Others [Import] [Hardcover]

JAMES HERBERT (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: MACMILLAN (1999)
• ISBN-10: 0333780647
• ISBN-13: 978-0333780640
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chilling thriller, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Others (Hardcover)

The public revered him for his good looks and good deeds. However that public icon hid his ugly soul very well on Earth. Now he is just another lost sinner residing in hell until angels visit him with an offer of redemption. Failure to accept or succeed will condemn in hell for eternity. The former movie star jumps at the opportunity.

With no memory of his previous life, he returns to earth in a different body. Nicholas Dismas is a private investigator with a thriving practice in England. Still, he is an unhappy soul. In his own eyes and that of the world, Nicholas is monster and his misshapen body leaves people staring in stunned horror.

A client hires him to locate her missing son that she thought died during childbirth. Nicholas goes through the motions of an investigation, but does not believe there is any chance of success. The client introduces Nicholas to a clairvoyant who becomes his ally by warning him of imminent danger. He finds danger in Perfect Rest, a nursing home that allows its elderly patients to hide a horror that is capable of allowing to surface the dark nature in Nicholas, soul.

James Herbert is one of the recognized masters of the horror genre. Though OTHERS centers on efforts to regain Paradise Lost in the face of extreme adversary, the horror of this tale lies in the brutality humans inflict on less fortunate beings. It is the beauty of the physical form that matters. A handsome person freely walks the earth with admiring glances even if their inside rivals that of Lucifer. On the other hand, those with hearts like Mother Teresa but in deformed bodies will probably be treated as freaks. Could Mr. Herbert be Stoker bound?

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strong and well written. James Herbert delivers the goods., June 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Others (Hardcover)

'Others' is James Herbert's latest book. It follows '48' which was a superb story - easily his best. I was interested to see whether 'Others' would deliver the goods and for the most part I would have to say that it does. The story is intriguing, well-plotted and has a main character, Nic Dismas, who is unlike anything James Herbert has ever created before. Indeed, this was one of the joys of the book, to meet a main character who was far from perfect, who was terribly afflicted and who you really cared for. He drove the story forward and brought a freshness to it. It was nice to see a main character who was flawed. If I have any reservations, they concern the length of the story and its ending. At over five hundred pages, the book is too long and the story seems to drag at the very end. The action sequences seem repetitive. More interesting twists could have been made in the plot, but nonetheless it was a strong story, horrific at times, and well told.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Chilling, April 17, 2003

By 

Storm (Oxford, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Others (Mass Market Paperback)

Others is the book that lovers of horror fiction dream about, and James Herbert is the author that all Horror writers should strive to be. Without a doubt I have never read a horror novel of this calibur, nor have I read an author with this amount of talent.

Herbert himself has a tendancy to take us through some amazing twists and turns in his stories, tugging at our emotions and at our fear, digging up within the reader the thing that terrifies him or her most so that he brings us to the point where we are as terrified as we can become.

Others takes this terror one step further, with a story that is based on fact in a way that leaves the reader trembling with exhaustion and terror. Herbert takes us on a trip into some of the most depraved minds imaginable, and leads us through twists and turns that truly brings the reader right into the amazing plot of the outstanding novel.

Thrill seeking readers will enjoy this book for the pumping adrenhalin it provides. Lovers of horror fiction will be on the edges of their seats. And if this is the first James Herbert book you buy... Read it in the dark, and see how you sleep.