The Jonah (1981)
The Jonah by James Herbert

Half light.

The shadow of his past was always with him. But he never knew what it was, or when it would strike next.

Sent to a small coastal town to investigate drug smuggling, Kelso stumbles onto a dangerous organisation and suddenly, more than just his life is at stake.

It's his past, his future, his sanity. Through torture and drugs he discovers the terrifying secret of the The Jonah. And learns, in the most horrifying way, that it can destroy him as well as others.

Quotes...

James Herbert More than any other genre the horror story seems to show up every stylistic blemish and to make creaking plots groan. James Herbert is one writer who can make horror exciting and believable, moving confidently between the everyday world and the unknown as he does in Shrine.

- From "Taste of Horror", Western Daily Press, February 4, 1983