The Rats - James Herbert

I have to confess to not being a great reader. I get bored easily with any book which tries 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 are gory, direct and have a lightning fast pace you can’t get better than the early work of James ...

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 ...

Rats have always freaked me out a bit - even before I picked this up. In fact it was my fear of rats and the masochistic part of myself that likes to mess around with my head that decided to read it in the first place - you know the part of you that decides to watch a horror film yourself in the house at 2 in the morning with the lights out and has your question just why you do this to yourself? So I picked the Rats up and started reading... and I was hooked. Very short and sharp scenes keep you going, thinking "I'll just read a little more" until you can almost bear it no longer. James Herbert has to be commended for thinking of the concept of rats that ...