11/20/2025 Guest Review: THE RATS by James Herbert. Reviewed by Sue Rovens
- Candace Nola
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Today's review will take you back the glory days of horror, when mass paperback racks were full of creepy dolls, scary kids, horrible rodents, and gaunt faced pale men in black. Those covers were incredible and to this day, those books are still among my favorites of all time.
If you are a new to horror fan, or have not yet tried vintage horror, I strongly encourage you to go browse eBay or Thrift Books for some of the best vintage books out there. Most are campy, gory, wild, and just downright fun, while keeping just enough of the horror going that you don't mistake it for dark comedy.
James Herbert's THE RATS is just one of horrendously horrifying books with giant rodents on the cover and today, author friend Sue Rovens reviews it for us.
The Rats by James Herbert
Reviewed By Sue Rovens
The films, Willard (1971) and the sequel, Ben (1972), were my first introduction into the sub-genre of rat horror. I barely recall them as I was extremely young at the time, however, the remake of Willard starring Crispin Glover and R. Lee Ermey (2003) brings the plot and the characters into more current times and does the storyline proud. If you haven’t done so, watching the remake will be well worth your time.
So, why the movie talk when this is supposed to be a book review?
Because I recently came across The Rats by James Herbert and decided to give it a whirl. I thought it might be closely tied to the origin story of Willard, so I was intrigued. Also, it’s only 197 pages long, so I thought it would be a quick read.
I was wrong.
While it’s true that the writing itself is well-crafted, I felt as if I was flailing about during the first few chapters. I couldn’t get a grasp on who was who or where my focus should be. It might have been the language/word choices (he was an English author) or some of the phrasing that threw me, but I started to question if this was going to end up in the DNF pile or not.
Eventually, I managed to find the pace and the story and followed the best I could. Still, I remained unimpressed. Chapter after chapter contains kills by the rats. No spoiler here, as the back blurb leans heavy toward the obvious, BUT, there were animal (nice animals) deaths described in detail, and that, while it served the story, wasn’t and isn’t my cup of tea. I skimmed those sections. Also, the entire book felt very ‘one note’. Rats kill. People try to fix the problem. Rats kill again. People try other things. Repeat for the next 197 pages.
As previously stated, the writing, craft, and construction of The Rats are very good. If you are looking for something along the lines of animal horror, this would fit the bill. It’s a quick read (for some) and moves along at a decent pace. It just didn’t connect with me. Having said that, I’m glad I read it since it has long been held in high regard among lovers of the horror genre.
Recommend if you like: animal horror, body horror, creature features, English tales, gruesome prose.
You can grab a copy here on the 'zon:
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