''Fluke'' is a

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

novelist

James Herbert James John Herbert, OBE (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013) was an English horror writer. A full-time writer, he also designed his own book covers and publicity. His books have sold 54 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 34 la ...

. First published in 1977, it concerns a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

named Fluke.

Plot

The novel starts with the birth of Fluke, a dog who soon realizes that he used to be a man. The book then follows Fluke's efforts to find out what happened to him and why he is a dog. Soon he starts to remember bits of his previous life and remembers he had a wife and daughter, and he works to reunite with his family. Along the way, he makes friends with a red dog named Rumbo, started life as a human, like Fluke. Rumbo is killed when a car in a scrap yard the dogs live in falls on him. Towards the end of ''Fluke'' Rumbo comes back as a

red squirrel The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris''), also called Eurasian red squirrel, is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is an arboreal and primarily herbivorous rodent and common throughout Eurasia. Taxonomy There have been ...

and later appears in the James Herbert novels ''The Magic Cottage'' and ''Once''.

Adaptations in other media

Fluke was adapted into a

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

in 1995, starring Samuel L. Jackson and

Matthew Modine Matthew Avery Modine (born March 22, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He shared the Venice Film Festival‘s Volpi Cup for Best Actor as part of the ensemble cast of Robert Altman film ''Streamers'' (1983). He went on to play lead rol ...

.Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide 2014 Samuel L. Jackson provides the voice of Fluke's dog friend, Rumbo. Based on James Herbert's bestselling novel

References

1977 British novels Novels by James Herbert Novels about dogs Novels about reincarnation British novels adapted into films New English Library books {{1970s-novel-stub