Date of Publication

2001

Publisher

MacMillan

Original cost of hardback first edition

£16.99

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

0 333 76140 5

Original first print run (where known)

Hardback - Unknown - Paperback - Unknown

Name of hero in the book

Thom Kindred

Opening line of the book

"Once ... upon ... a ... death, when life for Thom Kindred was fading fast and his inner eyes, the eyes that focused from his soul, were already dazzled by the shining way ahead (was the brilliance approaching him, or was he approaching it? he wondered in a curiously detached way), when his scant twenty-seven years apparently were drawing to a close, something occurred that halted the untimely rush."

General description of the dust cover

This book was uniquely released in first edition with two different dust covers. On is white with silver grey writing and the other is black with white/grey writing. The jacket illustration and endpapers are credited to Bill Gregory. There is the usual story outline on the front flap of the dust cover. On the rear flap there is a photograph of the author by Bob Knight and that is followed by the usual paragraph giving details about the author and saying that his novels have sold more than forty-eight million copies worldwide.

Number of pages and chapter details

The story runs from page 1 to page 470 (with the word 'concluded' written on 471). Page one only has the word "Once" on. Page three only has the word "upon" on. Page five only has the word "a" on and page 7 is where the story really starts with an untitled epilogue. The book then is split into parts with the 42 chapters numbered as "Chapter: First" to "Chapter: Forty-Second". There then follows an epilogue entitled "A Murder of Crows". The book contains some lovely colour plates as illustrations.

Roger's Review

This is an intriguing book with some great ideas - what if fairies and the like were real? It took me a while to read it as it didn't really grab me the way James Herbert's books usually do. The story is deceptively simple with some great horror scenes - particularly the spider jar! I found the ending slightly disappointing but overall, it was a good read and I enjoyed the book. 6 out of 10.