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‘48
- Narrated by: Robert Slade
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Horror
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swish-THWACK
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When an experiment to study quantum uncertainty goes spectacularly wrong, physics student Bill Rustad and his friends find that they have accidentally created an inter-dimensional portal. They connect to Outland - an alternate Earth with identical geology, but where humans never evolved. The group races to establish control of the portal before the government, the military, or evildoers can take it away. Then everything changes when the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts in an explosion large enough to destroy civilization and kill half the planet.
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Bright young things
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Editor reviews
With this riveting work of science fiction, James Herbert imagines an alternate history in which Hitler detonates a lethal biological weapon, unleashing an apocalyptic plague known as the Blood Death. The story follows American pilot Hoke, one of the few surviving humans with a natural immunity to the illness. Hoke is chased through war-ravaged London streets by Nazi thugs, desperate to steal his blood so they might escape a slow death from the deadly disease. In his drawling, husky baritone, actor Robert Slade personifies the rugged Hoke, weary and jaded from life on the run, but tough as nails nevertheless. Slade matches the action and suspense of Herbert’s thriller, the urgency in his voice ebbing and flowing as Hoke defies his pursuers time and again.
Summary
The running man. In 1945, Hitler unleashes the Blood Death on Britain as his final act of vengeance. Hoke, an American pilot and one of a tiny minority with a rare blood group unaffected by the deadly disease, has survived alone among the debris and the dead of London for three years. Now, in '48, a slow-dying group of Fascist Blackshirts believe their only hope is a complete transfusion of blood from one of Hoke's kind.
Ever more desperate as their deaths approach, they're after his blood. Running for his life, Hoke is rescued by other survivors and together they're pursued in a spectacular but deadly chase through London's ravaged streets and historic landmarks, reaching a dramatic and explosive climax at the top of Tower Bridge.
James Herbert was one of Britain’s greatest popular novelists and our #1 best-selling writer of chiller fiction. Widely imitated and hugely influential, he wrote 23 novels which have collectively sold over 54 million copies worldwide and been translated into 34 languages. Born in London in the forties, James Herbert was art director of an advertising agency before turning to writing fiction in 1975.
His first novel, The Rats, was an instant best seller and is now recognised as a classic of popular contemporary fiction. Herbert went on to publish a new top ten best-seller every year until 1988. He wrote six more bestselling novels in the 1990s and three more since: Once, Nobody True and The Secret of Crickley Hall. Herbert died in March 2013 at the age of 69.
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- B COOK
- 26-04-21
love this book
love this book. the first time i read it was a paperback and it was so well done that i was able to see the events clearly in my minds eye as if i was in the book itself. the audio version is just as good if not better. this book needs to be made into a movie.
2 people found this helpful
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- fuzzyhead
- 07-02-18
Shame about the end
Love James Herbert books. Really Confused witj he ending on this one as to me it ended rather strange. I was waiting for more to happen. Still miss he talent of this man and his loss was such a shock to the literary world. RIP JAMES
2 people found this helpful
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- Arky
- 19-08-16
loved it
I loved. the book and the narration was perfect. really brought it the grim life.
3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 23-05-14
I so wanted to like this book but...
What did you like best about '48? What did you like least?
The story had great premise, but dwelt far too much and far too much on decaying bodies. Plus the story line has some glaring holes in it about survival of the 'plague'
What was most disappointing about James Herbert’s story?
It was all a bit dull. I did persevere until the end, and I really wanted to like the book, as I think it was James Herbert's last book.
Have you listened to any of Robert Slade’s other performances? How does this one compare?
This is the first Robert Slade performance I've listened to, and thought he did a good job with rather poor material.
3 people found this helpful
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- the typist
- 16-05-14
Utterly banal...
Please don't waste your credit on this. I read James Herbert when I was very young and adored The Rats. There's no doubt that he was once the master of the schlocky chiller but I think he went off the boil around 20 years ago. I purchased '48 as the story seemed intriguing and having read The Luminaries I was after a brainless thrill ride. But all I got was the brainless bit. It's shocking stuff like this even gets published. I don't want to speak ill of the dead and I'm sure some people adore Mr. Herbert's more recent offerings. But I honestly think you'd have to be lobotomised to get to the end of this "novel".
5 people found this helpful
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- K.MITCHELL
- 24-06-22
Too close to a possible reality
Was a good book overall but for a James herbert book I was expecting /hoping for more of a horror lean to the story. Nevertheless a very thought provoking read given the current world situation.
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- Amazon Customer
- 19-06-22
Started good
Really enjoyed this book, but the last half an hour spoilt it,
Dragged on for no reason.
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- Cindy
- 18-06-22
Need to be in the right mood to listen.
Could not get into this story. I had it on in the background but my mind kept wandering. I will try and listen to it again when in a better mood so I can concentrate. I've given it an overall of 4 stars as narrator was good and the bits I was able to listen too were ok . A typical James Herbert book.
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- Hazel
- 07-06-22
enjoyable
despite the horrors of a dieing world their are many sweet scenes with human and animal but also many heart ranching... the books story along with its naration kept me hooked and finding myself staying up to listen to just one more chapter.
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- Alistair Davies
- 03-06-22
Excellent twist on the Last Man on Earth genre
Firstly the narration was perfect for this book. In my opinion one of the best Herbert books I've listened to so far. A good story with a decent pace.
More in the genre of post apocalyptic fiction than horror, and all the better for it.
Reminded me of I Am Legend with a sprinkle of Man In The High Castle or SS-GB.
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- Illini Hillel
- 04-04-16
Wonderful dystopian story
I read 48 as a teenager after visiting London. because of that story I came back again to see the city in a whole new way. Herbert became one of my favorite novelists. Hearing the book almost 15 years later with Slade's talent makes the book so much more powerful.
2 people found this helpful