There are chases and fights between cat and dog that end up with all the crockery getting broken, Victoria making her escape through a glass window and Fluke doing the same in another instance. This “explanation” is the sort of lazy-minded cod-mysticism I won’t bother going into, but the story itself is anything but: it’s gritty, poignant, often funny—and with a real extra twist at the end I didn’t see coming at all.

His macabre tales, often featuring some of the scariest of evil elements and with a sales figure of more than 50 million copies, were enjoyed even by non-English readers thanks to translations into more than 30 languages. Fluke is one of the more untypical books by Herbert as it is the story of a dog from the dog’s viewpoint—well, the dog is actually a man that’s been reincarnated as a dog. He was a stringy mongrel, wandering the streets of the city, driven by a ravenous hunger and hunting a quarry he could not define.

Fluke is a 1995 American fantasy drama film directed by Carlo Carlei from a screenplay by Carlei and James Carrington, based on the 1977 novel of the same name by James Herbert.

Herbert’s writing is brilliant in this novel and his descriptions of life as a dog are so detailed and convincing that you would think he has been one himself at some point. A mutt puppy who has flashing memories and dreams of having lived a human life is taken to a pound and eventually escapes. Round and round that kitchen we ran, knocking chairs over, crashing against cupboards, shouting and screaming at each other, too far gone with animal rage to concern ourselves with the noise we were making and the damage we were doing. But this is a fantasy in which he seamlessly steps into the paws of Fluke, the puppy that grows into a dog.

He tries to take up with an old woman who takes care of him, but her lazy son takes a dislike, sending him back into the world.

For the most part, however, this novel doesn’t have a specific purpose other than to follow Fluke’s many interesting experiences. But what drives the story is Fluke's finding his way home to his wife and daughter and uncovering what reason his life ended so suddenly. Meanwhile, her friend Esther Summeson, who believes she is an orphan, gradually discovers the truth of her identity. The novel itself centres on Fluke, a mongrel who wanders the streets, driven by hunger and hunting a quarry he can not define. Fluke is a story of a puppy as he grows up in a harsh world, but he isn't quite like the other dogs, he has strange recollections of a time before he was a dog, when he was a man.He relentlessly draws the reader through the story's ultimate revelation - one that will stay to chill the mind long after the book has been laid aside.