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The Fog cover art

The Fog

By: James Herbert
Narrated by: Sean Barrett
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Editor reviews

Perhaps his best book, The Fog is James Herbert's terrifying thriller where contact with a mysterious fog turns the most innocent of people into homicidal maniacs. Given an extra dose of tension from the sly and gravelly voice of veteran narrator Sean Barrett, the poor folks in little Wiltshire don't stand a chance. The menacing and uncontrollable fog takes over, leaving the town of Wiltshire devastated and on the hunt for more victims. James Herbert is at his prime here and when paired with the dramatic performance from Sean Barrett, The Fog is an audiobook not to be missed.

Summary

Please note: contains extreme violence and adult themes. Mature listeners only.

The peaceful life of a village in Wiltshire is suddenly shattered by a disaster which strikes without reason or explanation, leaving behind it a trail of misery and horror. A yawning, bottomless crack spreads through the earth, out of which creeps a fog that resembles no other. Whatever it is, it must be controlled; for wherever it goes it leaves behind a trail of disaster as hideous as the tragedy that marked its entry into the world. The fog, quite simple, drives people insane. 

©1975 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 The 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 The Fog

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

I read it ... so you don’t need to bother :)

So ...
in common with every other 14 year old boy I read this book (I thought) in 1977 maybe... I read the Rats and this and I really liked it ... everyone in my class read it under the covers ... and everybody liked it

SO ... for nostalgic reasons I decided to revisit it ...
A piece of old horror nonsense ...
it’ll be fun ....

And it sort of is for the first 30 minutes ... all the little set-piece stories you remember ... madness spreading through a town ...and school

And it’s shocking and good fun ... and then you gradually realise how badly written it is ... and how old fashioned and actually kind of dull it is.
It really drags in the second half.

There are one or two amusing set pieces ... but they are rare and not really worth the effort.

The reading is good in an old-fashioned over-acted way ... But only as a novelty piece.

It has sex in it ... really badly written sex. I can see why I liked it as a teenager but these sections now feel creepily old-fashioned.

Overall it’s shocking without intelligence or any subtlety. And then it’s old fashioned in the way women are written. There are lots of different voices ... including foreign folk and (obviously) weedy female voices. The overall sexist vibe is like a 1970’s episode of the Sweeney and It’s very difficult to feel any affection or empathy for its ‘hero’.

Basically overall it’s difficult to care about survival of the human race.
The whole thing is kinda soulless and depressing.

And then I realised ... even as a 14 year old boy I had run out of patience with it. I never finished this book in 1975.

This time through I’ve got about 45 minutes to go and I’ve decided I’m going to drag myself to the end just to prove I can do it this time.

I feel like it’s my fault for falling for it so maybe I won’t bother returning it ... but I strongly advise you not to bother. The nostalgia doesn’t make it worth your hours.

I read it
You don’t have to make the same mistake

Please keep out of the Fog

:)

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40 people 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

Great stuff

My most read book in physical form. Now collecting all James Herbert's books on Audible. First read this in my early teens. Love it. Brilliantly read by Sean Barret.

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27 people 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

Loved it

Brilliant book. Brilliant narration. Sean Barrett brought it to life. I would highly recommend. Looking forward to listening to more from James Herbert and Sean Barrett.

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13 people found this helpful

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

Good visceral horror action with one major caveat.

You most likely know a bit of what you're going to get buying a James Herbert book. Lots of visceral horror action. That's fine. To be expected. What I did NOT like was the chapter with thoroughly unnecessary extremely graphic juvenile homosexual violence. No editor / publisher would have accepted that today (I hope).

Otherwise it's an enjoyable fast paced horror action book, excellently narrated by Sean Barrett.

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9 people 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

Great story. If you like chiller/thriller stories you'll love this.

UPDATED REVIEW: I first read the book and enjoyed it so much that when I joined Audible I decided that at some point, if I came across it, I would get this book. Can't rate it highly enough.

It's been brought to my attention that my original review (below) 'may confuse other customers that are interested in the audiobook'. That was in no way my intention but was meant more as a reference point.

If you've seen the film but are new to the book then you'll be surprised at the difference. Just remember...the book came first.
I saw the film first many years ago. Having liked it so much I decided to buy the paperback...it was even better than the movie, but it's usually the way of things I find.
Set NOT in a USA coastal village but in the English West-Country, initially, this is the story of....what? Well, I'm not going to spoil it for you but I will tell you it has nothing to do with cursed dead pirates treasure.

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9 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

First but not last Herbert

This is my first James Herbert and will not be my last, I went in blind so had no idea what to expect, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I like the suspense this book gives you, a fast paced read

I like how Herbert jumped straight into the action, it was so easy to listen to full of craziness, brutal killings, emotions & trust

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

A book that I'll be deleting from my library.

Judging by the reviews this book and the author are obviously very popular. I just found it unnecessarily crude, this is my opinion. I wasn't expecting an Enid Blyton story but some parts of The Fog are just sick. There wasn't a need for such graphic sexual and violent descriptions in order to carry the story.
The narrator does his job very well, clearly spoken, can't fault him. That said, I will be deleting this recording. These recordings really should have some type of rating as I would recommend it aught to be an 18+.

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8 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Awful. Just awful.

Picked this up in a two-for-one deal and only finished it because I couldn't believe how poor it was. Sub-sub-John-Wyndham disaster fiction with pointless sex scenes and gratuitous gore.

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7 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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FANTASTIC BOOK!!!

I usually don't write reviews but for this book I'll make an exception. I definitely wasn't expecting this book to be as good as it was. The story, the characters, the narrators performance, it was all GREAT!. I'll definitely pick up another one of this authors books for sure.

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7 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Shows it's age - and mine

James Herbert books were my favourite when they were first published and I bought this by way of "reminiscing". 40 years later, they seem dated and, to be honest, a bit silly. Perhaps that says more about me than about the book....

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6 people found this helpful