The Fog
The Fog (1975)
Author	James Herbert
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Horror novel
Publisher	New English Library
Publication date	1975
Published in English	1975
Media type	Print (Paperback & Hardback)
Pages	267 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0450030458 (first edition, paperback)
OCLC Number	59254398

The Fog is best-selling novelist and writer James Herbert's 1975 horror story about a deadly fog that drives its victims insane when they come into contact with it. It is Herbert's second book and is completely unrelated to the 1980 John Carpenter film of the same name.

The book caused much stir on its release because of its gruesome deaths and its explicit sexual references throughout. In a republished version of his book he comments in the foreword that: "The Fog made [him] a lot of enemies but also made him a lot of friends".

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Trivia 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

John Holman is a worker for the Department of the Environment investigating a Ministry of Defence base in a small rural village. An unexpected earthquake swallows his car releasing a fog that had been trapped underground for many years. An insane Holman is pulled up from the crack, a product of the deadly fog.

Soon the fog shifts and travels as though it has a mind of its own, turning those unfortunate enough to come across it into homicidal/suicidal maniacs who kill without remorse, and often worse. Even respectable figures such as teachers and priests engage in crimes such as minor public urination to as drastic as paedophilia.

Soon a bigger problem is discovered - the fog is multiplying in size and nothing seems to be able to stop it. Entire villages and cities are in danger and the only chance left is to use the treated and immunized John Holman to take on the fog from the inside where who knows what awaits him.

[edit] Trivia

• In the BBC series Torchwood, the episode titled "A Day in the Death", one of the characters is listing off a collection of alien artifacts and one of them is an Arcateenian translation (alien language version) of James Herbert's The Fog.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• James Herbert website review of The Fog
• Hamish Hamilton review of The Fog