London, still in a depressed state following the second World War damaged committed by the German Luftwaffe is harbouring a menace that is starting to make an appearance in gruesome fashion. Large mutated rats are finding they rather like the taste of human flesh, and are busy picking off the debris of human society. Teacher Harris, was his first name ever mentioned, seems to draw the wraith of the nasty critters as he becomes central to the Government’s bid to eradicate the threat to the bustling capital. Things naturally escalate and the busy rodents from hell are attacking groups of people. So where did the rats come from and why are they suddenly all over the metropolis, well east of the Thames at least. Can Harris survive, help the Government overcome the greatest danger yet faced by Londoners, and what is the secret behind the rats?

Once describe as the “English Stephen King”, James Herbert out sold Maine’s favourite son in his own country, but outside the Commonwealth has found sales hard going. While The Rats is perhaps the Author’s best known novel, he improved as a writer during his illustrious career, which unfortunately didn’t include a lot of screen adaptations of his work. I would argue that Herbert is the father of modern splatter fiction with The Rats being very informative to a whole slaughter of later horror writers, including but not restricted to Shaun Hutson, Guy N. Smith, and Steve Alten. Okay those aren’t the best scribes in the dark genre, Herbert is a far superior writer, but who can say where the influence might fall. The Rats was Herbert’s first published novel, let’s check out what Herbert has scampering in the dark.

Herbert is writing in a very modern but correct English style of prose, don’t expect anything off the reservation with this book, but thankfully the author doesn’t let his innate British style curb his darker leanings. The novel, or if we wanted to be didactic about things novella, while short gets where it is going with solid blood drenched pages. Herbert takes the approach of presenting a lead central character in amongst a composite novel approach. So we get the ongoing adventures of school teacher Harris, interspersed with the fates of various randos, usually this approach really only works for longer books but Herbert is right across it and nails down some truly gruesome scenes that show the scribe has a marvellously disturbed mind. And if you think Jimmy Herbert is going to pull his punches then you are in for a shock, try a baby and the pet dog being devoured alive. Stephen King isn’t even going near that blood drenched going for the fences approach.

Just when you think you are in known, if dangerous, waters Herbert goes full social commentary on occasion and even has a sub theme rocking. Not bad in under 200 pages, we’re talking Orwellian sensibilities here mates. So James points out the lower classes really get shafted from those in power, whether or not said power holders are from right wing or supposedly left wing politics. Things always devolve to political point scoring rather than actually doing anything constructive to improve the situation. Naturally the author is pointing out the inherent hierarchy in Western societies, and reflects this in his description of the Rat society albeit in a quick fire construction. Not bad going, Herbert also clearly has strong opinions on urban decay and exactly where urban renewal funds are being diverted too. As Uncle George pointed out, in a democracy some animals are more equal than other animals, paraphrasing clearly there. Actually the sub-ministerial dude could have stepped straight out of James Michener’s Poland, you know the whole concept of no matter what the regime in power is, certain people are always going to rise to the top regardless of ability.

Modern readers, the sort who think series fourteen of Doctor Who is the bestest ever, are going to go into meltdown with some of the content of The Rats. The rest of us might smile at some of the concepts, and recognise them as idiosyncrasies of a by-gone decade. For example, in a couple of paragraphs Herbert is at pains to point out that they must keep the girls from going into hysterics from the threat of the giant mutant rats, hey Jimmy I’m quite likely to go into hysterics as well if I had to be honest. Clearly in the modern age this is not acceptable as all girls are girl bosses or some such shite, but hey this wasn’t the case back in 1974. On the plus side, I guess, Herbert goes into bat for the gay community, with some sympathetic minor characters who are victims of their society due to their sexual orientation. So hey win some lose some in the progressive war, I’m not overly concerned about this aspect of the novel to be honest.

Needless to say James Herbert has his horror on with this book. If you don’t have a tinge of unease happening at the thought of being eaten alive by giant mutant rats, then you are probably a frequent consumer of TikTok content. There’s plenty of characters falling victim to the rampaging rodents, and Herbert isn’t shying away from describing their gruesome demises. While atmosphere may be missing, Herbert is trying his best but the whole composite thing is working against it, there are indications that the scribe is going to get this aspect of a horror novel working in due course. Remembering early days in the career here. Overall I’m going to high-five the corpses in the basement and state James Herbert is writing the manifesto for splatter orientated animal attack novels.

For Australian readers, Pan McMillian are still publishing The Rats, so you can pick up a copy to get your Herbert read on. I’m rocking a full recommendation on this book, horror rarely gets this good in a down and dirty fashion. James Herbert is going to guarantee you a few sleepless nights while you get lost between the covers of this novel. The author has his pace working and knows how horror works, which makes things sort of turn into must read territory. In the wash up you cannot ask for much more, so go grab a copy of The Rats today. Actually we should link to Amazon or something to make it even easier for readers.