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  • The Rats

  • The Rats Series, Book 1
  • Written by: James Herbert
  • Narrated by: David Rintoul
  • Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (6 ratings)

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The Rats

Written by: James Herbert
Narrated by: David Rintoul
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Publisher's Summary

Book One in Herbert's classic "rats" series.

The terror begins. London is struck by an invasion. Women, children, old and young, none are safe from the deadly menace. The attacks are swift and sure, escape is impossible. A state of emergency is declared. Evacuation seems the only solution in the face of a growing panic and mounting death toll. War is declared on the public enemy number one. The Rats!

James Herbert was one of Britain's greatest popular novelists and our #1 best-selling writer of chiller fiction. Widely imitated and hugely influential, he wrote 23 novels which have collectively sold over 54 million copies worldwide and been translated into 34 languages.

Born in London in the forties, James Herbert was art director of an advertising agency before turning to writing fiction in 1975. His first novel, The Rats, was an instant bestseller and is now recognised as a classic of popular contemporary fiction.

Herbert went on to publish a new top ten best-seller every year until 1988. He wrote six more bestselling novels in the 1990s and three more since: Once, Nobody True and The Secret of Crickley Hall.

Herbert died in March 2013 at the age of 69.

©1974 James Herbert (P)2013 Audible Ltd

What the critics say

“Herbert was by no means literary, but his work had a raw urgency. His best novels, The Rats and The Fog, had the effect of Mike Tyson in his championship days: no finesse, all crude power. Those books were best sellers because many readers (including me) were too horrified to put them down.” (Stephen King)
"There are few things I would like to do less than lie under a cloudy night sky while someone read aloud the more vivid passages of Moon. In the thriller genre, do recommendations come any higher?" (Andrew Postman, The New York Times Book Review)
"Herbert goes out in a blaze of glory" ( Daily Mail)

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Save your time and money

How there is multiple books in this series I will never know. The most positive thing about this book is that the action starts right away. The problem with this is that there was no build up, it was literally rats start attacking with no lead up or explanation why. The character build up is almost non existent. Lastly there were at least 2 chapters that could best be described as soft porn that had no bearing on the story at all. Save you time and look elsewhere.

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