[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/james_herbert.jpg]]
->''"I hate violence, and I didn't plan to write horror; it just poured out of me."''

James John Herbert [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever OBE]] (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013) was one of Britain’s most prolific and biggest selling horror novelists. His stories are notable for their highly descriptive narratives and graphic depictions of sex, carnage, and destruction. His first book, ''The Rats'', was rejected by several publishers, but was finally published in 1974, and sold out within three weeks, despite (or because of) widespread criticism from reviewers for its graphic depictions of mutilation and death, some going as far to label its social commentary about the government’s neglect of the post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarII London suburbs and the underclasses as too extreme. At the time of his death, he had written twenty-four novels, several short stories, and even one graphic novel, ''The City''. Some of his works have been adapted into other media, most notably ''The Rats'', which was adapted into the film ''Film/DeadlyEyes'' in 1982, and even into a 1985 computer game, titled… ''[[ShapedLikeItself The Rats]]'' for the Platform/Commodore64 and Platform/ZXSpectrum.

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!Bibliography:

!!Novels

* ''Literature/TheRats'' (1974)
* ''Literature/{{The Fog|1975}}'' (1975)
* ''The Survivor'' (1976)
* ''Literature/{{Fluke}}'' (1977)
* ''Literature/TheSpear'' (1978)
* ''Lair'' (1979)
* ''Literature/TheDark'' (1980)
* ''Literature/TheJonah'' (1981)
* ''Shrine'' (1983)
* ''Domain'' (1984)
* ''Literature/Moon1985'' (1985)
* ''Literature/{{The Magic Cottage}}'' (1986)
* ''Literature/{{Sepulchre}}'' (1987)
* ''Literature/{{Haunted|1988}}'' (1988)
* ''Literature/{{Creed|1990}}'' (1990)
* ''Literature/{{Portent}}'' (1992)
* ''Literature/{{The Ghosts of Sleath}}'' (1994)
* '''48'' (1996)
* ''Literature/{{Others}}'' (1999)
* ''Literature/{{Once}}'' (2001)
* ''Nobody True'' (2003)
* ''Literature/{{The Secret of Crickley Hall}}'' (2006)
* ''Literature/Ash2012''

!!Graphic novel:

* ''The City'' (1993)

!!Non-fiction

* ''By Horror Haunted'' (1992)
* ''James Herbert's Dark Places'' (1993)

!!Short stories:

* ''Maurice and Mog'' (cut from some early editions of ''Domain'')
* ''Breakfast'' (cut from some early editions of ''Domain'')
* ''The Ghost Hunter'' (excerpt from ''Haunted'')
* ''Halloween's Child''
* ''They Don't Like Us''
* ''Extinct''
* ''Cora's Needs''

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!!Works by James Herbert provide examples of:

* AdaptationDeviation: The film of ''The Survivor'' was set in Australia, ''Fluke'' in the USA and ''Film/DeadlyEyes'' in Canada - even though they were all based on books set in Britain. Also, the novel ''Literature/{{Haunted|1988}}'' took place in the present day and [[TheFilmOfTheBook its film]] was set in the early 20th century.
* AfterTheEnd: Played with in '' '48'' and ''Domain''.
* AnAstralProjectionNotAGhost: Subverted in ''Nobody True''; the protagonist ended up becoming a ghost because he was busy astrally projecting somewhere when he was brutally murdered in his bed. A "WhoDunnitToMe" plot ensues.
* AntiHero: Herbert protagonists usually fall between Type II and III. A notable exception is Joe Creed, who comes off as a mix of I and IV, and given the tongue-in-cheek tone of ''Creed'', these traits make him seem like a borderline {{Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist}}.
* AssholeVictim: This comes up quite a lot. Many minor characters are fleshed out and some of them are revealed to be rather unlikable and unpleasant, even depraved at worst. They often die horribly. This isn't a strict rule, however, as some other minor characters are more sympathetic, and some actually live.
** Averted even more notably by James True, protagonist of ''Nobody True'' and a rare case of a sympathetic and likeable advertising executive who really didn't deserve any of the TraumaCongaLine he went through in the book.
* BadassNormal: Most of Herbert's heroes are these. [[EmpoweredBadassNormal empowered]] or otherwise.
* BadassTeacher: Harris, the protagonist of ''The Rats'', and Childs of ''Moon''.
%%* BitchInSheepsClothing
* BodyHorror: ''Others'' is quite notable for this, as the hero was himself born hideously deformed [[spoiler:and later discovers a large group of unfortunates with defects even ''more'' repulsive and horrifying than his who are kept as lab rats]].
* BookEnds: At the beginning of ''Domain'' Culver, Dealey and Kate manage to get into the government shelter in the nick of time while everyone around them is killed either by the nukes or rats, or are exposed to lethal amounts of fallout. By the end of the novel, the three of them [[spoiler: are the only survivors of the government shelter and they are saved in the nick of time by three RAF Puma helicopters before they are overrun by the rats, though Kate loses a hand and Dealey is seriously wounded by the rats.]]
* TheCavalry: [[spoiler: Culver, Dealey and Kate are ultimately rescued by three RAF Puma helicopters who pick them up from the Thames, in the middle of a devastated London, before the rats can get them.]]
* CelebrityResemblance: Joe Creed from ''Creed'' is described as looking a little like a sleazy Mickey Rourke. This, however, was written before Rourke went back to boxing, and subsequently had reconstructive surgery...
%%* CrapsackWorld
* DarkIsEvil: Quite literally in 1980's ''Literature/TheDark''.
* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler: ''Shrine'' is centred around a little girl who is an apparent "faith healer", but who turns out to be possessed by the vengeful spirit of an [[NunTooHoly evil nun who practised dark magic]].]] Also this is apparently what happens in the ending of ''The Jonah".
* {{Determinator}}: The traveler in "The City." Not even [[spoiler: having to kill his own wife]] will cause him to pause in his quest.
* DontGoInTheWoods: The Rats' titular ''Lair'' is in the pastoral glades of Epping Forest.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Kingsway Telephone Exchange is really a government nuclear shelter in ''Domain''.
* TheFairFolk: The "''faerefolkis''" depicted in ''{{Literature/Once}}'' are elemental beings who exist on a higher dimension. Most are benevolent, but the "weak and nasty" ones delight in tormenting humans.
%%* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath:
%%* FromBadToWorse:
%%* FullFrontalAssault: Whenever this happens, it's usually FanDisservice.
* HalfHumanHybrid:
** [[spoiler: Thom Kindred from ''Once...'' is the son of a human male and a faerie woman.]]
** [[spoiler: A more horrifying example occurs in ''Domain'', where the protagonist discovers that a giant mutant rat, the hideous "Mother Creature", has given birth to what appear to be rat/human hybrids. A group of these, fully grown and capable of speech and tool use, appear in the semi-canonical sequel, ''The City''.]]
%%* HauntedHeroine: A male variant in David Ash.
%%* HumansAreBastards
* TheJinx: ''Literature/TheJonah'''s Jim Kelso courts an alarmingly recurrent succession of hazardous misfortune. [[spoiler: The ghost of his crazed twin sister, to all to whom he gets too close, threatens disaster]].
* KnightInSourArmour: This is almost a requirement for a Herbert protagonist.
* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: A scene cut from some editions of ''Domain'' and sometimes published as a stand-alone story named ''Breakfast''.
%%* ObstructiveBureaucrat
* PapaWolf: Some of Herbert's protagonists go into this mode when defending children. Even Joe Creed, who is a deadbeat dad, and a coward besides, who finds his son "obnoxious"(with some justification), goes into this mode when the boy is kidnapped.
%%* PosthumousCharacter: ''Nobody True''.
* RecurringCharacter:
** David Ash, spiritualist in ''Literature/{{Haunted|1988}}'', ''Literature/{{The Ghosts of Sleath}}'' and ''Literature/Ash2012''.
** Rumbo. A dog in ''Literature/{{Fluke}}'', a squirrel in ''Literature/{{The Magic Cottage}}'', a fox in ''Literature/{{Others}}''.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: The mutant rats in his Rats trilogy.
* SlidingScaleOfCynicismVersusIdealism
* TakingYouWithMe: What the Blood Death and Slow Death developed by Nazi Germany in '''48'' ultimately amounted to, as Hitler then unleashed them upon the world via V-2 missiles in late March 1945, before the Allies could overrun the remaining V-2 launch sites in the Netherlands. As Hitler was staring upon defeat and death, he didn't care at all that the bioweapons he was about to unleash would devastate his own people as much as it would devastate his enemies - and everyone else.
* ThoseWackyNazis: Notably, a huge conspiracy of these appear in ''Literature/TheSpear'' as the main antagonists. Other examples also appear in Herbert works, though less prominently.
* TitleDropChapter: Part 3 of both ''Lair'' and ''Domain'' have the same title as their book.
* TraumaCongaLine: ''Domain''. It starts off with [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill five nukes]] [[NukeEm being dropped on London]], then survivors being attacked and devoured alive in an underground rail tunnel by [[RodentsOfUnusualSize outsized, carnivorous mutant rats]], and [[FromBadToWorse that's just the first act]]. Not once do the characters (or the reader) get any genuine respite from all the horror.
* TwoBeingsOneBody: [[spoiler:The mother rats from the ''The Rats'' books have two heads.]]

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