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A review by opheliapo
Fluke by James Herbert
3.0
‘My own name was rising from ocean depths and about to break the surface. But a car swished past and the names scattered like startled fish.’
It made a lot of sense, upon discovering that James Herbert was a best selling horror writer, why Fluke had such an unusually tense feeling for a spiritual adventure story. Not to knock it, that is: I believe that this edge added immensely to the believability of the book, for having such a farfetched concept. Herbert handles emotions, particularly negative ones, with confidence and assuredness. I was particularly stricken by the tale of Victoria the cat and the chimney.
This tale follows a similar pattern that a lot of seventies adventure stories did at the time, in that it acts as if you are reading a series of short stories that all amalgamate through one perspective (kind if like a Dickens, I suppose), and it works to make this surprisingly heavy book an easy read.
Herbert put forward an idea that the communication between dogs and other animals would create an ‘us and them’ stance, which I found interesting. And he generally does a fantastic job of giving the dogs, in particular, characters without forcing upon them ‘human’ traits. This is particularly true in the character of Rumbo (I cry).
The ending to Fluke (no spoilers, I promise) sets itself apart from the horror or thriller story and into the realms of adventure by ultimately setting itself down as a story of belief.
It made a lot of sense, upon discovering that James Herbert was a best selling horror writer, why Fluke had such an unusually tense feeling for a spiritual adventure story. Not to knock it, that is: I believe that this edge added immensely to the believability of the book, for having such a farfetched concept. Herbert handles emotions, particularly negative ones, with confidence and assuredness. I was particularly stricken by the tale of Victoria the cat and the chimney.
This tale follows a similar pattern that a lot of seventies adventure stories did at the time, in that it acts as if you are reading a series of short stories that all amalgamate through one perspective (kind if like a Dickens, I suppose), and it works to make this surprisingly heavy book an easy read.
Herbert put forward an idea that the communication between dogs and other animals would create an ‘us and them’ stance, which I found interesting. And he generally does a fantastic job of giving the dogs, in particular, characters without forcing upon them ‘human’ traits. This is particularly true in the character of Rumbo (I cry).
The ending to Fluke (no spoilers, I promise) sets itself apart from the horror or thriller story and into the realms of adventure by ultimately setting itself down as a story of belief.