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James Herbert passed away at only 69 yesterday. 69 just seems like such a young age these days. Of course Herbert was famous for his horror books. Probably his most famous are The Rats and the two sequels. I was introduced to Herbert through these books not long after I started reading Stephen King. That was in my very early teens. Although I read a fair number of his books it's those ones that I remember most. Probably because they showed me that rats can scare the crap out of you. Particularly big killer rats. They hadn't bothered me before but since then I have eyed them with suspicion.
It's been a long time since I have read one of his books but I still remember going to the library and going straight to the horror section to see if they had any that I had yet to read. I usually always managed to go away with one in my pile. Although I'm not sure I would go back to reading his books I still remember them with great fondness. Anyone have a favourite book by Herbert?
The BBC have done a small piece on the author should you wish to know more about him.
I've only read 'Haunted' so far, but I really enjoyed it and I have 'The Ghosts of Sleath' and 'Portent' on Mount TBR right now. I really want to read 'The Rats'... but at the moment we're living in a big ol' barn that often HAS rats, scratching away in the ceiling/between the floorboards/in the walls, so maybe I should wait until we move. For, y'know, sanity's sake. I should read another Herbert now though, right?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I maybe wouldn't read Rats if I were you. Try one of his others. I remember liking the Mist but there were lots of others. I'll need to look through my book list to see if I can remember any of them.
DeleteIt's so sad, isn't it - James Herbert's books were a massive part of my teenage life and it's hard to believe he's gone.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite of his has to be Domain, the third book in the Rats trilogy. Even without the rats being there it's one of the scariest apocalyptic books ever, with its setting during a nuclear war. When I read it as a teen we were still in the cold war and it all felt horrifyingly plausible.
Big part of my teenage life too. That was my favourite of the trilogy too and the most terrifying. I always had a fear of nuclear war but when I read that we were studying it in Modern studies. Looking at the effects and watched that nuclear film, where the wind blows. For that reason I will never forget it. I might have to go back and read the trilogy again.
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