The Great and Secret Show

By Clive Barker

In the little town of Palomo Grove, two great armies are amassing; forces shaped from the hearts and souls of America.

In this New York Times bestseller, Barker unveils one of the most ambitious imaginative landscapes in modern fiction, creating a new vocabulary for the age-old battle between good and evil. Carrying its readers from the first stirring of consciousness to a vision of the end of the world, The Great and Secret Show is a breathtaking journey in the company of a master storyteller.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Nov 24, 2011
• ISBN: 9780007382958

Clive Barker

Clive Barker is the bestselling author of twenty-two books, including the New York Times bestsellers Abarat; Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War; the Hellraiser and Candyman series, and The Thief of Always. He is also an acclaimed painter, film producer, and director. He lives in Southern California.

Reviews for The Great and Secret Show

[joe73-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Clive Barker......what can you say? Be prepared to be carried off into his personal little hell and don't make the mistake of expecting him to bring you back. He is not as nice as Koontz. Clive is a Faust of the highest degree. His writing is deep and personal. I honestly think he is a Cenobite.

[wifilibrarian · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It took me a year to finish this book! Disturbing, long, but undeniably imaginative this is my least favourite of Barker's books I've read to date. I enjoyed aspects of this story, the plot is such that's impossible to summarize, I did try but it was getting so long I gave up. I'm still not sure what exactly happened, but it had it's moments and it's yet another of Barker's book's where the extra-ordinary is just under the surface of everyday life, but he's done it better.

[jhemlock-1711 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Clive Barker......what can you say? Be prepared to be carried off into his personal little hell and don't make the mistake of expecting him to bring you back. He is not as nice as Koontz. Clive is a Faust of the highest degree. His writing is deep and personal. I honestly think he is a Cenobite.

[kibernick · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wish I could give this 3.5/5 but I feel that I should give it a 4 rather than a 3.Really good writing style, keeps you hooked, amazing dialogue, liked the effect of events being told from various points of view of various characters, and the author knew how to do this effectively.Felt that the story itself was a bit lacking depth though. Like an episode of Charmed.Still, fun to read, nice imagery and references throughout the Work ;)

[lithicbee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has the overall feel of an epic good-vs.-evil in small-town America story, which is pretty familiar in the horror genre. The boundaries between what--and who--is good and evil are blurred a lot in this book, though, and that is refreshing. Characters with bad traits have their roles to play in the fight against evil, and the main force on the good side is a mescaline freak. Also, while the struggle is rooted in small-town America, with some of the cliches that go with any suburban setting, it becomes clear as the story progresses that Powers outside of our normal realm are at play, Cthulu-like beings who have agents in our world, and that there are some in our world who make it their job to stand up to those creatures. That sort of idea interests me, and the hook of that kept me reading to the end of The Great and Secret Show to find out what happens next. I am hoping that the sequel, Everville, delves even more into the story of the agents who are fighting against the evil on the other side of reality.

[thotcriminal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love Clive Barkers brain. He is amazing. It is deeply philosophical underneath the main story. I love him.

[kforeman_10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The Great and Secret Show" begins well enough. Randolph Jaffe feels put upon by life, wonders if this is all there is, and what the meaning of it all is. While working in the Omaha, NE, dead letter office, he discovers letters referencing the Art. From there, he strives to master the Art at any cost, recruiting Fletcher and creating the Nuncio, and tearing our reality apart in the process."The Great and Secret Show" had great potential. The first third was interesting, but it devolved into a potboiler with an anticlimactic ending. "Imajica" and "Sacrament" explore similar themes with a much better story and characters.