A grim picture. Joseph Creed is a paparazzo, one of that un-illustrious band of photographers whose sole purpose in life is to chase and harass celebrities for candid shots, preferably of the seedier kind. Creed, himself, is a sleaze of the first order, but good at his job; nothing will stop him getting the right shot. He's a coward, a liar and a would-be blackmailer. He's also a womaniser and a divorcée. He looks a little like the actor Mickey Rourke (and is aware of it).

After the funeral ceremony of a major Hollywood actress, he photographs a man of ravaged appearance desecrating the grave. Creed himself is observed and there follows a series of horrific events designed to intimidate him into handing over the film. The person he has photographed bears a remarkable resemblance to a man hanged in the 1930s for murder and the mutilation of children. Creed eventually discovers his antagonists are the Fallen Angels of Europe, whose origins can be traced to Biblical sources. Their powers are waning, the centuries and the evil they have perpetrated have taken their toll. The demons are weary.

James Herbert was one of Britain’s greatest popular novelists and our number-one 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 '40s, 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-10 best seller every year until 1988. He wrote six more best-selling 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.