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I chose The Rats as my first Herbert book as it was a small read, and I thought it would be a good starting point for my inherent addiction. I was right in the size and it took me only a few days to finish the 186 pages, but within those pages there is a main story, filled with horror and ... Read review
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Advantages: Short novel, ideal for a first introduction to Herbert Disadvantages: None worth mentioning.
...and I never really felt the urge to follow suit. I detoured to Stephen King and Dean Koontz along the way and have finally, just finished my first James Herbert book at the grand old age of 34.
In London in the seventies, Harris, an art teacher at a secondary school, is enjoying life. He loves his job and knows there are a few boys in his class that he could actually make a difference to. He has a steady girlfriend who he lives with ... ...to his hand. Harris takes the boy to hospital, encountering a maniacal mother in the emergency room, whose baby has just been mutilated by giant black rats! Keogh, the young boy with the rat bite to his hand, dies within 24 hours from a disease brought on by the bite, a disease that would normally only make the sufferer ill for a few days and then be on the mend.
More and more deadly giant rat attacks are announced along with many ... more
I grew up with my sister being scared to death at night after reading James Herbert books and I never really felt the urge to follow suit. I detoured to Stephen King and Dean Koontz along the way and have finally, just finished my first James Herbert book at the grand old age of 34.
In London in the seventies, Harris, an art teacher at a secondary school, is enjoying life. He loves his job and knows there are a few boys in his class that he could actually make a difference to. He has a steady girlfriend who he lives with and having grown up in the London area he feels at home and content.
That is until one of his pupils comes to school with a rat bite to his hand. Harris takes the boy to hospital, encountering a maniacal mother in the emergency room, whose baby has just been mutilated by giant black rats! Keogh, the young boy with the rat bite to his hand, dies within 24 hours from a disease brought on by the bite, a disease that would normally only make the sufferer ill for a few days and then be on the mend.
More and more deadly giant rat attacks are announced along with many cases of people dying through the bite and subsequent disease and London soon becomes in a grip of panic as people wonder what to do and where to go. Due to his knowledge of the area and his personal encounters with the rats it falls to Harris and a team put together by the government, to thrash out a solution to London's macabre rat quandary.
I chose The Rats as my first Herbert book as it was a small read, and I thought it would be a good starting point for my inherent addiction. I was right in the size and it took me only a few days to finish the 186 pages, but within those pages there is a main story, filled with horror and terrible descriptions of mutilation by the rats, all the time seeming to run alongside smaller stories about other characters who are quite small within the central plot but we are still given a back story for them, making them seem more central than they are. It is almost as though Herbert is padding out the story, as he couldn't write enough to the main plot to make a novel sized book. This is not a bad thing in this case though and the padding is comfortable and does enhance the story for the reader.
An instance of this is the sex-crazed character called Mary Kelly. We are given quite a lot of back-story for her, right from her early days and subsequent relationships, through to her descent into drunkenness and vagrancy. She crops up over a few chapters and every time she is spoken about, descriptions of sex of some sort usually accompanies it, so be warned as there are some graphic paragraphs which may offend some people. Although her character ties in with the plot, it is not an essential addition and it seems strange that Herbert put so much time and effort into detailing her for us.
One of the things that always put me off reading this book was the fact that it was about rats. I am not scared of them per se, and they wouldn't feature high on my horror list of animals. They are more dirty in my mind than vicious, however after reading this book I can see why people are scared of them. Herbert has a fantastic way of describing the horror they are causing. He does give us descriptions of the rats themselves but the fear comes in when you are reading what they are doing to the humans. It is pretty gory and is certainly not restrained in the detail of flesh and bone. I found this engrossing though and rather than being put off by the gore I found myself intrigued to read on and see how the next victim was killed along with the desire to find the origin of the giant, black, killer rat!
The Rats is a dated book now and you can easily see that from the way he describes things in London. No one has a mobile and the old bombed out buildings from the war, in a run down East End are still about, obviously making great lairs for the rats to breed and multiply. It was a world much removed from what I can remember so made it kind of interesting. I don't usually go for period books as I cannot associate with the era, but this book, although out of my era is easy to bring to life in your minds eye. (I was born early 70's but only parallel things with the 80's as that was my time to experience London trips and so on.) I had no problem creating an image of the streets and canals portrayed here and I would imagine they would be fairly true to life. Think a little bit drab and little bit dreary, everyone seeming to be dressed in browns and greys and you'll get what my mind had conjured up.
This book would be in the short, sharp, shock category for me I think. It is short to read, sharp with his descriptions of events and this in turn shocks you enough to make you check the area round the wheelie bin before putting your rubbish out! But for me it was something else as well. It was an introduction to another new author I had no dealings with before now. I was always faithful to King and in later years Koontz but Herbert has certainly impressed me enough with his first novel from way back in 1974, that I will happily read more of his work and see what scared my sister so much all those years ago!
Advantages: fast, gory, a real page-turner Disadvantages: *Please detatch brain and become gore loving twelve year old for duration of novel* ;o)
...to delve too deeply into the characters or settings at the expense of moving the story on a t a brisk pace. There are exceptions to this, but in the main I tend to steer away from those novels which others would term the ‘classics’. As a result you’ll be more likely to see me sniffing around the horror/fantasy/adventure sections of my local bookstore...rather than searching out the likes of a Thackery, Hardy or such like. In terms of books which ... ...can’t get better than the early work of James Herbert. In terms of literary style and finesse you probably can’t get much worse than James Herbert but it depends if what you want from a book is to ooh and aaah at the author’s intelligence or to be sent on a rollercoaster ride by him. The Rats offers you a gruesome page turner which could hardly be called a relaxing read but its certainly one which is tough to put down once you pick it up. To me, ...
wampyrii 10.06.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Rats - James Herbert
Advantages: great story Disadvantages: a little short?
When I first read The Rats by James Herbert I though wow, this is a really cool new book. I was amazed to find out that it was first published in 1974. Having read the book you would have no idea the period it was set in, well obviously it would be fairly recent, but it hadn’t seemed to have aged much in the twenty odd years since it was first published to when I read it.
For any fans of horror books this is a must to read, it is gruesomely ... ...while you are reading the book. To wet your appetite here is an extract from the blurb:
“…For millions of years man and rats have been natural enemies. But for the first time – suddenly, shockingly, horribly – the balance of power has shifted…”
Having now wet your appetite for the book if you read on I it will spoil the plot of the book for you, if you were thinking about reading it, so please do not read the ...
ia_young 04.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Rats - James Herbert
Advantages: Very very gory, a real bloodstory tale Disadvantages: None
This was the first of James Herberts novels and remains one of the
bloodiest yet, there are countless incidents where he describes in gory
detail mutilations where you can actually picture yourself there and feel the terror … some of them really do literally put a shiver down your spine. The story itself centres around London where an imported breed of rats has mutated and developed a taste for human flesh, the scene is then set for these ... ...Herbert you can almost hear the bones crunching. In fact there is one such
scene which once youve read it I can guarantee that you will never ever go
to the movies again without a little niggling thought in the back of your
mind about what was so graphically described.
It isnt just a blood and guts thing though as there is a good fast paced
story behind it which sets the scene quite well for the next 2 instalments in the Rats triology, Lair ...
Mickm9 09.02.2001 (04.02.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Rats - James Herbert
Advantages: Inspired me to write a radio drama on it Disadvantages: needs a better ending
...radio drama for twenty minutes. The only problem was-where to find the inspiration???hmmm...then my boss said to read this book.
Well, what can i say? it inspired me so much that the one book was not enough and i am glad that James Herbert wrote a 'Rats' trilogy, in order-'The Rats','Lair'and 'domain'. I finished the rats very quickly.
This book was an eye opener, it is about a man called Harrison, who is a teacher at the local school. One day ... ...that it was a rat. The boy died and Harrison goes in search of these rats.
The story revolves around Harrison and his partner and also from what the rats get up to and how they appear. The harrowing part of the story is, that not only are these rats the same size as dogs, but also they have been sighted in europe larger then normal. The great thing about how Herbert writes is, that he creates stories within the story, i found that reading this book ...
meyritz 25.08.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Rats - James Herbert
Advantages: An azing book! A brilliant read! A must in your collection! Disadvantages: You'll never look at Rats the same again! You'll be scared to Death and never want to go into a pet shop again!
...was amazing. So'Rats' was the second James Herbert Novel I read and although was not as good as 'Domain', was a Very Good Read.
The story as always gruesome and toe-culling, with a stomach turning sensation. I felt like I was there running with them.
So you meet the the main character Harris on chapter two after the seen has been set. He's an Art teacher at a primary school at St.Michaels. Where his first encouter is witha pupil Keogh who has a ...
Sammy45999 18.07.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of The Rats - James Herbert
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Advantages: If you like porn you'll love this!! Disadvantages: It's porn
I was previously a big JamesHerbert fan but after reading this I'm not so sure. As an adolescent II grew up reading The Rats Trilogy, The Fog, Haunted e.t.c and loved the macabre still and unlikely heros therin. This starts off ok then turns into pure porn with pointless sex and violence at every turn. Maskerading itself as a modern faery story along like an adult Brothers Grimm it lulls you into a false sense of security with its talks of fairies and witches and then descends into filth. I am by no means a prude but if I wanted this sort of book I would read something by Jackie Collin's. It is dissapointing as the last Herbert book I read "48" was a true classic but this may well put me off buying any more of his novels. It is on the top bookshelf I think I will give it to my son when he gets older. Saves him buying magazines! ...
Advantages: Easy to follow gripping story lines Disadvantages: Can't put the book down
I have never been a good reader and find it hard to set aside time to pick up a book. On occasions I find I need something to relax me which is usually when my brain is over loaded with work and life in the real world.
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Advantages: Pure fantasy, real magic Disadvantages: far too short
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The story opens with the main characters of the book, Mike and Midge, going to view the Magic Cottage (called Gramarye in the story). At first, Mike is apprehensive about the move into such an isolated cottage; Midge’s enthusiasm soon wins him over. Soon after moving in however, strange things start to happen: animals pay unusual visits, bats appear from nowhere ...
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