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Portent cover art

Portent

By: James Herbert
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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Editor reviews

The mass suicide of seven thousand king penguins is just the first of many ominous "portents" in best-selling thriller writer James Herbert's tale of escalating natural disaster. The very Earth itself seems to be fighting humanity like an immune system defending itself against a foreign virus, but there seems to be more at work, as magic, strange orbs of light, and children with psychic abilities come into play. Jonathon Keeble performs the audiobook, the gravity of his theatrical delivery bringing the full weight of this epic thriller down to the surface of our fragile planet.

Summary

The end is beginning. The time is just a few short years from now. But already the signs of global disaster are multiplying. Freak storms, earthquakes, floods volcanic eruptions are sweeping the earth. The last violent spasms of a dying planet. Then a series of ominous events signal the emergence of new and terrifying forces.

While scuba-diving on the Great Barrier Reef a diver watches fascinated as a tiny light floats past him towards the surface. Moments later he is torn to pieces as the reef erupts with shattering power. In the Chinese city of Kashi, travellers bring back reports of a strange light seen shining above the endless dunes of the Taklimakan Desert. And as the city's inhabitants watch for its return the desert rises up like a vast living thing to engulf them in a colossal tidal wave of sand. All have seen a portent: a sign of unimaginable powers about to be unleashed. A sign that something incredible is about to begin.

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.

©1992 James Herbert (P)2013 Audible Ltd

Critic reviews

"Herbert was by no means literary, but his work had a raw urgency. His best novels, The Rats and 'he Fog, had the effect of Mike Tyson in his championship days: no finesse, all crude power. Those books were best sellers because many readers (including me) were too horrified to put them down." (Stephen King)
"There are few things I would like to do less than lie under a cloudy night sky while someone read aloud the more vivid passages of Moon. In the thriller genre, do recommendations come any higher?" (Andrew Postman, The New York Times Book Review)
"Herbert goes out in a blaze of glory" ( Daily Mail)

What listeners say about Portent

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  • Overall
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    4 out of 5 stars

Jonathan Keeble brings this audio book to life

Loved it. Brilliant story by Herbert brought together by the wonderful English voice of narrator Keeble. Kept me wanting more and more as I listened. Now looking to purchase another Herbert/Keeble book

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Time changes everything.

I read this book first when I was 18. I've been carrying the paperback version from place to place ever since and when my eye rests on it I say to whoever is with me - 'have you read this? It's great. Very pertinent now.' When I was 18 I found this book unputdownable. Not so much now.

I allow leeway for the fact this book was written some time ago. Scarily almost 30 years. There's quite a bit of casual racism. Everyone is white unless pointed out by the author. Anyone of colour is a baddie. The 'baddies' are drawn in crass stereotypes. All the things i notice now that I did not notice then I am ashamed to say. However, setting that aside surely the underpinnings of the book are still sound? Well not really. I didn't actually care that much about the characters besides pogsy and bibi. They are the only two characters who are drawn sympathetically with some understanding of their history. Poor old Mac is almost completely unexplained.

I found the character 'Diana' inexplicable and the reasons she did things and agreed things maddening. The narrator especially made her particularly annoying!

The children were not endearing. You didn't warm to them.

So these are the things I liked. I liked the idea of the Portent. I liked the Gaia affect and the quote by Chief Ottawa. I remembered that these things had led me to do further research when I read it for the first time. I like the huge set pieces and I could see that it could be a humdinger of a disaster movie - I can only think it wasn't picked up due to the cost.

I feel that someone could pick this book up and rewrite it - some of the scenes are boring. The dialogue is often dull. It needs a good re-write. The characters could do with a bit of sophistication. But underneath the book still has an interesting premise.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Quiet hidden racist insertions

The word Nigger inserted unnecessarily and inappropriately. When there's only one woman in the room why repeatedly write the black woman this and the black woman that. Not something I would recommend

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1 person found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Best avoided

A depressingly lazy piece of writing. It’s plot details seem to result from the kind of simple google search one would expect from a participant on a weekend creative writing course. The plot is inconsistent and the characters one dimensional. The most irritating aspect was the self serving, horrendous racism with laughable, caricatured, cardboard cut-out villains (black) described in the ugliest language and innocent, pure, upper-middle class good guys (white) described in sympathetic, positive language. Even for something written in the nineties, this book is so regressive. And yes, I did listen all the way to the end. The narration is terrible. The reader has no skill for the creation of any voice other than that of a middle class white male. His attempts at females, children and black voices are hideous and he appears to believe that tension can best be conveyed by speaking hysterically loud and fast. My question to audible: why does this production not carry a warning with respect to the racist language used and the depiction of black people?

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not one of his best

Jonathan Keeble always narrates well and gives the story some depth but this story was disappointing. Very long winded but having read a number of James Herbert's books I do wonder how he came up with so much horror.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not Herbert's best

Reader was too loud at times, and his attempt at women - meh! Story OK but very dated

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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Dreadful.

I bought this because I like Keeble as a narrator but what a waste of time this book is. Its complete rubbish and wouldnt even make a channel five movie...oh no wait it would make a channel five movie because at least then no one would watch it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

it felt like I was part it all

there was nothing I could dislike I was part of the story from the beginning

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Didn’t like the narration or the story

The narration was not to my liking, speeding up and raising voice excessively when anything tense is being described.

Had been told this was a great book but I personally didn’t like it, found it lacking in depth.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

absolutely gripping from start to finish

loved this book from the very beginning, some parts seemed a little dated but also very relevant when you look at the world now

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