My rating is based upon the general effect this book had on me as a child (I shouldn't really have read it so young) and upon my subsequent reading habits, and not upon the book's literary merits, assuming it has any.Summer, 1974 (possibly 1975): I went to the Botanic Gardens to see if any of my mates were there, and they weren't. So, I want to the café to get an ice cream, but being a 10-year old bookworm decided to look at the novels in the rotary racks they had just inside the door. I would have been looking for some science-fiction, but what I found was The Rats!I'd never read a "proper" horror story before, so why I picked this, I'm not sure. Could I have seen either of the "rat-horror" films Willard or Ben by this time? I'm not sure they would have got to TV that quickly. Maybe I'd seen a review of one of them in a horror movie magazine (House of Hammer, maybe?) that one of my friends used to get from his older brother? Whatever the impetus, I bought Herbert's book.I knew that my dad wouldn't have allowed me to read a book of this type, so I resolved to read it all in one go before going home from the park. I found myself a secluded spot on the disused railway embankment just outside the park fence and settled down.I think I was fairly well enthralled by the horror elements of the story, but most vividly I remember being appalled by the gratuitous sexual content. Being a very naïve pre-teen I was rather shocked, but steadfastly read through to the end of the book. Well, clearly, my instinct not to take it home had been correct, and I definitely did not want to keep it so, for the first and last time, I threw away a book (I've given them away and sold them, but have never just thrown one away): responsibly, of course, using a litter bin. I was staunchly anti-littering thanks to the Keep Britain Tidy campaignAnd so this is why I've never read another "proper" horror book: No more Herbert; no Stephen King (actually, maybe one Richard Laymon, but I can't remember which, so it obviously didn't impress), etc. Since then, it's been Shelley, Stoker, Lovecraft, Hodgson and their ilk for me.The Rats was certainly a formative, if not to say transformative, book for me, but probably not in the way the author might have wished.
Strah od glodara, prevashodno pacova, jedan je od najrasprostranjenijih. Prljava i okretna stvorenja dugačkog repa i oštrih zuba su noćna mora mnogih i to su u svojim delima iskoristili pisci poput Lavkrafta i Kinga. Herbert podiže lestvicu užasa odlukom da svoje pacove učini većim, krvoločnijim i pametnijim od obične sabraće.Herbert je već od svog prvenca postao perjanica palp-horora, podvrste koju je 30-iih godina proslavio Robert I. Hauard. On ne troši puno vremena na uvođenje u priču i razradu likova. Krvavi incidenti počinju da se nižu od prvog poglavlja, sa svega par kratkotrajnih predaha do kraja. Strava u romanu nije nimalo suptilna, već veoma konkretna i opipljiva: džinovski pacovi prekriveni gustim crnim krznom jurišaju iz ponora kanalizacije proždirući sve one koji ime se nađu na putu.Za razliku od slično koncipirane novelete Ptice Dafne du Morije (na osnovu koje je snimljen čuveni Hičkokov film istog imena), Herbert odbacuje suptilnost i svoju životinjsku najezdu obogaćuje opisima nasilja koji i danas, gotovo 35 godina od prvog objavljivanja, iznenađuju svojim uznemirujućim makabrističkim detaljima. Autor očito uživa da šokira, a njegovi potanki opisi krvoprolića malo toga ostavljaju mašti. Roman donosi brojne nezaboravne delove – poput napada pacova na podzemnu železnicu, bioskop, školu ili zoološki vrt – ali najnapetije stranice sačuvane su za sam kraj.Glavni krivac za popularizaciju Herberta kod nas je Goran Skrobonja, pisac, urednik Košmara i prevodilac, čovek koji sa punim pravom važi za najistaknutijeg domaćeg stručnjaka za oblast književne strave. Skrobonjin prevod Pacova je znalački izbrušen, zarazno čitak i tačan. Dodatnu pohvalu zaslužuje originalna naslovnica Ivana Nastića koja svojom sirovom ekspresivnošću nadmašuje mnoga likovna rešenja koja krase inostrana izdanja istog romana.Na zadovljstvo poklonika horor žanra druženje sa Herbertom nastaviće se i tokom ove godine - najavljena su ponovna izdanja Preživelog i Magle, a u pripremi su i preostala dva naslova pacovske trilogije: Leglo i Carstvo pacova.
Do You like book The Rats (1999)?
The Rats (1974) was the amazing debut novel from author James Herbert. On the surface, the story is a simple “animal attack” novel, but Herbert offers up enough social commentary with realistic characters to keep things interesting. Unlike many of the preceding works in the horror genre, Herbert focused on real-life working class characters from the slums of East London. Likewise, themes of absent and cynical authority figures dominate the book and their apathy and underestimation of the threat ensure the deadly plague will only worsen (quite apt for the era). Another highlight was Herbert’s remarkable ability at crafting believable characters with detailed backstories, such as the homeless man in the opening chapter. The only flaw was the book’s over-the-top ending, but Herbert’s ability to pull off this deranged premise up to that point was remarkable. Not for the faint-hearted, there are a ton of vivid and gory descriptions, including dismemberment of children, but for horror fans, The Rats lives up to its reputation as a genre-defining classic.
—Drake
A fun little horror read, only 197 pages a lot of these taken up by graphic descriptions of people being eaten alive by rats. The human interactions are not greatly written, a lot of "he did this and then she did that" but lets face it, you don't read this sort of thing for the conversations people have. I like how we are introduced to each of the people before they are attacked by the rats. Privy to a few short minutes of their lives and what they are thinking before the rats come. It does give you that personality to be sorry for that they died in such a way. I didn't really like Harris, the school teacher turned mutant rat specialist, and found the bits where he is taken into the commitee fold to help with the rat problem perhaps wasn't too realistic. The few plot holes there were I am sure were more due to the shortness of the book and trying to fit everything in. Then again I felt chapter 8 could have been left out completely and don't really see why it was even written. I have had this book on the shelf for a while and finally decided to pick it up after it was mentioned in another book I had just read,The Wicked Girlsby Alex Marwood. I will not go out of my way to find the next book in this 4 part series but if I stumble across it I will definatley purchase it.
—Nicole
The Rats is, without doubt, the BEST horror novel I have ever read in my whole life. I first read this classic novel by James Herbert way back in 1975, and just could not put it down. I honestly cannot voice enough superlatives to describe this truly fantastic shocker of a book. It was just one big roller coaster ride of sheer, unbridled, entertaining horror, from start to finish. I enjoyed it that much that I actually finished it in one whole day!The Rats is truly the horror novel template which EVERY writer of horror fiction should study and aspire to, if they want to create a chilling, gory, unforgettable story. James Herbert certainly knows how to write a good page turner, and this talent is brilliantly borne out in his subsequent novels, especially Lair (the direct sequel to The Rats) and The Fog.Often imitated by the many animals-on-the-rampage books which resulted from its success, but never bettered, The Rats stands alone as being the ULTIMATE horror story of what happens when the animal world turns against mankind. The Rats should be on EVERY horror fan's bookshelf.Alanwww.trueghoststories.co.uk
—Alan Toner
