Description

A special 50th anniversary edition of the classic bestselling horror novel The Rats

‘The Rats is splatterpunk deluxe. Not only great, gory fun but a prime example of what was once called “the British nasty.” I loved it then, love it still” – Stephen King, author of The Shining and Carrie

The first victim was a former paper salesman drinking himself into oblivion down by the docks. Next a child and her beloved dog, then six drifters fighting over a bottle of gin – all devoured by a black, writhing mass of giant rats.

As London descends into panicked chaos, high school teacher Harris is pulled head-first into the nightmare when a student arrives with a rat bite on his hand. And he quickly realises that this is no ordinary creature, nothing like anyone has ever seen before.

With their intelligent, wicked-looking eyes and razor-sharp teeth, the balance of power between man and rat has suddenly – shockingly, horribly – shifted.

The rats have had their first taste of human blood.

And they’re hungry for more . . .

‘Lean, mean, and nasty as punk, The Rats are here! Capable of inciting riots and causing bloodshed’ – Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House

‘A seminal work from a king of British horror’ – Adam Nevill, author of The Ritual

With a foreword by Neil Gaiman, New York Times bestselling author of Good Omens

Publisher Review

The Rats is splatterpunk deluxe. Not only great, gory fun but a prime example of what was once called “the British nasty.” I loved it then, love it still — Stephen King Lean, mean, and nasty as punk, The Rats are here! Capable of inciting riots and causing bloodshed — Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House A one-off; a true horror original — Peter James, Sunday Times bestselling author of the Roy Grace books A seminal work from a king of British horror — Adam Nevill, author of The Ritual One of the more fecund of all horror novels: its children are many, its litter both large and ravenous — Stephen Graham Jones, New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians Herbert’s The Rats is a big personal influence of mine. If you’re a horror reader seeking to delve into the history of the genre, it’s one of a handful of books you really ought to read — Nick Cutter author of The Troop The effectiveness of the gruesome set pieces and brilliant finale are all its own — The Sunday Times With The Rats, Herbert established himself as a master of the sort of apocalyptic horror that’s so popular today — The Guardian The Rats is a delightfully gory James Herbert classic — SciFiWard