SOLVED. Horror, opening scene is a man (plumber I think) suddenly starting to torture someone for no apparent reason. [s]

[Craig]

I read the book in the early 2000's, it was an older book at the time set in 70's or 80's at a guess. General plot was about a mysterious torture cult that also seemed to border on supernatural as well with possessions happening at times.
I remember descriptions of shadows that seemed to move but never really took form.
There was a baby that was kidnapped and that was fairly central to the storyline, I think the kidnap was somehow covered up with a replacement child?
The torture cult was spread far and wide although most of the story takes place (I think) in the UK
There were scenes involving a journalist pretending to be homeless.
One thing that stands out is the opening scene of the person (I think he was a plumber) who just grabbed and started torturing a woman for no real reason. He got interrupted and she was hospitalised for it, he found her and finished the job in the hospital in the first chapter. It read as though he'd been possessed and forced to do it rather than being something he chose to do himself.

I've done quite a bit of Google Fu to no avail so far, so any hints would be incredible at this point! I really want to find it again as it's the only book I've read that genuinely scared me. At no point did it get particularly graphic with the descriptions, although you certainly knew what was going on. It was the slightly supernatural elements that were woven into it that really made it stand out, I was in my early twenties when I read the book and I was actually scared to walk down the stairs outside my flat for a month after reading it and I've never, not once, been afraid of the dark before or since!

[[on hiatus] The rockabilly werewolf from Mars]

Do you remember anything about the cover? It sounds a bit like The Nameless, but not all of the details match up.

[Craig]

YES!!!! Thank you so much!

It's been a very long time since I've read the book and I've read so many thousands of them that unfortunately some plotlines do tend to get a little blurred in my memory. Having read the description of The Nameless though, it's definitely the one I was looking for.

Incidentally I remember the cover being different to the one listed here on Goodreads, and after a quick bit of Google I've found the cover on the one I read here http://www.steve-calvert.co.uk/namele... If links are not allowed, then it's a picture of a woman kneeling and leaning against a wall crying out in fear whilst a shadow appears to be menacing behind her.

[Craig]

One other observation for anyone reading this, I came across a book called Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons whilst searching for this one that seemed to hold some similarities. If this one is of interest I'd warrant that this other may be of interest as well and I'm off to add it to my wishlist of books to read.