'The Rats' – James Herbert (Pan)

I know October is just round the corner now and everyone is going to be reading horror and ghost stories until Halloween appears but the hell with it; sometimes it's great to be doing what everyone else is doing :o) No promises then but I'm going to try and make October, and this last little bit of September, all about reading great horror fiction (and maybe some not so great horror fiction as well but it does feel like life is just too short for that at the moment).

Right now, my reading is looping round for a mad dash back into comfort reading territory (it's been one of those weeks). Comfort reading and horror don't sound like they should go together but... I think they do. If the right memories are associated with a book then I think any read can be a comfort read and that goes doubly so for horror if the tropes on display are handled well. There's nothing like watching the bad guy/school bully/whoever get set up to have something truly nauseating happen to them, it never gets old.

I can't really remember the first time I read 'The Rats' but it brings back memories of the school library, and the refuge that it was for most of high school, so definitely a comfort read but also a comfort read that doesn't hold up so well to a re-read these days. It's classic Herbert but... Let me tell you about it.

It was only when the bones of the first devoured victims were discovered that the true nature and power of these swarming black creatures with their razor sharp teeth and the taste for human blood began to be realized by a panic-stricken city. For millions of years man and rats had been natural enemies. But now for the first time – suddenly, shockingly, horribly – the balance of power had shifted...

'The Rats' is a great read that will always make my skin crawl when I'm reading it, even though I know what's going to happen next. It seems to be a happy knack of Herbert's that even after several re-reads, he can still make you think that a character is going to make it... and then be ripped to pieces by rats the size of dogs. The plot is very simple (basically, fighting against the 'Great Rat Invasion of London') but that works for it. You know where you are and more or less what to expect, all you need to do is keep reading and enjoy the shocks and the gore.

And there are loads of both. 'The Rats' may have been Herbert's first novel but it shows that he was already very accomplished at hooking the reader and taking them along on his journey' basically by showing them loads of gore and promising that would be more if the hero didn't sort things out.

I think it's safe to say that Herbert doesn't hold back with what he has the rats do to the most vulnerable people of society. There's at least one bit where I was like, “No...!” but you have to admire Herbert for sticking to his (admittedly very bloody) vision as the end result is as 'pulp' as hell but incredibly easy to keep reading once you have started. There's even room for a bit of social commentary but that's not delivered so well...

Herbert has a habit here of lavishing detail on people who are about to die horribly while his main players are too busy dealing with giant rats for there to be time for any backstory. This mostly works, to a point, as you gradually get into that groove and once you know something is about to happen, that's where the tension starts to grow (although there are times where it can act in the opposite way, depends on how sympathetic the character is).The problem lies with the more casual approach to characterisation that Herbert seems to take with the main players, Harris in particular. Harris is a rough and ready Londoner but we don't see a lot more to him than that so when he starts thinking about the government's attitude to London's slums, it's clearly Herbert talking through Harris and that can take you out of the story at the wrong times. It's easy enough to get back into it though so not the worst thing in the world.

What isn't so easy to reconcile though is the casual racism running through the book. The argument of course is that the book is 'of it's time' and we go down that road, Herbert paints a good picture of the attitudes of the time. If those attitudes are wrong though...? I'm not sure if those attitudes should get that focus, in the book, but I do know that it makes for slightly awkward reading. As does Harris' idle thoughts about the school girls walking into school in front of him. Referring to them as 'crumpet' may be a joke, made by Herbert, but if it was then it totally missed the mark for me. If it wasn't, that's just horrible...

'The Rats' is a bit of a favourite for me and it still has a lot going for it. It's a quick read as well so you can easily squeeze it into your October reading schedule if you want. It doesn't quite hold up to a re-read these days though so misgivings are starting to appear.Overall, I think it's still worth the read.