Shrine

Title: Shrine

Author: James Herbert

Published in: 1983

Date read: 11th April 2006

Score: 4/5

Genre: Horror, Psychological, Supernatural

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"Shrine" by James Herbert, published in 1983, is a powerful and unsettling supernatural horror novel that explores themes of faith, miracles, and the terrifying nature of ancient evil when disguised as divine intervention.

The story is set in the quiet, devout village of Blythford, in rural England. The central figure is Mary Brown, a young, seemingly ordinary girl who is found by a local priest, Father Michael, performing a miracle – she has seemingly cured a crippled woman. This is particularly remarkable because Mary is a deaf-mute, but after this event, she begins to speak and hear, and performs more inexplicable healings.

Word of Mary's "miracles" spreads rapidly, transforming the small village into a place of pilgrimage. Believers, sceptics, and the desperately ill flock to Blythford, turning it into a chaotic shrine. The Catholic Church takes a keen interest, sending investigators to verify the authenticity of the miracles, including a cynical journalist, Gerry Fenn.

Gerry Fenn, a disgraced and alcoholic reporter looking for a comeback, initially arrives intending to expose Mary as a fraud. However, as he witnesses some of the inexplicable phenomena and interacts with Mary, he finds himself reluctantly drawn into the mystery, his scepticism slowly eroded by what he sees.

As the miracles continue, a darker, more insidious presence begins to manifest. The healings are often accompanied by a chilling cold, unsettling visions, and a palpable sense of menace. Mary herself begins to show disturbing changes – her personality shifts, and she sometimes speaks in a guttural, ancient voice, uttering blasphemous phrases.

Fenn, driven by a growing sense of dread, begins to investigate the history of Blythford and the specific site where Mary first performed her miracle. He uncovers a terrifying secret: the location is not blessed, but cursed. It is an ancient, pagan site, home to a malevolent, shape-shifting entity – a demonic force that has been dormant for centuries. This entity has merely been masquerading as divine, using Mary as its conduit, not to heal out of benevolence, but to accumulate power through the faith and adoration of the masses, ultimately intending to unleash true evil.

Comments:
I have to admit that 19 years after reading this book, I have struggled to remember much about it. All of the plot summary above is coming back to me but I just don't have anything new to add.

Books that we've read by James Herbert (20):
The Rats (Rats, #1) (1974), The Fog (1975), The Survivor (1976), Fluke (1977), The Spear (1978), Lair (Rats, #2) (1979), The Dark (1980), Jonah (1981), Shrine (1983), Domain (Rats, #3) (1983), Moon (1985), Magic Cottage (1986), Sepulchre (1987), Haunted (David Ash, #1) (1988), The Ghosts Of Sleath (David Ash, #2) (1994), Others (1999), Once... (2001), Nobody True (2003), The Secret of Crickley Hall (2006), Ash (David Ash, #3) (2012)