I remember looking at this novel when I was a just a kid. Probably about 1977/78 so I would have been nine or ten years old. Just reading the synopsis on the back of the paperback scared me. Throw in the lurid cover art of the New American Library edition and I knew that there was no way in hell my parent's would let me read Mr. Hebert's sophomore effort.......unfortunately.
Well the decades flew by, but I never totally forgot this book. A few days ago I found a copy (the same lurid New American Library edition from 1975) at a local second hand store. I picked it up and read it in a couple days.
It was exactly what I was expecting. Imagine a gory, exploitative horror story with a little porn thrown in to spice things up and you've got The Fog. It's visceral and in your face, but it also works. There are aspects of the story that have dated badly (in particular the portrayal of homosexuals and lesbians). Some of the sexual stuff feels like James Herbert threw it in for all the teenagers that had made his first book The Rats a surprise hit, but the book grabs you and keeps you reading in spite of these weak-points. What I particularly enjoyed was the climax which felt like a Dr. Who episode. Oh granted it would be a Dr. Who episode for adults only, but it still had the same effect of pulling you in and keeping you seated until the credits rolled.
In conclusion The Fog isn't literature. It's the paperback equivalent of the old exploitation drive-in movies churned out by AIP (American International Pictures) and Hammer Film Productions in the sixties and seventies. Definitely more seventies than sixties, but you understand what I mean. Many of those old movies were enjoyable even while inducing groans and rolling eyeballs from the audience members. "The Fog" is a lot like that only on paper instead of the big screen.
Well the decades flew by, but I never totally forgot this book. A few days ago I found a copy (the same lurid New American Library edition from 1975) at a local second hand store. I picked it up and read it in a couple days.
It was exactly what I was expecting. Imagine a gory, exploitative horror story with a little porn thrown in to spice things up and you've got The Fog. It's visceral and in your face, but it also works. There are aspects of the story that have dated badly (in particular the portrayal of homosexuals and lesbians). Some of the sexual stuff feels like James Herbert threw it in for all the teenagers that had made his first book The Rats a surprise hit, but the book grabs you and keeps you reading in spite of these weak-points. What I particularly enjoyed was the climax which felt like a Dr. Who episode. Oh granted it would be a Dr. Who episode for adults only, but it still had the same effect of pulling you in and keeping you seated until the credits rolled.
In conclusion The Fog isn't literature. It's the paperback equivalent of the old exploitation drive-in movies churned out by AIP (American International Pictures) and Hammer Film Productions in the sixties and seventies. Definitely more seventies than sixties, but you understand what I mean. Many of those old movies were enjoyable even while inducing groans and rolling eyeballs from the audience members. "The Fog" is a lot like that only on paper instead of the big screen.
