The Dark is a 1980 horror novel by James Herbert. Beginning in a small suburban street where an empty house is haunted by a malevolent, sentient darkness, the scope of the story expands as the darkness escapes and begins to engulf the city. The main character is Chris Bishop, a paranormal investigator called in initially to investigate claims that the house is haunted. There he discovers that those engulfed by the darkness are driven to savage and murderous frenzies, in connection with a mysterious cult leader whose spirit inhabits the darkness.