Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68597 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-16
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Synopsis
The unmissable new action-thriller from one of the biggest names in British fiction -- the No 1 bestselling author of The Ghosts of Sleath, Haunted, The Magic Cottage and The Rats. As millions of readers around the world will testify, James Herbert's ability to shock and enthral is matchless. Now, in '48, he has surpassed his own remarkable achievements to create an electrifying new novel of pure heart-stopping action and invention that will take readers to new levels of terror and excitement. In 1945, Hitler unleashes the Blood Death on Britain as his final act of vengeance. Hoke, an American pilot and one of a tiny minority with a rare blood group unaffected by the deadly disease, has survived alone among the debris and the dead of London for three years. Now, in 1948, a slow-dying group of Fascist Blackshirts believe their only hope is a transfusion of blood from one of Hoke's kind. Ever more desperate as their deaths approach, they're after his blood.

Customer Reviews

Become a film director.


A few years ago I was in hospital, and I'd started getting into James Herbert. My fiancée started this book but didn't like it - and passed it onto me.

I was gripped.

When I think back to this I sometimes think I saw the film of it - the book is written in such a way that the images are so vivid in your head. I feel like I directed a film with unlimited budget. Read this book and watch your version of the film.

People have made parallels between this and the film 28 days later, I'm a fan of 28 Days Later (and Day of the Triffids which it is very much based on) and I can see the similarities - but these are very much independent pieces of work.

This is my favourite James Herbert novel, I love it when you get a book you feel desperate to return to - this was one of those. The evil borne out of desperation of the twisted Fascists whose perverted logic drives them to seek out the survivors.

A great alternate history, and one which seems more plausible as the years roll by. This is frenetic and has one of the best endings to a book ever.

More Than Twice As Good As 28 Days Later
It is a shame that readers new to this book will think it derivative of the zombie movie resurgence - or should that be resurrection - especially 28 Days Later and its sequel.

As often with Herbert, it is a gripping page turner with a stunning backdrop of a desolate London whose streets are piled with corpses.

I read it while playing Craig Armstrong's (Moulin Rouge/Ray/Love Actually/etc) CD The Space Between US which added to the "movie" playing in my head as I read.

Another sign of its greatness is that I got both my then teenage step-sons to read it on holiday.

what a fantastic suspense novel!
This was my very first James Herbert novel and after reading it I was hooked, gagging for more! In this book, Herbert explicitly describes the aftermath of WW2 from the viewpoint of the people in and around London. What you won't find in the history books though is this: After the war was lost to Hitler and his nasty gang of Nazis, they - bad losers that they were - sent planes over to drop some lethal bombs over the city of London. These bombs carried a deadly virus that attacked and after weeks or months eventually killed every human except those with a certain blood group which, unfortunately, happened to be the rarest of them all - "AB". So the few lucky ones with that particular blood group were safe from the virus, though not from the hordes of infected others who'd as a side effect of the virus had become insane, and relentlessly tried to hunt the few lucky survivors down to relieve them from their "good, unspoiled blood" in a desperate bid to save themselves with it...

I found this horror novel immensly gripping and suspenseful. The characters are interesting, their adventures and fights for survival will keep anyone on the edge of their seats all throughout the book. To round it off, the ending is not ony amazingly exciting but also satisfactory, something I've meanwhile come to learn can't be expected of every James Herbert book (I've read six so far, of which I loved three, liked two and didn't care much for one other).

"48" is an absolute MUST READ for every dedicated horror/doomsday scenario/suspense thriller fan.