Customer Reviews

The Rats

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is Herbert's first novel and what an achievement. You can read in one try. It's about mutant, giant rats attacking London. Very graphic and gory, full of non-stop action and great characters. This is one scary novel, although Domain (the third and last sequel) is the most scary of all of them.

A friend of mine (and fellow Amazon reviewer) recommended this book to me. I'd read a few of Herbert's books before; 'The Fog', written shortly after this one, is another take on 'modern-day England' falling apart due to inexplicable events, while 'Once', 'Others', and '48' veered into fantasy and sci-fi territory. So this was a chance to get reacquainted with Herbert as the young, inspired horror writer.
'The Rats' holds up well after more than 30 years. It's interesting to contrast this book, coming in at just under 200 pages, with the more verbose(not to mention gory) thrillers of recent years. Had 'The Rats' been written today, it would almost certainly be at least three times longer, with tons of added 'sex and violence' for the taste of modern audiences.
But it's the simplicity of 'The Rats' that makes it a refreshing change for readers like me, who have come to find a lot of today's horror literature to be almost interchangeable.
Sure, an author like King, Koontz, or even Herbert of 30 years later, could have added a lot more to this story...and maybe it would have been just as good. But most likely, it would have been a 600 page 'epic', that ended up having about one-third of the book being worth reading.
Here, Herbert managed to make the whole story worth reading, with no extraneous material (with the possible exception of one character early on who gets a separate chapter that reads more like a stand-alone short story).
The final chapter contains a nice additional 'scary as hell' moment that prevents the story from the kind of anticlimactic letdown ending common of more recent horror novels. The next chapter in the trilogy is set up nicely...and I look forward to finding the other two volumes to see where else this idea can go!

This book was first published in 1974 and I was delighted to discover that it has hardly dated(unlike me!). It is about a group of SuperSize rats who terrorize London.If you want a glimmer into the potential that James Herbert had back then as an author which took him to greater heights this book is for you.

James Herbert is considered by many to be the British Stephen King. THE RATS is his debut novel, published in 1974, the same year as King's CARRIE. In many ways, THE RATS reminds me of CARRIE: it's by no means a masterpiece, but it's highly readable and brutally effective.

The plot of THE RATS is pretty simple: giant mutated rats attack London. Much of the novel consists the rats attacking people in a variety of venues -- a movie house, a subway, a school, and so forth. Most of these scenes are graphic, but they are also highly suspenseful and frightening. Many of the scenes are also surprisingly funny -- Herbert has a wicked sense of humor, and this novel has a strong satiric edge.

THE RATS falls short in a variety of areas. The plot is not particularly plausible, and most of the characters are little more than caricatures. The prose is nothing special, and the ending is anti-climactic. But Herbert knows how to push the reader's buttons, and this book is never boring. I enjoyed the shock value of this novel more than anything.

If your tastes tend toward the literary, then skip this one. But if you're looking for a short, punchy novel with B-movie thrills, THE RATS is a fun read.

When I started reading this I thought it was a silly premise. I thought, oh look out people, the rats are coming - big hairy deal. Then the book was so crazy awesome that I couldn't put it down, for real. I drove my car through rush-hour traffic in Toronto with this book on my lap. I could have died, and here's the messed up part: it might have been worth it. `The Rats' rocks. Thank you James Herbert. I'll never doubt you again.

James Roy Daley
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Usually I was a Stephen King fan. Still am to this day. But at the time when I was told by a friend of the writer James Herbert, I was immediately interested in what he could do. I came across the Rats. A 200pg book? Killer black rats roam through London? Seem a little silly right?....WRONG. Ok, this is only a 200 pg book. So it must contain nothing right? Some books I came across in the past which have about 600pgs when only 200 of them ended up worth reading anyway. Here, Herbert has done away with all the pointless bored reading and has writen a book that almost every single page is related to the major plot and is worth reading with complete interest and full of excitment, not knowing what the next page is about to show you. Im not a constant reader but with this, I honestly could not stop reading till the very end. I was so interested in what is going to happen next. It also contains some gory scenes within its chapters that are a gruesome but not entirely graphic. The thing I really admire most about this book is its simplicity. With such an easy story to read and follow and Herberts writing style, Herbert has brought you to a book that leads to action, excitment and complete addiction.


There is one other thing I probably should say. Usually I am a fan of all stories within the horror genre. But if your only the fan of certain types such as ghost stories or hauntings, this may not entirely be your style.

This is a fun short novel that is one of those stories where you read it quickly because its quite engaging and has a breathless pace to it. I have read a few of Herbert's books and this is one of his better ones for sure. The menacing rats are described in imaginative terms, and with good horror scenes in it. The ending is kind of lame though, and not as good as the rest of the book. Overall this is an enjoyable snack size thriller-horror story.

I regret not reading this book sooner. I had heard over the years what a landmark novel this was in the genre, spawning numerous sequels, rip-offs, and a string of other animal attack novels. But boy was I glad to have finally had the opportunity to see what all the hoopla was about, and I can happily say that I was not disappointed.

I knew going in that it would be gory, deliciously so, as it turned out, but what I was pleasantly surprised at was the excellent character development and back story author Herbert managed to pull off. I found it fast-paced, suspenseful, and utterly compelling. While I can't say that anything really surprised me with the plot, I can say that it was written remarkable well for a book about rats that attack humans.

If you can stomach and get past some truly gruesome violence - even towards babies, if you can believe it - horror fans should definitely put this on their must read list. As for me, I can guarantee you I'll be reading Herbert's two sequels, "Lair" and "Domain".

The Rats was the first novel that James Herbert wrote, published in 1972, and it is my second favourite of the six I have read so far. It is under 200 pages so the suspence and action does not give up until the end. I loved the way James Herbert created new charactors and then had them killed off by the rats in the same chapter - it kept the suspence up of the main story and added a good mixture of gore and horror into the story.

The storyline is that giant mutated rats (some as big as small dogs) are breeding in the sewers of London and keep popping up in places to kill people - or multiple people in some cases - in gory and cleaver death scenes in places such as London Underground, London Zoo, and a childrens' school. The main charactor, Harris, is a schoolteacher who is trying to uncover the mystery of the recent gruesome rat attacks on the people of London but will he manage to destroy the rats and save the day? Or will himself fall victim to the rats as swarms of them attack at the school where he works trapping him inside along with the other students and members of staff?

Overall a very good book by Herbert - especially considering it was his first - which I would highly recomend. If you have never read one of his books before this would be a good place to start as it is a good example of his work and is quite short. There are two sequels to this book (which I will definately be looking for) Lair and Domain.

james herbert is one of britan's best exports next to the beatles. his writing takes you to another land, you'll never look at a rat without shuddering again