Haunted by James Herbert

(hb; 1988: first novel in the David Ash series)


From the inside flap:

"David Ash, a talented, skeptical investigator of the supernatural, works for the Psychical Research Institute in London. He is a troubled but driven man - driven to disprove the existence of things he cannot afford to believe. It is this very obsession that leads him to a house called Edbrook, and to a terrifying confrontation with his own buried past.

"Peculiar things happen at Edbrook, the Mariell family residence: rooms suddenly freeze while corridors are choked by the heat of unseen fires, and the whole house shudders with the chilling sounds of a child's distant laughter.

"Robert, Simon and Christina Mariell are the surviving heirs of this once noble family, whose history contains some unspoken horror. They believe their home is haunted and challenge Ash to prove otherwise. Ash moves into the mansion and struggles to maintain his pragmatic perspective, but even he cannot explain the shockingly real vision of a familiar pale girl whose irresistible embrace pulls Ash beneath the weeds of the garden pond and nearly traps him there forever."


Review:

Haunted, an old-fashioned ghost story with its spooky mood and solid, traumatized characters, is a hard to set down read.

I spotted one of the main plot twists early on, but Herbert's streamlined writing, aforementioned mood and characters (and their murky motivations) made for an enjoyable book.

Promising start of a series, this: worth checking out.

Followed by The Ghosts of Sleath.

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The resulting film was released in the UK on October 27, 1995. It was released stateside on June 18, 1996.

Aidan Quinn played Prof. David Ash. Kate Beckinsale played Christina Mariell. Anthony Andrews played Robert Mariell. Alex Lowe played Simon Mariell. Anna Massey played Nanny Tess Webb. John Gielgud played Doctor Doyle.

Geraldine Somerville played Kate. Victoria Shalet played Juliet Ash.

Lewis Gilbert directed the film, from a script he co-authored with Timothy Prager and Bob Kellett.

The Holcroft Covenant by Robert Ludlum

(hb; 1978) 

 From the inside flap

"March, 1945. From all over war-devastated Europe, by plane and ship and submarine, are secretly dispatched shipments of precious cargo. Children. German children. To nations everywhere. These are die Sonnenkinder, children who will come of age and in the 1970s carry out their preordained mission -- the establishment of the Fourth Reich. Everywhere.

"Noel Holcroft, an American architect, is flown to Geneva and shown an extraordinary document drawn up by three men more than thirty years ago, each a member of the Third Reich's High Command -- one of them Noel's long-forgotten, natural father. The three men, appalled by the revealed horrors of the Nazi machine, have created a covenant, and executed a massive theft. The sum of $780,000,000.00 was stolen from the German coffers, and in atonement for Hitler's crimes these monies are to be used to aid the survivors and descendants of those trapped in the Holocaust. All that's necessary to release the funds is Holcroft's signature and the signature of the other two heirs. They must be found. 

 "But the document is a lie. The millions are to be the economic foundation of a vast and ruthless plan that will politically shape governments across the world, a plan so brilliantly conceived it cannot fail. The other heirs are waiting: they know the true intention. Noel does not. In signing the covenant, Holcroft will in effect be signing his own death warrant just as he is signing away the future of free people everywhere. Yet even when he finds out what the document really is, even when he discovers who is enemies are and what power lies in their hands, he determines to aid in the release of the funds, for ironically it is the only chance to stop the plan and the men who are determined to carry it out." 

 Review

Ludlum's trademark conspiratorial and labyrinthine plotting/twists/characterization, masterful bursts of violence and action, and reader-compelling prose made this near impossible to set down. Great, fast read despite its bulk. Worth owning, this. 

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The film version was released stateside on October 18, 1985. The Holcroft Covenant was directed by John Frankenheimer, who also voiced -- uncredited and unseen -- the character Bernie Sussman. The film was co-scripted by George Axelrod, Edward Anhalt and John Hopkins.

  Michael Caine played Noel Holcroft. Victoria Tennant played Helden von Tiebolt/Helden Tennyson. Anthony Andrews played Johann von Tiebolt/John Tennyson. Lilli Palmer played Althene Holcroft. Michael Lonsdale played Ernst Manfredi. Shane Rimmer played Lt. Miles. Bernard Hepton played Commander Leighton. Richard Münch, billed as Richard Munch, played Oberst. Mario Adorf played Erich Kessler/Jürgen Mass. Carl Rigg played Anthony Beaumont. Alexander Kerst played Gen. Heinrich Clausen. Michael Wolf played Gen. Erich Kessler. Hugo Bower played Gen. Wilhelm von Tiebolt.