Product Description

Alice, a deaf-mute, has a vision of a lady in white who says she is the immaculate conception. Suddenly Alice can speak, hear, and perform miracles. The visitation site becomes a shrine. But Alice is no longer the guileless child overwhelmed by her new saintliness. She has become the agent of something corrupt, a vile force centuries old.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #98285 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 534 pages

Synopsis
Alice, a deaf-mute, has a vision of a lady in white who says she is the immaculate conception. Suddenly Alice can speak, hear, and perform miracles. The visitation site becomes a shrine. But Alice is no longer the guileless child overwhelmed by her new saintliness. She has become the agent of something corrupt, a vile force centuries old.

Customer Reviews

FANTASTIC BOOK!!!
THIS IS MY FAVORITE JAMES HERBERT BOOK.A REALLY GRIPPING,HARD TO PUT DOWN STORY.IF YOU LIKE EXCELLENT STORIES NOT FULL OF BLOOD AND GORE,YAWN!!!! THIS IS FOR YOU.IF YOU READ JUST ONE OF JAMES BOOKS,MAKE SURE ITS THIS ONE.

SUPERNATURAL THRILLER...
This is a book about evil masking itself as goodness. In the small English village of Banfield, a young, deaf mute girl named Alice Pagett is transformed by a vision, and her ability to speak and hear is miraculously restored to her. Alice claims that she was visited by the Immaculate Conception, and suddenly throngs of the ill begin to gather around the place of the visitation, awaiting other miracles. They are not long in coming, as those who are afflicted in some way find themselves restored to the good health that had been formerly denied them.

Yet, something is not quite right, as the parish priest suddenly feels himself unwelcome in his own church, and his health begins to falter. Moreover, local reporter, Gerry Fenn, with aspirations for the big time, senses that the story of the century is within his grasp. He, unlike many others, however, is somewhat cynical about the events that are unfolding, and he is determined to discover the truth. What that truth is may be more than that for which he bargained.

This is moderately entertaining supernatural thriller that could have used some tighter editing. Written by the British maven of the horror genre, it has some genuinely creepy moments.

Let it Shrine
Some books have flaws, but I really still enjoy them. 'Shrine' is one such book. Fenn is your typical local town reporter and he does not think anything exciting is going to happen on his night shift. This can't be further from the truth when he stumbles across a small girl lying in the road. She takes him to a strange tree and turns and speaks one sentence; nothing odd about this? It turns out that Alice is a deaf mute and that her talking is a miracle. Alice becomes increasingly drawn towards the tree and slowly a following of people gather to see her. It seems that she can harness the power of Mary to heal the ill, but is this a divine power for good or evil?

I really enjoyed the concept of 'Shrine' as it was not only a horror thriller, but an interesting discussion how religion and the media would treat a modern miracle. The book does feel a bit dated, but the core still holds up really well. I found the gentle pace matched the story perfectly and that the action set pieces in particular were described well.

I can see why some people find this book average as the pace is slow, it's dated and the middle is better than the end. However, for me the central threads of the story make it a lot better than its parts and it made me think about the story long after I finished reading it. This is the best complement that I can give a book.