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The weird review Dead Reckonings has attained its thirty-first issue, which includes a piece by your own correspondent on James Herbert's 1990 novel Creed. Few would call Herbert a great stylist, and many will find his prejudices offensive; but at his best he worked interesting variations on his horror-thriller formula and showed a creditable inclination for experiment. Creed is one of his more intriguing concoctions, featuring a peculiarly obtrusive narrative voice and a prominent pulsation of the humorous vein which also bulges forth in Fluke (1977) and The Magic Cottage (1986), justifiably Herbert's own favourites among his works.