteriously or whose deaths gave rise to conspiracy theories (no Elvis, but there is the requisite Hitlerian connection). Tasteful, however, it isn't. The book opens with the thoughts of a dying Princess Diana--her connection to Comraich isn't revealed until near the end--and trundles rapidly downhill into mayhem punctuated with bouts of sex and swathes of irrelevant detail. Plot and dialogue often verge on the ludicrous. Readers end up in the peculiar position of knowing what's to come and actually approving it: Yes, many of the people here are that unpleasant. Herbert clearly intended to channel public anger at the way the superrich insulate themselves from reality, and in this, he succeeds, especially given the recent revelations about how the British royals meddle in politics to their own benefit. A yarn that has almost everything wrong with it, yet still reveals a compelling truth.

Kirkus Reviews